The reviewer comments that this book should be made compulsory reading for all art students. Chapters and contents and new additions to this edition are discussed. Mr. Mayer has his own laboratory for testing materials and techniques. Miss Plesters offers some criticism; the commen-tary on the history of painting techniques has not been updated in the light of modern scientific research; and the chapters on media and var-nishes are crowded with near-obsolete natural resins and lesser-known oils. Noting its importance as a reference, however, the book review ends with Would that a copy had been put into Sir Joshua Reynolds' hands! -- AATA