Two Christmas Annuals

THE VENTURE. 1905. 7s. 6d. net. THE DREAM GARDEN.
1905. 5s. net. John Baillie.

The Venture is a kind of Annual that was more in vogue
about ten years ago than it is now. It is made up of stories,
essays, and poems, all very literary, at least in intention, and
of drawings, etchings, etc., usually quite unconnected with
the written matter, but also very artistic in intention. In
the case of The Venture, as in most of such collections,
the art is more interesting than the literature. The litera-
ture is, indeed, too intensely literary, for a good many of
the writers appear to be amateurs writing to please them-
selves and, as it were, to show their paces. They are de-
termined to write elegantly at all costs, and this is well;
but unfortunately they do not seem to have yet found much
to write about. The result is a kind of preciosity which is
impressive rather than amusing. Mrs. Meynell, of course,
is not an amateur, but she is as precious as the most un-
practical amateur that ever wrote to tickle his own palate
with exotic epithets; and a good many of the other con
tributors have apparently a strong liking for her way of
writing and for what seems to be the affectation of a more
than natural sensitiveness. Yet if the reader can overcome
the bewilderment and irritation with which these little tricks
may vex him, he will get some pleasure out of the literature
of The Venture. It has, at any rate, an easy holiday air.
The contributors seem to have written to please themselves
and not for the market, which is something. Mr. Edmund
Gosse, who of course is not an amateur, has an ingenious
poem in the style of Marvell called “An Intellectual
Ecstasy.” Mr. Vincent O’Sullivan’s essay on “Staying at
an Hotel with a Celebrated Actress” is, in spite of a little
foppery of expression, a really just criticism of Ouida’s
genius. Mr. Bottomley’s “Old Songs” are both fresh and
amusing. The art has nothing amateurish about it. It
includes a bold woodcut by Mr. Brangwyn; a reproduction
of Mr. C. Shannon’s beautiful “Bath of Venus”; a bril-
liant lithograph of “A Cock Fight,’ by Mr. Carton Moore Park;
and a very fine chalk drawing of a head by Mr. John.

In The Dream Garden, a children’s annual, the litera-
ture excels the art. There the pictures are more ama-
teurish than the writing. “Fuff,” a fairy story about a
princess who turns herself into a cat when she is naughty,
by Christina Denning, is admirable, and should amuse
readers of all ages. Mr. Belloc’s song for a child is better
poetry than any in The Venture. Indeed, it deserves a
place in all children’s anthologies. Mr. Housman’s tree
that went round the world is pretty, though it would not hit
the taste of all children. Both books are very good value
for the money.