Grand Paradis, by Samivel. 94 pages, with 84 black and white photo illustrations, and 12 full pages in color from films by R.-P. Bille. Paris: Hachette, 1958.

Samivel, even in a book which contains none of his drawings, can be counted on for a good show. He has supplied the text uniting a splendid group of pictures made in the Italian National Park Grand Paradis. These shots, made by R.-P. Bille are only occasionally of peaks, but illustrate in almost miraculous fashion the flora and fauna. The animal pictures are striking in action, the larger game, ibex and chamois, quite outdone by the lithe movement of fox, weasel and even marmot. Birds of prey, gay flowers, a chance serpent, all enliven the foreground against a panorama of cascades and snow. It is strange that, of all countries bordering the Alps, France is the only one without a national park. Samivel points out that Haute-Maurienne, adjacent to the Grand Paradis area and sharing a common frontier, is the logical territory for its creation.

J. Monroe Thorington