Victorian Christmas: Source Book with 10 Projects

This appealingly designed portfolio, pack with instruction book and 75 embossed facsimiles of 19th-century cutouts for use in the 10 projects outlined, fails to deliver on the promise of its packaging. The paper cutouts and scraps are ample and pleasantly traditional, but the book, which contains brief histories of Victorian customs and rituals, quotations from literature and seasonal recipes, falters in its craft instructions for the projects, which cover traditional decoupage, faux-plaid painting and simple gilding of gift items ranging from cookie tins and holiday candles to candy boxes, table centerpieces and wassail bowls for New Year's Eve. Brief historical perspectives are somewhat slight; pictures of finished crafts are crowded and less than helpful, and some of the instructional illustrations are superfluous. (Nov.)