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TURF VOLUME OF GREAT INTEREST "A Gift to the State, the National Stud," Titlo of Book Presented to H. "W. Smith. Harry Worcester Smith, of Lordvale, North Graft-Ion, Mass., has excellent reason to be proud of the ownership of a volume, which in many respects deserves to be regarded as among the valuable ad- tfitions to the literature of the turf now on this side of the Atlantic. The title of the book is "A Gift to the State, the National Stud," and it is commemorative of the princely generosity and patriotism displayed by Colonel AV. Hall "Walker in donating to the British Government his thoroughbred stallions, broodmares and foals, and most of Ills yearlings and horses in training. At the same time the Tully Stud at Kildare, and the Russley training establishment in Berkshire were sold to the State at a reasonable valuation. This volume, -which has been presented to Harry Worcester Smith with the compliments of Colonel "W. Hall "Walker, is numbered "278" of an edition de luxe which is limited to 325 copies, compiled, edited and decorated by the eminent master of hor.se portraiture, George A. Fothergill, and printed by the Messrs. Constable of Edinburgh. This book, which is printed on heavy water-color paper of the highest class, is ornamental and unvaryingly artistic from cover to cover, but at the same time it is invaluable in the matters of horse portraiture, pedigrees and turf history pertaining to Colonel Walkers great breeding estate, the Tully Stud at Kildare, and his Kussley training establishment in Berkshire. Colored Plates a Feature. One of the most strikingly attractive features of this sumptuous volume is the assembling of sixteen exquisite colored plates by the eminent painter Lyn-wood Palmer, who seems to share the honors of liorse portraiture with George A. Fothergill, M. B. 0. M., who, besides being responsible for the editing, decorations and other ornamentations, has contributed some valuable reproductions of his own portraiture work. If one were to attempt to describe the merits of even the purely decorative features of this book, he would find himself exceeding the limits of the letter press contained in the book itself. Every page bears the splendidly artistic work of the decorator, whether in pages, titles, borders, rare letterings, or fanciful tailpieces, and yet the keenest scrutiny fails to discover a single repitition among these almost countless designs. And this is not all. They not only are absolutely original, but there is experienced the refreshing sensation of a real surprise in the manner of treatment witii the turning of every page. The colored plates, which constitute the most striking feature of the remarkable volume are as follows: Plate 1. Frontispiece Col. W. Hall "Walker, M. ., on Buttercup by The Baron, winner of the House of Commons lightweight point to point steeplechase, 1910, and also his charger. From the painting by Lvnwood Palmer. Plate 2. Black Arrow Bred at Tully. Dead. "Winner of Newmarket Two-Year-Old Plate, Cham-piou Breeders Foal Plate, Derby, Coventry Stakes and St. James Palace Stakes, Ascot, Payne Stakes, Newmarket and Lingfield Park Plate, Lingfield. From the painting by Lynwood Palmer. Plate 3. Polar Star bred at Tully now in Argentine; winner of Gimcrack Stakes, York; Rous Plate, Doncaster; Criterion Stakes, Newmarket; Great Foal Plate, Lingfield; Bous Memorial Stakes, Ascot; Jubilee Stakes, Kempton Park; Mnnchester Cup, and many other races. From the painting by Lynwood Palmer. Great Minoru Is Shown. Tlate 4. Minoru -ored at Tully now in Russia; winner of Great Surrey Foal Stakes, Epsom; C.reeu-liam Stakes, Newbury; 2,000 Guineas, Newmarket; Epsom Derby; St. James Palace Stakes, Ascot; Sussex Stakes, Goodwood, and Free Handicap, Newmarket. From the painting by Lynwood Palmer. Plate 5. Let Fly bred at Tully now in Brazil ; winner of New Stakes, Ascot; Exeter Stakes, Dew-hurst Plate and Champion Stakes, Newmarket, and ran dead heat for Greenham Stakes, Newbury; plaeed second for New Derby, Newmarket and Newmarket Stakes. Plate 0. Royal Realm, by Persimmon Sandblast. From the painting by Lynwood Palmer. Plate 7. White Engle, by Gallinule Merry Gal. From the painting by Lynwood Palmer. Plate 8. Great Sport, by Gallinule Gondolette, From the painting by Lynwood Palmer. Plate 9. Night Hawk, by Gallinule Jeans Folly. From the painting by Lynwood Palmer. Plates 10 and 11 represent two groups of broodmares, three in each. Plate 12. Royal Realm, by Persimmon Sandblast. From a large watercoior by George A. Fothergill, 1914. Exhibited at the Koyal Scottish Academy, 1916. Plate 13. White Eagle, by Gallinule Merry Gal, at Tully, Kildare. From the watercoior by George A. Fothergill, 1914. Plate 14. "Arranging the Mornings Work," Russley Park, Wiltshire. From the watercoior by George A. Fothergill, 1913. Plate 15. "The Derby," 1913. From a large drawing by G. A. Fothergill. Plate Hi. "Mounting for a Trial in Colors," at Lambourne Downs, AViltshire. From the watercoior by George A. Fothergill, 1913. Plate 17. "Russley Park, Wiltshire." From the watercoior by George A. Fothergill, 1913. Plate IS. "Autumn in the Japanese Garden," Tullv, Kildare. From a large watercoior by George A. Fothergill, 1914. Plate 19. "A Corner of a Japanese Garden," Tully, Kildare. From a watercoior by Miss E. H. Adie. Plate 20. "Slimmer in a Japanese Garden," Tully, Kildare. From a watercoior by Miss E. H. Adie. Plate 21. "One of the Ancient Japanese Trees in the Japanese Garden," Tully, Kildare. From a watercoior by Miss E. II. Adie. Two Sires Given Exceptional Prominence. Owing to the fact that Royal Realm and AAhite Eagle were the leading sires of Colonel Walkers stud at the time it was turned over to the government, these two great sires are given exceptional prominence, each being given two portraits, one by Lynwood Palmer and the other by George A. Fothergill. The owner of this magnificient volume is especially interested in the work of Lynwood Palmer, whom, it seems, he knew before that eminent artist had attained to anything like his present prominence. In this connection, Mr. Smith says: "I was especially interested in it, as the work of George A. Fothergill, who is really "the editor, is shown at its best. "Again, I first met Lynwood Palmer, who is now the premier sporting painter of the world, at Grands first international horse show in Toronto in 1891 or 1892. He was riding and driving horses for Grand in the show ring and brought some of the .sketches down to "the Queens Hotel that night, and later Harry Hamlin of Buffalo and myself asked him to come up respectively to Buffalo and Worcester to paint some of our crack horses. "For the former he painted Gladys and Queen, crack tandem of Madison Square Garden, and for me, Sky High, the champion high-stepper under 15-1 at the Garden in 1891, 1892 and 1893, and Sans Keproache, my great tandem wheeler. "He also made a splendid pen-and-ink sketch of Sans Keproache and Sue Woodstock, who won the Maplehurst Plate at the open-air show in New York in 1S93, beating six competitors, being the first time that ever a sporting tandem class was ever competed for in America." Another splendid feature of the volume is the collection of 175 tabulated pedigrees, each pedigree taking up a page of art lettering with marginal borders and fanciful ornamentations. The work which must have been expended in this portion of the volume appears to be of itself staggering to anyone who knows what art lettering and artistic bordering happen to really mean to the conscientious artist who insists upon a liberal allowance of originality in his work.
