Some Poems by Alfred Lord Tennyson. (Freemantle and Co. 21s.)—The
object of this book, as Mr. Joseph Pennell tells us in the preface, is to place before the reader some of the fine works of illustration, together with their text, which appeared in the years between 1860 and 1870. This period may be taken to be the high watermark of illustration, and the present work, with its beautiful drawings by Rossetti, Holman Hunt, and Millais, goes far to establish the contention. Mr. Holman Hunt writes a short introduction giving an account of the origin of the illustrations. No drawings in the book are better than his, notably his " Lady of Shalott." Some of the drawings were photographed before the blocks were cut, and so have been pre- served; these are reproduced, and so can be compared with the wood engravings. These last are printed from the original blocks on good paper. We wonder will the illustrations of to-day be reproduced with critical prefaces thirty years hence. Those who still retain the distinct impression made in childhood by such illustrations as Millais's " Parables " may wonder if the style of modern work is as poignant and imaginative as it was in the " sixties."
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