6 JANUARY 1950, Page 34

Personalia. By Rom Landau. (Faber. 21S.) " PERSONA( IA "

is a series of sketches of people whom the author has met and who have influenced him. He begins with a few pages on his childhood, and later there are brief statements about what brought him to Germany or Tunisia or into the company of London hostesses. Except for a few lapses of style it all reads very pleasantly. In a final chapter called " Postscript—Strictly Personal," Mr. Landau answers imaginary criticisms proceeding from a Sympathetic Reader. Among others there are several photographs of himself, two of them in Arab dress, and six of bronze figures which he made during the period when he worked as a sculptor.