Illustrated Christmas Books. Among the illustrated hooka that crowd the
booksellers' windows at Christmas, there are two which aptly illustrate the old and the new fashion of Illustrations. The "Bible Album ; or, Sacred Truth, as Illustrated by the Poets," is the representative of a class now happily moribund. It contains a great number of woodcuts, printed in tints, representing various events in Scripture history. Neither preface nor title-page inform us what particular class of persons are expected to take an interest in these prints, and it is impossible - to gather the information from the prints themselves, which are after the most conventional of academic types in vogue some hundred years ago, and executed in a manner which, so far from helping to illustrate any truth, sacred or profane, are likely only to excite ridicule little in accordance with the subjects treated. Mr. Noel Paton's illustrations of Aytoun's "Lays a the Scottish Cavaliers" are of a different stamp. The designs are original, and belong to the modern school of careful and conscientious execution. Armour, weapons, heraldic bearings, and other accessories, are elaborately drawn with apparently great antiquarian knowledge, and so far accurately reflect the spirit of the lays. But there is a want of life and expression in the actors, who are very much overpowered by the "fringe ;" and Mr. Paton has not broken the spell which besets book- illustrators, and substitutes prettiness and sentimentality for vigour and feeling. Vigour is not attained by thickening of outlines, nor the short- comings of prettiness supplied by the clumsy overcrowding of the picture -with figures that have outgrown the frame. Must admiration of A. Darer necessarily entail an imitation of his faults ? The beat things in the book are King James's army leaving Edinburgh before Flodden, on p. ; Dundee at Killieerazikie, in which there is much spirit, p. 9 ; and the waves angrily pursuing the Pretender's boat, p. 172. The landscapes are by a different hand, and do not call for special remark.
Previous page
