If you want a very large number of first approximations
for a relatively small sum, you could hardly do better than buy M. Hourticq's Encyclopedia of Art which has just been trans- lated into English (Harrap, 84s.). It contains nearly 400 large quarto pages of four columns each, in which subjects of every conceivable kind connected with the arts are dealt with. There are sixty-five pages of half-tone plates, and an innumer- able quantity of small line engravings in ihe text. In fact for finding out quickly something about anything the book is extremely useful, since it is not limited to biographical notes on the artists, but has also articles on technical matters, on the most important centres ofthe arts, and on the histor _al development of various schools and styles. Much of he information is well collected, but it is to be regretted that he errors, inevitable to some extent in a book such as this, shcoild be quite so numerous. Dates are often wrong, names Ire confused ; many mistakes have clearly come from mistraas- lation, others are due to misprints. In general the aesthetic comments are not successful, though many of them may have sounded more like sense in the original. The book must therefore be used with caution, and no one should suppose for a moment that it provides even a partial substitute for dictionaries such as Thieme-Becker. It is not relevant to say that many will disagree with its conclusions in matters of opinion, but any reader should be warned that the facts are not by any means always reliable.
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