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B00k.Y 171 of colour photography to illustrate the author’s designs is excellent,highlighting the harmonious rhythms possible in string designs. In contrast, Fig. 68 shows a poor design for the method and certainly does not merit full page treatment. Similarly. the book jacket design is weak, giving an experienced eye the feeling that various parts have been brought together without considering the overall effect. Shell Carving: History and Technique. Carson I. A. Ritchie. Barnes, Cranbury, N. J., Thomas Yoseloff, London. 1974. 298 pp.. illus. $10.00, f4.00. Reviewed by Winefride Wilson* Ritchie can always be relied upon to ferret out most of the relevant information about his chosen subjects and, when he describes techniques, he has usually practised them himself or watched other craftsmen at work. One cannot help wondering if such industrious research might not be better employed in a more worthy cause than shekarving.Although 1have throughout my career fought against the disparaging epithet of ‘minor’ as applied to any art form other than painting and sculpture, I think that it can fairly be used of the crafts described and illustrated in this book. It seems a waste that so much time and consummate skill should have been squandered on such fussy and restless elaboration. Untampered with, the forms of shells are beautiful and mother-of-pearl is a perfect lining for an oyster shell; but no more hideous form of decoration was ever devised than a papiermlche tray or a lacquer screen inlaid with nacre. It is astonishing to learn what risks men have incurred in diving for this meretricious material. The book may be lacking in aesthetic appeal, but its sidelights on history, geography, anthropology and zoology are enthralling. Shellshave performed utilitarian functions as razors. scrapers. polishers, surgical instruments, cups and other utensils; they have been prized as fertility symbols; they have been burned to make lime and they have been used as money. Shell carving developed around 3000 B.C ,but as a material for inlays it seems to have been superseded by ivory from about 1600 B.C. and did not really regain favour in the West until the late Middle Ages. I was interested in the microscopic examination of the so-called Royal Standard of Ur and of a gaming board from the same site. Tortoise-shell is the noblest of shells and seems to have inspired better taste in the craftsmen who worked with it, perhaps because its comparatively large scale offers fewer temptations to ‘Lords Prayer on a sixpence’ feats Of virtuosity. As examplesof popular art, the Dutch folk carvings (p. 140)have a rather endearing charm quite lacking in the convict work from New Caledonia, which is nevertheless an interesting rediscovery on Ritchie’s part. I was surprised to find no mention of the use of nautilus shells in neji and incense-boats, but perhaps these were omitted because they usually owed their decoration less to carving than to their precious metal mounts. The ‘Entry into Jerusalem’ is not one of the iconographical series known as the Stationsof the Cross, as stated in the caption facing p. 124. Boules de verre were used by other craftsmen besides ivory carvers and lace makers. as can be seen from many late medieval and Renaissance woodcuts and engravings. My husband once tested this device, using a brandy balloon, and found it quite effective. The semi-circular bench recess, called a grelle by the Dieppe ivory carvers, is not peculiar to them; it is used by goldsmiths and silversmiths who traditionally make a three-legged stool from the cut-out lunette of wood. The taquet is called a board-pin in England and a skin stretched underneath collects filings and sawings of precious metal. The textual errorsin this book are so numerous that I began to wonder if the proofs had ever seen a reader. Sun Pictures:The Hill-AdamsonCalotypes,David Bruce. Studio Vista, London, 1973. 247 pp., illus. Paper, f2.95. Hill and Adamson Photographs. Graham Ovenden, ed. Academy Editions, London, 1973. illus. f3.50. Reviewed by David Haberstich** *2 West St., Ditchling, Sussex. England. **Div.of Photographic History, Smithsonian Institution, United States National Museum, Washington, DC 20560. U.S...

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