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Institutions: Birmingham School of Design, &c. 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 
1. The Art-Journd Illustrated Catalogue of the Industry of all Nations. 
2. Coloured Lithographs.  By Absolon, Telbin, &.-Published by Lloyd 
Brothers. 
3. Examples of the finest Works, selected by Digby Wyatt.-Day and Son. 
AMONG the remarkable results of the Great Exhibition, the Art-Journal 
volume deservedly holds a prominent place. The Editor judiciously took 
advantage of the great circulation of his periodical, not only to present
his 
subscribers with a fall and most complete illustrated memorial of the great
event, but to enable the public generally to obtain a record of the chief
objects 
in the Exhibition at a very cheap rate indeed. It is a striking proof how
much 
may be obtained by proper co-operation. We have here some two or three 
thousand well-printed wood-engravings of the principal objects presented
to 
us at about the rate of three for a farthing! with a handsome binding thrown
in. If the work should be reprinted, we would suggest that the sizes, at
least 
of the chief objects, which are drawn to different scales, should be attached
to 
each cut. 
Messrs. Lloyd's lithographs consist of a selection of about twenty-four 
principal views, chiefly of the courts of the building. They are coloured,
and 
axe picturesque, general memorials of the Exhibition. This, like the preceding,
is a work intended by its cheapness to appeal to a numerous public, each
plate 
averaging a low price which would not have been dreamed of years ago. 
Mr. Wyatt's work is decidedly of a practical character; from which manu-
facturers may, if they are intelligent, derive considerable advantages. The
objects are for the most part selected with judgment, and with a view to
their 
suggestiveness for future use. They are represented in admirable coloured
lithography. It is a work which every school of design and public library
should possess. It will be issued in parts at a very low price, and deserves
to 
command a most extensive sale. 
BIRMINGUAM   SCHOOL OF DESIGN.- 
After much delay in appointing a mas- 
ter, the Board of Trade has nominated 
Mr. G. Wallis to the head-mastership 
of this important School. It appears to 
have been felt, that the difficulties likely 
to arise in the way of the new master, at 
the outset, owing to the recent state of 
affairs, were such that unless confidence 
could be infused at once, the probabili- 
ties would have been in favour of an 
utter disruption of the institution. Mr. 
Wallis having been applied to, agreed to 
undertake the duties when the business 
of the juries of the Great Exhibition was 
completed; and as this will not be before 
the middle of October, the Birmingham 
Committee has made an arrangement to 
open the School, pro temp., under the 
supervision of Mr. P. Hollins, the emi- 
nent sculptor, who will be assisted by 
Mr. Lines and other gentlemen. The 
wisdom of this arrangement will not, 
perhaps, be very evident, though, under 
the circumstances, the Committee was 
perhaps justified in this course from the 
fact, that the School has now been closed 
for three months, and has been in great 
disrepute. We cannot but think that the 
blame must be shared between the in- 
spector, Mr. Poynter, and the local 
committee, who ought to be the local 
guardians and managers of the School. 
What is the use of Mr. Poynter or his 
office, if the state of Provincial Schools is 
always a subject for discovery? The 
standing of the School in the estimation 
of those most interested in a town like 
Birmingham, must rest also with the 
gentlemen who undertake to see that it 
is properly conducted,-not for the pur- 
pose of instruction only, but with proper 
dignity and self-respect on the part of 
the masters. The local prints state that 
the Committee rarely met, and even then 
a quorum was an exception rather than a 
rule. Occasional efforts were made to do 
something, but these generally resulted 
in nothing, from want of continuity of 
action. Mr. Wallis's future practice will 
contradict the past, if all this is not 
speedily remedied. His training in the 
Great Exhibition must have tended to 
quicken thought and make action prompt; 
even if his former practice and expe- 
rience in the Schools had not shewn that 
to decide and to do were the great ele- 
ments of success. We fear, however, 
that there is too great a tendency towards 
the mere dilettantism of the amateur 
I nstitutions .