Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/25

 ii s. vii. JAN. 4, i9i3.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Who '* Who, 1913. (A. & C. Black.)

Englishwoman's Year-Book, 1913. (Same pub- lishers. )

The Writers' and Artists' Year-Book. 1913. (Same publishers.)

IT cannot now be said that " the world knows nothing of its greatest men." ' Who 's Who ' and the public press have long since prevented that possibility. This is the sixty-fifth year of issue of ' Who's Who,' and, owing to the con- tinually increasing number of biographies, more pages are required every year. The alteration in size is a great improvement. What a con- trast this book is to the first volume of the kind issued, a small book entitled ' Men of the Time ' ! published by David Bogue (afterwards the work passed to Kent & Co. ) In the edition of 1858 the men numbered only 710, including foreign sovereigns ; while the ' Women of the Time ' were but 75.

' The Englishwoman's Year-Book ' also adds issue by issue to the valuable information it contains, and should be read and possessed by all who desire to know the part taken by women in public or social life. The first section is de- voted to ' Education,' and shows how during the last fifteen years the whole position of educa- tion in England has altered, great develop- ments having taken place in every direction. There is a short article on ' W T omen's Suffrage,' tracing the history of the question from 1832, when the word " male " introduced before " per- son " restricted the Parliamentary suffrage to men. The first Women's Suffrage Societies were formed in London, Manchester, and Edinburgh in 1867, and in Bristol and Birmingham in 186S. Of the twenty-one existing in England, seven are militant. Under ' Employment and Professions ' eighty for women are described. Under ' Music ' reference is made to the revival of morris-dancing during recent years. The ' Industrial Section ' contains statistics and articles on the various occupations under that heading. A section is also devoted to ' Temperance.' All the articles bear witness to the pains taken by the specialists who have written them, many of whose names are mentioned in the Preface. Miss G. E. Mitton again deserves praise for her careful editing, which has evidently been a labour of love.

' The Writers' and Artists' Year-Book,' also edited by Miss Mitton, continues to supply useful information. The advice given as to MSS. is excellent.

Whitman's Print-Collector's Handbook. (Bell &

SonsJ

PRINT-COLLECTORS will give a hearty welcome to the sixth edition of this ' Handbook,' now revised and enlarged by Mr. Malcolm C. Salaman, who in his Introduction refers to the " valued friend " collectors lost when Alfred Whitman died, " so kindly and helpful a guide was he, so triad and ready always to give generously of his extensive knowledge, suggesting to the student the right direction for his research, assisting to Irain the would-be collector in the way he should go, and clearing that way of the inevitable false scents."

Since the work was written twelve years ago, there have been, as our readers know, important

developments in the domain of print-collecting, and although in Whitman's lifetime five editions of this work were published, health did not allow him to undertake the extensive revision required. This has now been successfully done by Mr. Safaman. One great development has been the increased interest taken in [old English colour-prints. Mrs. Frankau performed " the pioneer work with her sumptuous volume ' Eighteenth-Century Colour- Prints.' Since then, colour-prints, both English and French, have advanced enormously in favour, ' ' and " the sensational prices of twelve years ago sound quite modest to-day." Another deve- lopment has been the anxiety of collectors to acquire French line engravings of the later decades of the eighteenth century ; these, and colour-prints, are " very meagrely represented in the British Museum."

Mr. Salaman has also extended the scope of the work by including modern art. There is a chapter that will prove of practical use to buyers that on ' The Money Value of Prints.' Mr. Salaman advises the collector " to gain his infor- mation as he goes along, and one of the best ways in which he can build up his knowledge is by frequenting the auction - rooms, looking through the portfolios when the prints are on view, carefully noting the quality of the impressions offered, and watching the bidding and the prices realized."

The last chapter of the book Mr. Salaman devotes to "giving the amateur an introduction to the national collections of prints and drawings that are carefully preserved, for the public use and enjoyment, both at the British Museum and at the Victoria and Albert Museum the former being in some respects unsurpassed by any other cabinet in Europe.

On the 23rd of June, 1887, the handsome students' room at the British Museum was opened, and it is visited by more than seven thousand students annually. Besides this room,, there are several where prints are stored, while some of the most treasured possessions are preserved in the officers' private studies. There is also a very fine exhibition gallery, specially fitted. This was opened in 1888, " when an assemblage of Chinese and Japanese paintings, chiefly Japanese, was exhibited such as had never before been seen in the Western World." Among other exhibitions in this gallery have been Frau Wegener's collection of old Chinese paintings ; etchings of Rembrandt ; the mezzo- tints bequeathed by Lord Cheylesmore; and Diirer's prints. The collection 'has also been enriched by important bequests, such as 13,000 sketches and prints by Cruikshank, left by his widow, and 150,000 specimens of book-plates bequeathed by Sir Wollaston Franks.

The volume contains a Bibliography of two hundred and eighty works.

M. T. Varro on Farming. Translated, with: Introduction, Commentary, and Excursus, by Lloyd Storr-Best. (Bell & Sons.)

THIS is a piece of work which should help in that reconstitution of classical learning which seems slowly going forward. From an almost exclusive interest in classical diction and abstract ideas which has in many cases run out to little better than an interest in grammar and dirat; \fy6fjieya we are coming to attend to the subject-matter ot