7 JANUARY 1928, Page 22

It is a long time since we have seen such

an exquisite tribute to the beauty of one of the English counties as Berkshire Vale (Blackwell, 15s.), by Mr. Wilfred Howe-Nurse and Mr. Cecil Aldin. The book owes its existence, of course, to the genius of its illustrator, and, charmingly simple as the poet's verses are, it must be admitted that they are not on the same artistic level as the drawings. The rarely sympathetic quality of Mr. Aldin's softly tinted sketches

is quite inexpressible in words. He makes us long to be again tiaueliing over that high ridge of the Downs, above the White Horse Vale, in summer weather, where the country is all wide curves and undulating grasslands. No Berkshire man should

miss this book. *• * * *