A TREASURY OF ART MASTERPIECES: From the Renaissance to the Present Day

A sure bet for Fall and holiday sales. It is bringing coals to Newcastle to report the book here, in view of the excellent job of advance publicity that the publishers are doing through their generous distribution of the announcement circular, with its full color insert. Advance orders already amply justify the extravagance of this circular. The booksellers have a real chance, with 100% publisher cooperation behind them.... I have seen, not the finished book, but OKed full color proofs of the 144 great paintings of the world, from Giotto and the early Italians, to contemporary modernists of the French and American schools. It is as fine a piece of color reproduction as I have ever seen, and the largest and most representative collection of art masterpieces ever brought together, in such form, in one volume. I have also seen the text by the editor, Thomas Craven, art critic of note and author of Men of Art etc. Introductory material sketches the highlights in the history of painting. Each reproduction is accompanied by an appreciative editorial and critical note, and -- where important to the understanding of the school and the artist, biographical material is included. But the book is not primarily a book about the artists, but rather a book about the pictures. The special offer on a limited number of orders placed before the book goes to press in August has still two weeks to run.