Countries in Pictures

By Otto Hersehan
GERMANY, by Martin HUBmean (Thames and Hudson, 50s.).
AUSTRIA, photographs by Dr. Alfred Nawrath and introduction by H. E. Beran (Thames and Hudson, 50s.).
DOILY, photographs by Dr. Alfred Nawrath and text by H. A. Schwarz (Thames and Hudson, 50s.).
TUSCANY. photographs by Arnold van Borsig, introduction and notes by Rannuccio BianchiBandinelli (Thames and Hudson, 50s.).
AFTER acknowledging that these books published by Thames and Hudson must be ranked amongst the finest of seen in this their kind to be s country, it may not be out of place to voice a few personal preferences and observations.
In the publication of these four volumes, in sheer avoir du pois of illustrations alone, Germany ranks high in the first place; but strangely enough, it is priced as the others. This would argue that one is cheap or the others too dear. There are 239 plates in monochrome to "Tuscany's200, and in addition "Germany" has nine colour plates. These alone make the book well worth inspection.
A note to another volume by Thames and Hudson, " German Cathedrals" (50s.) describes Helga Schmidt-Glassner as a pno,ographer rivalling Martin Hiirlimann himself. Rivalry is certainly describing it aptly, as Plate 40 of "German Cathedrals" is a photograph of-Limburg that must have been taken within inches of the same spot as that reproduced on Plate 70 of "Germany."
"AUSTRIA' is an itleal subject
for these volumes and certainly evokes some pleasant memories, if also inevitable disappointments. Feldkirch, an old town of the Vorarlberg, was an unhappy omission. and it seemed sad to notice that in one way or another Burgenland has not found a place.
The book, in spite of its excellent photography, much of which one would wish to reproduce with travel articles. or without. tends to be too impersonal, something Austrians could never be.
pliF foreign visitor to Italy, particularly from this country. rarely ventures to the South, much to the chagrin of Italian authorities, who can hardly cope with the flood of tourists in the north. If any book can help this one will.
It is only when studying a book on part of a country with which one is less familiar that other aspects come to notice, such as, for example. the convenience of a simple line map, as in "Germany." when a particularly fine photograph of Livorno in "Tuscany" called for an atlas to find its location more precisely.