5 DECEMBER 1931, Page 24

The ethics of limited editions are hard to determine, but

one thing the purchaser of an expensive book has the right to demand ; and that is that the material shall be worthy of its costly treatment. The Magic Forest, by Christopher and Lettice Sandford, on which the authors have lavished the full resources of the Chiswick Press, and which they issue from the .sign of the Boar's Head at Manaton, Devon, is a slight, artless story, unredeemed by any distinction of invention or style, and utterly insufficient for the beauties of type and paper with , which it is presented. The " Old Face " Caslon type, the wood blocks small and large, the watermarked paper, only serve to expose more pitilessly the jejuneness of Mr. and Mrs. Sandford's fable. This is a pity, for it makes the typographer's honourable zeal seem pretentious, and throws a taint of amateurishness over the whole production. If anyone nowadays wants to pay a guinea for a typographical luxury, here is one.

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