ILLUMINATION.* WREN done badly—and it usually is done badly—modern illumination
can be strangely depressing. Most of us made
our first acquaintance with it through texts, Christmas cards,
church notices, and the illuminated address presented to our parents " On the joyful occasion of their marriage," subse-
quently relegated to the servants' hall as a pendant to " The Monarch of the Glen." It was probably not very long before we began to wonder why so elaborate and evidently carefully
executed decoration with no purpose save to give pleasure by its beauty should excite so little response in us and seem so tiresome.
We may (not having then seen a mediaeval illuminated MS. or the wonderful modern work of Mrs. Coekerell) have decided that this mode of embellishment was not for us, and that we preferred text and decoration kept decently apart. Early formed prejudices are not easily overcome, and the present writer undoubtedly suffers from an unhappy " Illumin- ation Complex " set up by a deplorable set of complimentary addresses that were shamefacedly displayed in a lowly corner of his old home.
Mr. Sidney Farnsworth's book, Illumination, will go far towards rehabilitating the art in the eyes of backsliders. He devotes considerable space to instructions on " how to
illuminate," and gives some excellent examples of the modern use of reed-pen writing, as in a most appetising bill of fare from Marshall and Snelgrove's and an engaging little label (that must surely be a " business builder " !) with this legend displayed like a poem amongst spangled flowers and bees : " Little Waltham Honey, made by Little Waltham Bees, from Little Waltham Flowers, at the Little Waltham Apiaries, Chelmsford, Essex."
We have less admiration for the author's designs for book and music covers and his " Songs of Innocence " frontispiece.
Our purely personal feeling is that the numb hand of the " Arts and Crafts " movement still lies a little heavy on illu- mination and allied embellishments onnediaeval flavour, and that the tendency of our modern sympathies is rather towards eighteenth century modes of expression. We have even heard the delightful art of Walter Crane called " pious and precious " by the rising generation, and we think we know what they mean.
The pendulum is swinging away from him towards the cal- culated naivete of Claude Lovat Fraser's vigorous and expres- sive rendering. Certainly we confess to sharing his enjoyment of contrasted magenta and veridian green, in early nineteenth century " Fat Face " type and the lettering of Fournier-le- Jeune. Perhaps we have had over much " refinement " of a certain sort, and are reacting from what we feel was almost too inhumanly chaste and faultless.
Some years ago Messrs. W. H. Smith adopted a very beauti- ful Roman type which at that time made their displays as re- markable as they were refreshing. Their enlightened lead was soon widely followed, and we have of late actually heard the famous lettering on Trojan's Column objected to as being " too reminiscent of a Smith's bookstall " !
The reaction, if as yet slight, is real, and we may yet live to see the notice, " Air-express Radio-drama ticket-office " set forth in fat floriated letters representing blue marble, edged with gold. As it is we go to a " Chymist " for no other reason than that he has been faithful to his preposterous and engaging china title. We are not very reasonable creatures.
• Illumination and its Development $ tlso Present Day. By Sidney Farnsworth. London: ROWbinson and Co. 1246,1
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