Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1868-08-07

show through" In newspaper work
this of less Importance, and often is not
attended to with any special care
But the chrome lithography the differ
ence ola hairs breadth would spoil a
pictra1: for it would hopelessly mix up
the colors.
Alter the chrome has passed through
the press, it is embossed and varnish-
ed, and then put up for the market
These final processes are for the pur-
pose of breaking the glossy light, and
Of softening the hard outlines which
the picture receives from the stone,
which imparts to it the resemblance OF
a painting on canvas.
Mr.. Prang began his business in the
humblest way, but has rapidly increas
ed his establishment, until he now en-
ploys fifty workmen,-nearly all of
them artists and artisans of the most
skillful class,-and is preparing to
move into larger building at Roxbu-
ry. He uses eighteen presses; and his
sales are enormous. His catalogue
now embraces q large number of Al
bum Cards, about seventy sets ottwelve
in each set: beautiful series of illu-
minated "Beatitudes'' and ''Scriptural
Notices. an endless list of our great
men, and Of men not great after all; of
juveniles, notably, a profusely illustra-
ted edition 'tOld Mother Hubbard"
and of half chromos and chromos prop
er Tai,'s Chickens, Ducklings, and
'Quails' were the first chromos that
met an instant and wide recognition,
Nineteen thousand copies Of the Chick
ems alone were sold. Bricher's .Ear
ly Autumn on Esopus Creek is one
of the best chromos ever made on a
small scale. The ..Bulfnch' and the
'Linnetr latter Cruikshank) are admir-
able. There are other chromos which
are less successful, and one or two that
are not successful at all; but they are
nearly all excellent copies of the orig
inals, with which the defects must be
charged
The chromos of Bricher's paintings
are really wonderfully accurate.
Mr.. Prang's masterpiece, however,
is not vet published, although it is near
ly ready for the market. 1t entirely
surpasses all his previous efforts. tits
Correggio's "Magdalena,n and can
hardly fail. we think, to command a
quick sale and hearty recognition.
Like every modern discovery, chro
mo -lithography has its partisans and
detractors,-those who claim for it per-
haps impossible capabilities, and those
who regard it as mere handicraft,
which no skill can ever elevate into the
dignity of an art We do not care to
enser into these disputes Whether
an art or a handicratt, chromo-litho-
graphy certainly re-produces charming
little pictures vastly superior to any
plates that we may have had
before: and it is, at least, clearly enti-
tied to be regarded as a means of cd
ucatine the popular taste, and thereby
raising the natlona; ideal OF art
4 correspondent, locking at chro-
mos from this point of view. thus indi-
cltes Gt may be somewhat enthuslas-
tically)ther possible influence on the
culture of the people,
What the discovery of the art of
printing did for the mental growth of
the people. the art OF chrome lltho-
grapny seems destined to accomplish
tor their aesthetic culture. Botara
types were first made. scholars and
Weather classes had ample oppor-
tunities for study: for even when Bible,
We're chained in churches, and copies
of the Scriptures then aptly so-styled)
were worth a herd OF cattle, there were
large libraries accessible to the aristoc-
racv of rank and mind. But they W ere
guarded against the masses by the dou
BILE doors OF privilege and ignorance.
A book possessed no attractions tor the
man who could not read the alphabet;
and because they were rare and hard to
get at. he hal t. ncitement to master
their mysterje Made cheap aud com
mon, the mc;4.4ss oeasantin the course
OF few gene ...oAs, found solace for
his griets in the pages of the great au-
thors OF his times and of all time
Mental culture became possible for
whole nations; and democracy, with
its illimitable blessings, gradually grew |
up under the little shadow Of the first
printers proof.
Until within quite recent period,
art has beea teuaal in its associations.
Galleries of priceless paintings, indeed,
there have always been in certain tav
ored countries; but to the people, as a
whole, they have been equally inaeces-
ible and unappreciated, because no pre-
vious training had taught the commune
ty how to prize them. 1t was like
Harvard College without the District
school.--a planet without satellit es,
and too far removed from the world OF
the people for its light to shine in the
cottage and in the homes OF the mass |
es.
"Now, chromo-lithography, although
still in its infancy, promises to ditfuse
not love of art merely among the
people at large. but to disseminate the
choicest masterpieces of art itself 1t
is art republicanized and naturalized in
America. Its attempts hitherto have
been comparatively unambitious; but
it was not Homer and Plato that were
first honored by the printing press. 1t
was dreary catechisms OF dreary creeds.
SO will it bewith this new art As the
popular taste improves, the subjects
viii be worthier OF an art which seeks
to give back to mankind what has hith-
erto boen confined to the few"
sR The word Of command has
gone along the Democratic lines
sDrop the War Record