Given its Pounds 5,750 price-tag, all but the most affluent schools and colleges will need to find alternative ways to afford The Dictionary of Art, but once they have understood the value of this unique publication they are sure to make the effort.

Its 34 volumes are a library in themselves: 41,000 alphabetically arranged, cross-referencing articles provide a complete survey of global art, architecture and craft to date; every country is represented; determining factors like geography, trade, materials and technique are as fully considered as well as the more usual ones of religion, philosophy and politics.

Women artists, past and present from East and West, take their proper places beside the men; and over 15,000 illustrations accompany the extraordinarily well-organised, clearly-written texts of nearly 7000 scholars.

If parents associations cannot raise the money and no outside sponsor can be found, maybe local education authorities andor public reference libraries might make this invaluable resource available.