THE old trite saying that the only really satisfactory anthology is that which the individual reader composes for himself is perhaps quite true. Nevertheless there are anthologies and anthologies and their degree of excellency depends on the discrimination of the compiler and his sense of what selections should be juxtaposed. The modern fad of the amusingly incongruous is exemplified by such mixtures as the "Weekend Book" where selections are grouped in compartments such as Great Poems, Hate Poems, State Poems, and so on ad absurdum. In the "Winter Miscellany" however Humbert Wolfe restrains himself to selections on the subject of winter and the result is a consistently pleasing volume whose charm lies in its maintenance of the wintry mood.

In this instance the compiler, Mr. Wolfe, has done more than merely gather the material for an anthology. He has given his apologia in a long preface and before each section, as for instance, the Sportsman's Winter, Countryman's Winter, Reveller's and Fireside Winter, he has contributed an introductory poem of his own. This thread of the poet and compiler's personality running through the book serves to unify the whole and give it a distinctive flavor, so often lacking in the usual run of anthologies.

Humbert Wolfe himself is a poet whose work deserves its place beside that of the men he honors by including in this volume. I particularly liked the second stanza of his introduction to the Countryman's Winter, a slight thing perhaps, but to me a rather poignant expression of the effect of a country winter on the city bred boy.

The pieces chosen are both prose and poetry and are picked from all periods and sources of English literature. Perhaps the most pleasing prose selections to the reviewer were those from Gilbert White's "Natural History of Selborne," but the favorites will probably vary with each individual reader. It is not a book to be read at a sitting but one from which choice bits can be culled at the reader's leisure. The format and cuts are more than ordinarily attractive, and taken all in all the book impresses me as one that will stand the test of time, at least with those who have made its acquaintance.