STAIRCASES AND GARDEN STEPS.
Staircases and Garden Steps. By Guy Cadogaaa Rothery. (T. Werner Laurie. (is. net.)—This is the third volume of "The House Decoration Series." Mr. Rothery follows the evolution of the staircase from the days when "the cave-dwellers toilsomely carved deeper the crevices and systematized the pittings " in their rocks, down to such modern examples as those built of reinforced concrete "at the Crystal Palace for the Festival of Empire in 1911." He has much of interest to tell us about the steep and often dangerous outside staircases which served as defences to the castles and fortified houses of the Middle Ages, and of the stairs which were often curiously contrived in the thick- ness of a wall or the corner of a tower, and so gave a measure of safety and privacy, if not of easy accessibility, to the living- rooms of our ancestors. In great contrast to these are the magnificent State staircases of later times, of which Mr. Rothery gives many examples, followed by a chapter on "The Balustrade." He has very little to say on the interesting subject of garden steps, and only gives them a few pages at the end of the book. The illustrations are well reproduced, but unfortunately they have not been arranged in such a way as to fit in conveniently with the text. The volume is completed by a glossary, a bibliography, and an index.
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