... THERE is a good deal of the suavity of Somerset Maugham's writing in Mr. Martin Boyd's new novel, SUCH PLEASURE (Cresset Press. Ios. 6d.), but there is also the author's own quality of story-telling and the evocative power by which he suc ceeds in picturing a room or a countryside or just a woman's dress. And better than all these. he is able to e voice the teeling ot a period. I enjoyed this ...

... PICASSO Through the Eyes of His Friend Jaime Sabartes Pablo Ruiz Picasso, born at Malaga in 1881, the son of Basque parents, ranks with Cézanne as a supreme innovator. He has been an originator and leader of most of the new departures in painting since 1910. His art has passed through many phases. There are the lovely, if senti mental, paintings of his Blue Period of 1901-04; the Rose period ...

... MISS EVELYN HARDY calls THE CONJURED SPIRIT SWIFT (Hogarth Press. 15s.) A Study in the Relationship of Swift, Stella and Vanessa. The publishers point out that what they call the enigma of Swift's relationships has been done often, but mostly by men. Of the I handful of ladies who have tackled this difficult essay in pnocn f inn (on/1 4-Viorr lauiuai o^/uuuiauuu \aiiu muj include Lady ...

... IT would be fairly safe to say that the most popular American alive to-day is, by English standards, General Eisenhower. His own superb war history explains a few of the reasons for that popularity, which also depends on his humanity and the sincerity of his feeling for our own country. hew who heard his Guildhall speech in the summer of 194s, for instance, will forget its warmth or its ...

... INTO BATTLE WITH THE GRENADIERS The Story of the Regiment in the War Ever since the late Colonel Henderson wrote his life of Stonewall Jackson, military historians have had before them a prime example of the way in which military history can be rendered wholly palatable-- can, indeed, be as enthralling as a well-constructed historical novel. It is good to see others adopting the lively ...

... LOWLAND LAIRDS The Scottish Scene Through Three Centuries With his lives of William Wallace and Alexander III, James Fergusson, biographer and historian, acquitted himself well in a conventional manner, but infinitely more revealing in its portrayal of Scottish life, more charged with authentic atmosphere, is his series of essays on LOWLAND LAIRDS (Faber and Faber. 16s.). Mr. Fergusson, who ...

... THE Pre-Raphaelites are having a renascence of popularity, at least in so far as literary discussions of their work are concerned, and Professor Oswald Doughty's important new volume on Dante Gabriel Rossetti is yet another step in the re discovery of that remarkable and vital group of poets and painters. A Victorian Romantic I (Frederick Muller. 25s.) is literally a ponderous volume in its ...

... MR. NOEL LANGLEY'S new book is in a way a surprise, as it seems of such a different type from his other work, but perhaps his versa tility should have prepared one for surprises, and his delicately romantic version of the young love of Dante for Beatrice should only show a new facet of a remarkable talent. The In constant Moon (Arthur Bar ker. ios. 6d.) is a charming book, both to the mind and ...

... THE ART OF ITALO SVEVO The Stout Industrialist Who Wrote Novels in the Flaubert Manner The name of Italo Svevo, the stout and wealthy Triestine industrialist who sat at the feet of James Joyce in the first decade of the century, and who looked upon his own early attempts at novel-writing almost in the light of juvenile errors, is still known in England only to a small circle. It is seventeen ...

... Mainly for Boys Between io and 15 Years of Age. All Published by Hutchinson. Cowdog, by Ned Andrews, with illustrations by V. Anderson. (Cowboy Series. 4s. 6d.) Venture to the Main, by Leslie Morley, illustrated by F. A. Philpotts. (4s. 6d.) Ship Boy With Columbus, by Enid la Monte Meadowcroft, with illustrations by C. G. Rowlands. (5s.) Cowboy Boots, by Shannon Garst, illustrated by R. Mills. ...

... ANTIQUE DIVERSIONS An Important New Volume for the Collector Those treasures which Mrs. Malaprop called articles of bigotry and virtue, which are so hard to assess in the antique shop because our knowledge in the present genera tion is inclined to be lacking, provide the subject of an excellent new volume by G. Bernard Hughes entitled COLLECTING ANTIQUES (Country Life. £2 2s.). In his twenty ...

... There was a brilliant gathering at London's Guildhall for the presentation of the Grotius Medal to Mr. Churchill, and the actual presentation was made by Dr. Kappeyne van de Coppello, President of the Vereeniging voor Internationale, Rechstsorde, the Dutch equivalent of the United Nations Association. In his speech Mr. Churchill paid a deep tribute to Grotius, the far-sighted Dutchman. ...