The value of this book is somewhat difficult to assess. It lacks the creative quality, for instance, of such books as Art Treasures of the Louvre. It isn't systematic enough in its organization to function as a guidebook. To bring it down to personal response, I found its chief virtue lay in its recall of things seen, its reminder of things missed. There is a brief text, somewhat awkwardly translated from the German; there's a listing of the chief ""treasures"" of the Pinacoteca Vaticana, of the chief galleries of the museums, of the famous Stanaes of Raffael, of the Loggias, the Appartamento Bo]rgia, of the Sistine Chapel. There are some 160 illustrations, of varying degrees of excellence (none in color), with sculpture predominating over paintings. The captions serve to identify subject, source, artist (where known), locale in the museums. In the absence of a better book on the Vatican art treasures, this has its place.