COLLECTING.*
Collecting Old Miniatures and Collecting Old Glass are two small guide- books by Sir James YoxalL On the whole, they are distinctly good, though not quite, all that their author claims for-them in his appreciative prefaces. But his enthusiasm is not confined to his prefaces, and the evident gusto with which he treats each of his subiecta proclaims him a born collector. His stream of information (not always very clear) runs wide rather than deep, and generally the matter surpasses the manner. The handbooks are short cuts to successful collecting rather than subtle appreciations of design and craftsmanship. That is nob criticism, but a mere statement of fact, for the little book; should fulfil that limited purpose efficiently and well. Sir James Yoxall is a sports- man. He hunts the highways and hedges with a catapult, but often
• Collecting Old Miniatures and Collecting Old Crass, INgitsh end Irish. By J. H. Yoxall. M.P. "The Collector's Pocket Series." London: WillLtm Heinemann [22, ed. each.]
his silver pebble bags such big game as commonly only falls to the golden bullets of a capitalist—at a King Street battue. In other words, he is a real bargain-hunter, and, to judge from the many illustrations of his own trophies, a wonderful bargain-finder. He sets out with a pocketful of silver for a tour of the pawnshops and barrows, and probably returns with ten-pounds'-worth of treasures bought for half-a-sovereign. It requires some confidence to bring out a book on miniatures in the midst of such a war as this, when the scant attention that can be spared to the pictorial arts is largely given to powerful poster work—the crashing of savage colours slapped on to canvas by a deft spadesman. It is courageous, it is even refreshing. The illustrations are well chosen, many, and good, and the author invariably gives the prices paid for his own finds—prices paid quite recently that make the present writer exceedingly envious. He insists that it can still be done, this bent-pin salmon fishing, and sets out to show us how. That the dealer is educated at the same time as the collector is all to the good and in the best interests of the sport. There are plenty of shack collectors as well as shack dealers. With regard to old glass, he gives a number of " Reliable Tests " designed to prove the genuineness of a piece. A certain very great authority on glass (a renowned glass- maker) once told the present writer that if sufficient care be expended on a fraud, as it sometimes is, it will cheerfully pass all the tests supposed to be infallible and deceive the best experts. He confessed to having been fooled often enough himself, and though most intimately concerned with glass and glassware for the whole of his life, held it no shame to be taken in by such conscientious fakes.
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