Big Book

Big Book With more painted yardage of canvas than any country in the world, the U.S. now possesses 123 of Cézanne's 1,155 oil paintings; 52 of El Greco's 115; 18 of Vermeer's 37; 83 of Gainsborough's 300; 34 of Velasquez' 92; 143 of Rembrandt's 988; 87 of Romney's 429; 106 of Van Dyck's 950.†

Much of this flabbergasting art treasure is superbly illustrated in The Enjoyment of Art in America (J. B. Lippincott; $10), a new book which will give even the most passionate art lovers one reason to quail: the book (792 pages, 740 illustrations) weighs eight pounds, twelve ounces.

But the massive Enjoyment of Art in America fulfills its role as "the only comprehensive attempt ever made to gather in one volume the treasures ... of art which are housed in the museums of North America." Authors are Regina Shoolman, secretary of the American Institute for Iranian Art and Archeology, and Charles E. Slatkin of Brooklyn. In 295 pages of critical text they gloss the book's pictures with 17 brief, illuminating guides to periods and schools of the world's art.