Sir Mason M. Beeton and Mr. E. Beresford Chancellor have
edited and annotated the portion of the original text of Daniel Defoe's Tour Thro' Great Britain which deals with London, with the hope of reconstructing a vivid picture of the London of 1725. Westminster Abbey is described as " a venerable old Pile of Building . . . but so old and weak, that had it not been taken in hand some years ago . . . we might by this time have called it a Heap, not a Pile.. . . But it begins to stand on new Legs now." They are still repairing it and it is still standing. Messrs. Batsford have published two editions of this sumptuous book, one bound in antique panelled calf at £11 lls., the other in a cloth imitation panelled calf at £8 8s. Although we like the idea of publishing this book in a binding copied from work con- temporary with the original publication, we feel it is a pity to have produced the cheaper edition of this beautiful book in cloth which is made to look like leather. Why could it not have been in cloth which looks like cloth ?
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