Copyright © The Malta Historical Society, 2005.

Source: Melita Historica. [Malta Historical Society]. 7(1978)3(293-294)

EDWARD SAMMUT, Handlist of Writings on Art in Malta, The Library Association, MUP 1978, 39 pp. including indexes to art­ists and authors.

The Library Association is to be congra­tulated for making this publication pos­sible. A worthwhile publication is a monumentum aere perennius. It is indeed a pity that a highly interesting exhibition on the History of Printing and Publishing in Malta mounted on behalf of the Library Association [p.294] in 1975 was not followed by the pub­lication of a researched, annotated catalogue of exhibits (through no fault of the present writer!). The 1978 organising committee was more lucky, as it clinched the present worthwhile contribution by Dr Sammut. Here is a lawyer, businessman, and man of culture, particularly an art lover and critic, such as we are used to know about on the Continent. His contri­bution to the study and diffusion of art criticism in Malta is second to none. This particular study is the usual labour of love. It is in fact a revised and en­larged edition of the Handlist published in Melita Histories. 1964. Over 400 entries are included and appropriately classified. A few items will undoubtedly be pinpointed by the connoisseur as echappè, including the very recent interventions by J Spike in Burlington. But we are all grateful to Dr Sammut. Art and art criticism in Malta, unlike literature and literary criticism, have enjoyed a free hand and uninterrupted development, and their prospects appear to be ever so good.

G. Mangion