Current Literature
THE COMMEMORATIVE CATALOGUE OF THE EXHIBITION OF BRITISH ART The catalogues of the various international exhibitions held in recent years at Burlington House form as a series the best anthologies available of the arts of the countries con- cerned. The latest member of the series, The Commemorative Catalogue of the Exhibition of British Art (Milford, 50s.), which deals with last year's exhibition, is a companion volume in appearance to the French catalogue of two years earlier. The differences occur only in points of detail. There is a good deal more text than in the French catalogue and a few more pages of plates. Some slight typographical alterations make it easier in the present catalogue than in the earlier to distinguish the various kinds of information given under each entry, to see instantly where a particular painting has been ekhibited, what pedigree it has, and in what literary sources it is Mentioned. The greatest improvement is in the general arrangement. For the rather complicated system of the French catalogue has been substituted a straight chronological sequence for each class of object, paintings, water-colours, ;furniture and so on, and this method combined with the efficient indexes makes the book as easy to use as it is agreeable to look at. The plates, of which there are about 250 pages,- illustrate some 500 objects, chosen with judgement and repro- duced in that impeccable half-tone which we expect from the 'Oxford Preis. The editing, which has mainly been done by Professor W. G. Constable and Mr. Charles Johnson, combines efficiency with erudition, so that this volume as a whole offers a not negligible consolation and substitute to those who were unlucky enough to miss the exhibition itself.
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