A PRINCE OF PICTORIAL ANNUALS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 288, 4 December 1900, Page 8

A PRINCE OF PICTORIAL ANNUALS.

THE "GRAPHIC" CHEISTMA3

NUMBER.

NOW KEADY.

Former issues of this popular annual have by their uniform excellence given the publication a unique place, and its appearance is every year looked forward to with increasing interest. This year's number, which has just been published, will certainly not disappoint the highest expectations formed with regard to it. In every respect it is first-class, larger and finer, and

more interesting than its predecessors. In the thousands of _New Zealand homes where the coloured supplement issued last year enjoys an honoured place on the walls, the companion picture, "The Native Birds of Hew Zealand" will be welcomed.' It is indeed one of the most beautiful pieces of work that has been turned out in the colony. New Zealand is rich in birds of curious lorm and brilliant plumage, and in the picture representatives of our winged inhabitants are brought together from every part of the colony and artistically grouped amid appropriate surroundings. The result is a picturt most attractive in composition and colour and most instructive besides. The supplementary plate measures 30in x 25in and is printed in .eight colours, the work having been done at the "Star" and "Graphic" Lithographic Department. An addition has this year been made to the pages of the annual, making it the largest that has yet been published. The contents include fine art engravings of New Zealand scenes, incidents, and portraiture reproduced from photos and paintings by our leading artists, and beautifully illustrated New Zealand stories. Every endeavour has been made to bring together all that is most attractive in our native scenery, folk lore, and colonial life, with the result that from the first page to the last the annual is a constant source of pleasure and surprise. As it is the custom of a great many colonists to send the Christmas number of the "Graphic" to their friends in the Old Country, in the preparation of the annual this fact has been kept .steadily in view so as to make it not merely attractive to New Zealanders. but to give our friends at Home some idea of the beautiful colony we live in. The price of the number with coloured supplement is one shilling. Tt is now on sale and may be had of all stationers, from the runners, or at the "Star" office.