Amenities of the Countryside

Abstract

THE almost simultaneous publication of these two books marks an important stage in the increasing consciousness of Englishmen that they have in their countryside and their older buildings a historic heritage of incalculable value which is in danger of destruction and ought to be made secure for the enjoyment and education of their descendants. One of them is a pictorial and descriptive account of the principal properties held by the National Trust and is thus primarily a record of achievement: the 'other contains the views of twenty-six eminent persons on various aspects of the problem, some being content to describe, and generally to deplore, the present situation, while others put forward suggestions more or less comprehensive and more or less practical, which they would like to see adopted in a future policy.

(i) England under Trust:

the Principal Properties held by the National Trust in England and Wales. Described and illustrated by J. Dixon-Scott. Pp. xx + 339 + 62 plates. (London: Alexander Maclehose and Co., 1937.) 7s. 6d. net.

(2) Britain and the Beast

By J. M. Keynes H. J. Massingham Sheila Kaye-Smith E. M. Forster W. A. Eden C. E. M. Joad John Moore Clough Williams-Ellis Geoffrey M. Boumphrey R. G. Stapledon A. G. Street Patrick Abercrombie Thomas Sharp G. C. Hines Howard Marshall Lord Horder of Ashford G. M. Trevelyan John Gloag Sir William Beach Thomas S. P. B. Mais R. M. Lockley Kenneth Spence Edmund Vale George Scott-Moncrieff Lord Howard of Penrith Aileen Tatton Brown. Pp. xx + 332 + 41 plates. (London: J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd., 1937.) 10s. 6d. net.