THE RISE OF THE HOUSE OF DUVEEN

While this cannot compare with the sparkling entertainment of S.N. Nehrman's Duveen (1952), the portrait of the most flamboyant figure in this clan of great commercial collectors, it is an expansive genealogy and chronology of their activities. The author who is now 82, wrote an earlier book on the discoveries-and disappointments of an antique connoisseur. Here he brings the history of the House of down to the near present and pays particular tribute to its founder, his uncle Joel Joseph Duveen, who from his first ventures in cups and saucers, and Nankin , bought on the continent and sold in England, ultimately amassed a fortune of fifteen million pounds. The spectacular transactions, the many collections bought, sold and created, the acquisition of 11 Rembrandts, the gaffe of a fortune in rare stamps which went unrecognized and were ruined, the many members of the family who were to participate in the firm- and fall out in its later years, make up these annals of finders -and keepers- of a great tradition. It portrays too a grandiose era- of unpredictable opportunities and unexpected returns, and it should attract the audience of R. P. Way's more personal reminiscence- Antique Dealer (Macmillan).