5 APRIL 1957, Page 24

The Rhine and Its Castles, by Monk Gibbon (Putnam, 25s.):

describes, with most historical

emphasis, a leisurely journey along the Rhine taken by a middle-aged, serious, and agreeable traveller and his daughter. Unexciting but pleasant middlebrow reading, it sounds rather like letters, staid but personal, from an old family friend.