GARDNER'S GUIDE TO ANTIQUES AND ART BUYING IN NEW YORK CITY

Mr. Gardner is the former curator of the John S. Newberry collection and he itemizes some 100 antique houses, 75 art galleries and 10 auction galleries which represent the most responsible sources for the above, whether fine arts, furniture, fabrics and wallpapers, glass, pewter, porcelain, silver and assorted accessories. Mr. Gardner is unassailably cautionary about buying what you like carefully (and not as an investment); the annotations tend toward hyperbole (""The art so breathtakingly exquisite"") but the habitats are reputable if for the most part, and necessarily so, on the long-established and high-priced side. Convenient categories and lists append and the book is chiefly a listing for the uninformed who are just as likely to come from out of town and need it.