20 OCTOBER 1923, Page 24

Northumberland. Painted by A. Heaton Cooper. Described by Agnes Herbert.

(Black. 7s. 6d. net.)

Those who like to take their topography and local history in diluted form will find this account of Northumberland pleasant

reading. It is a book of the amiably chatty variety, without serious literary pretentious, but with a certain zest and a fund of quaint information. One who knows the county can vouch for the material accuracy of the descriptive passages and also for the fact that they reproduce something of the spirit of the places they describe. The same may be said of the charming watercolour sketches which illustrate the volume. Northumberland is physically one of the most varied and historically one of the most interesting of the English counties ; and to the southerner it is, besides, one of the least known.