Books: Revival

Music AT MIDNIGHT—Muriel Draper —Harper ($4).

Ladies who in the past have presided over brilliant salons are Mme. du Barry, Mme. de Staël and the author of this book. The salon was fast becoming a lost art when Mrs. Draper staged her revival, substituted garish Bohemian cushions for frail gilt chairs, substituted brusque moderns for précieux. In "memories of a world that has passed" she reconstructs her London music room; then peoples it with musicians—Thibaud, Rubinstein, Ysaye—and with listeners— James, Sargent, Norman Douglas. Of each she makes a shrewd, if flattering, portrait. Of...