MISCELLANEOUS.

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.

Every one who had an opportunity of inspecting the glorious assemblage of masterpieces of workmanship and design which were collected together at the Exhibition of Ancient and Mediaeval Art last spring, must have felt a desire to possess some more lasting memorial of that unparalleled display than the mere catalogue. {14} So strong, indeed, was this feeling at the time, as to call several announcements of works in preparation, commemorative of the Exhibition, including one by the accomplished Honorary Secretary of the Committee, Mr. Franks.  Mr. Franks has, however, we regret to hear, now abandoned that intention, so that of these promised memorials, we shall probably only see the one which has just been published under the title of Choice Examples of Art Workmanship, selected from the Exhibition of Ancient and Mediaeval Art at the Society of Arts; and, whether as a pleasant record to those who visited the collection, or as a compensation for their disappointment to those who were not so fortunate, the book will, doubtless, find favour with the rapidly increasing class who take an interest in works of this character.  That the publishers anticipate a large sale, is obvious, from the remarkably low price at which they have published this beautiful volume, which contains upwards of sixty engravings, drawn from the gems of the collection, by Mr. De la Motte, and engraved under his superintendence; and furnishes representations of objects of the most varied kinds, from the Nautilus Cup belonging to Her Majesty, to Mr. Vulliamy’s Ivory Bas-reliefs ascribed to Fiamingo, Mr. Slade’s matchless specimens of Glass, and Dr. Rock’s Superaltare.

Mr. Charles Knight has just put forth a small pamphlet, entitled Case of the Authors as regards the Paper Duty, in which he shows most ably and most clearly the social advantages which must result from the repeal of a tax which, as Mr. Knight proves, “encourages the production of inferior and injurious works by unskilled labourers in literature.”

The Gentleman’s Magazine of the present month is a capital number.  Mr. Cunningham has commenced in it, what promises to be an interesting series of papers upon a subject which that gentleman’s well-known tact and judgment ill prevent from being objectionable, The Story of Nell Gwyn; and the numerous friends of the late Mr. Amyot—­and how numerous were his friends!—­cannot but be pleased with the characteristic portrait which accompanies the interesting memoir of that kind-hearted and accomplished gentleman.

Oracles from the British Poets, A Drawing-Room Table Book and pleasant Companion for a Round Party, by James Smith exhibits a good idea carried out with excellent taste, and justifies the author’s motto: 

  “Out of them scatter’d Sibyl’s leaves,
  Strange prophecies my fancy weaves.”