IN PRAISE OF THE OYSTER

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 120, 16 November 1929, Page 21

IN PRAISE OF THE OYSTER

The publishing house of Knopf has brought- out a new book by Mr. Hector Bolithp—"The. Glorious Oyster." The-London "Daily Telegraph" Teview remarks .that introductions . only ' too of ten. promise the reader an exquisite souffle, only to reward him with a plain'rice pudding. Mi. Bolitho's introduction, on the contrary, is a real anticipation of his erudite and enthusiastic tribute' to the oyster as known in all periods of history and in all countries of the world. Mr. Bolitho lias scoured the byways of history for oyster lore, there is no passage in the whole book that reveals the full sap and savour of his cult more enticingly than the passage in the introduction describing an oyster feast in New Zealand accompanied by that mixture of -stout and champagne which is known as 'black velvet.' It deserves, indeed, a place in the anthology incorporated in this book." Mr. Bolitho has also compiled an anthology of Empire verse and prose, .which is-published by Jonathan Cape.. *...