From the Magazine of Art: Review of The Evergreen

Professor GEDDES is to be congratulated upon a charming
idea, prettily carried out. True, The Evergreen, a
Northern Seasonal” (1895, published in the Lawnmarket
of Edinburgh by Patrick Geddes and colleagues, and in
London by T. Fisher Unwin), is a trifle affected, and the
writers and artists are all a shade too clever, but the
ensemble is delightful. The type is fine, the ink of the
blackest, and the printing what we look for from Messrs.
Constable. Mr. JOHN DUNCAN’S decoration is of a high,
if Beardsleyan, order throughout. Mr. ROBERT BURNS
is successful in “Natura Naturans,” though the same
cannot be said for “The Casket.” Mr. C. H. MACKIE’s
design for the cover of embossed old calf is quaint and
curious, though hardly beautiful. The keynote of the
whole volume is a sturdy one of Hope and Renascence.
In a word, “Patrick Geddes and Colleagues” seem to see,
against the background of decadence, the vaguely growing
lines of a picture of New Birth. Let us hope that this is
no illusion. We look forward with interest to the further
“seasonals” of “Autumn,” “Summer,” and ” Winter,”
which are to appear at intervals of six months.