THE ENGRAVED DESIGNS OF WILLIAM BLAKE.
By Laurence Binyon. (Bean. 6s.)—Blake's paintings have been dealt with very faithfully by the late Darrell Figgis ; and Mr. Binyon has now compiled a companion volume of engravings. The introductions are useful. They give a history of the -deirelopinent of Blake's method. Ire started with a solid and old-fashioned training, and Mr. Binyon suggests that he was never quite able to throw off the conventions he had learned. " The hand, trained by long exercise in certain ways of work, escape's the tyranny of habit less easily than the . mind," . With. this volume, the corpus of Blake's o orks become fairly complete : he has estab- lished himself as a considerable figure in English literature and art. There is a peculiar suppleness and lack of muscular articulation in Blake's figures which make his paintings and engravings easily recognizable. But the fact that he does not owe his uniqueness solely to this can be proved by a com- parison of his works with those of his imitators. It is an impossible task to reproduce the spirit of Blake. This beautifully produced volume contains twenty plates in colour and sixty-two in collotype.
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