14 JUNE 1986, page 32

The Painter Of Painters

David Ekserdjian VELAZQUEZ: PAINTER AND COURTIER by Jonathan Brown Yale, f35 T here are depressingly few decent books on individual artists, and, what is more, most of them date......

Tape-recorder To The Victorians

Harold Acton AUGUSTUS HARE: VICTORIAN GENTLEMAN by Malcolm Barnes Allen & Unwin, £20 A ugustus Hare's copious Victorian guidebooks are still useful and readable, if only for......

A Selection Of Recent Paperbacks

Non-fiction Sexual Desire by Roger Scruton, Weiden- feld, £8.95 Hermit of Peking: The Hidden Life of Sir Edmund Backhouse by Hugh Trevor- Roper, Macmillan, £6.95 The Airman and......