BRITISH ORDERS AND DECORATIONS.

By James Charles Risk '37. London: J. B.Hayward & Son, 1973. 124 pp. not including76 plates. Two pounds postpaid.

A young Navy lieutenant, Class of 1937, who spent five years on destroyers in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, followed by staff appointments in Italy, had a hobby which many thought a little out of the way, if not downright peculiar. James C. Risk, a New Yorker, collected British orders and decorations. British coins made more sense. He became so knowledgeable that in 1945 The American Numismatic Society was pleased to publish his British Orders and Decorations, a small volume of 124 pages with a useful bibliography, many illustrations, and the titles of 110 numismatic notes, monographs, and studies.

Since 1945 Risk has intensified his researches to become one of the leading authorities on the Orders of Knighthood and especially British insignia. Proof is the publication of a definte classic. The History of the Order of the Bath, reviewed by Carl Bridenbaugh '25 in the March 1973 Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. Long recognized as indispensable for collectors, his 1945 paperback now appears, reprinted, in hardback with a handsome dust cover in red, white, and blue and on it a reproduction in color of Order of the Bath, Star of a Military Knight Grand Cross (about 1830). An illustration of The Garter serves as frontispiece.

In a foreword Risk remarks that since 1945 the number of collectors has multiplied from a few handfuls to tens of thousands. Before and immediateh after the last war the collecting fraternity largely devoted its attention to war medals alone. So little valued were the insignia of British orders that they were frequently removed from groups of medals and disposed of separately to specialists. Today the ornaments of the British Orders of Knighthood are viewed as being the most attractive of all forms of insignia to collect and study.

Risk Believes that the best motive and the greatest reward for collection are primarily the search for knowledge based on historical curiosity and combined with the pleasure of acquisition.

Still valid, this fully bound library edition is a useful elementary guide for adventurous collectors.