X.Y.A.

* * * * *


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 Mediæval 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 Mediæval 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