New-York tribune., 1881-12-24
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

v,r,-pr Avn APT POEMS AND PICTURES. Com.
niled nv LoTisE REID ESTES, Boston hs'oS ="
1auriat 1882 - r,,or1o
hooL "J,Arf a travers les Moeurs, we salu
sh+ :, ,yas q curions specmen of the art OF oooA-
,oLino 40 il is practi5ed nowhere but IN ffahce'
We may say of the volume at present uhuer no"'0
tbat II ;s specimen of the art of book-naklhe az
Il is practised nowhere but in America. MeSSis'
rstos G. Iauri,t were the publishers OF Ihe hm0t-
can Art Reiac which lately came to an untueIy GNU
II has occurred to them that il would be goou P''
10 make use of some of the plates OF the oe'uno'
publication, with old stock and remalhders loi'
other quarters, in illustrating seiectioh VI
mems all of them that are of anv value weu-worn
acquaintances OF the public and perfectly Access
ible TO everybody, whether in the books i'll when
they originally appeared or in any one of hundred
compilations like the present. The poems nave ho'
been written for the pictures nor the pictures aoc
for the poems and consequently any relation 'hat
may happen to exist between them Is elther lolcou
or merely accidental. There are fourteen etcu'hES
all of which have already been pup
Esbed in The American Art Rectde, but
which are here printed with FAR less care
than was bestowed upon them when first presented
to the public 70 these etchings are added sixteen
full-page wOod-cuts, several of which nave aiSo
made their bow to the public in the same pagesand
service Beside these etchings and full-page wood
cuts there are about thirty small wood-cuts winch
have heen dragged in, neck-Gnd-heels, to serve as
Illustrations of poems with which they cannot
naturally have anything whatever to do' since
they are all taken from book published III In'S
city so long ago as 1868 A Description ol 'h0
Ncw-York Central Park" One of these cuts
representing a rustic bridge in the farN
with a man in his shirt-sleeves IooNlns
nj the landscape as it was before MI Aneurih 'o'o'
was LET loose IN it, serves as an appropriate lus'ra-
tion to an extract from Chaucer OF all TINS ecohu
hand business there is no intimatlon given III the
title-page TO the intending purchaser who asarlSht
TO believe from the loud-sOunding announcement OF
names of etcLers and designers that these llustra-
tions are not cold meats warmed over, but supper
for cold Christmas night freshly prepared Tor MS
own especial qualification. Even the Dill OF Iarcou
the ttle-page is not quite accurate and we should
take fancy to call for of the items we should
hear from the publisher the familiar answer OF the
restaurant waiter, "All gone, sir" Thus there Is
no plate by w. Leibl to be found In the book,
though the ttle-page promises us one, aud though
the tite-page correctly gives the plate of Girls
Head after Greuze to Forberg the etcher the in
dex saws very plainly that it was etched by Mr. ).
!. Ferns. which would be quite a different thing.
Any ono who wishes TO what difference careful
printing can make with etching has only to
cop,pare the two best plates in this book the 'front.'
ispiece, "a Day-Dream" engraved by Buchel after
F. A. Kaulbach and this Girls Head" engraved
by Forberg after Greuze, with the same
plates as they appeared in The A"e7ca"
Art Rerlew As they came to us Ill the
Review. they beautifully clear and
firm. with all the modelling and texture preserved
in their original refinement while here they are
clouded and unused" to such an extent that 1t
was only by reference to the Review we could make
sure they are printed from the same plates. 1t is
great pity TO vulgarize fine work in this way nor
does it seem to us legitimate to put forth as new
claimant for public favor book like this where
both the text and the illustrations, have already
done hard work IN the public service. They have
fairly earned rest and they ought to have it.
Mr. Edward Abbott, in "A Trip Eastward" III. ID.
Earta... ha, nldnd n third 70 his serina