The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-07-23
Engravers and Their Work.
IN. Y. Letter to Phil. Press.1

IN. Y. Letter to Phil Press.l
No one who is unfamiliar with the process
of engraving has any idea of its tediousness.
In the first place it is as much as your life
is worth TO get a drawing from az artist.
Men who work with the brush and pencil
are supposed to be geniuses, and genius
must be coaxed, not driven. Then, after
the drawing is put on the block, it has to be
engraved, and this is the most tiresome pro-
cess of all. A first-cass engraver works
very slowly. Mr.. T. Cole, who has the rep
utation of being the best American engraver,
and who certainly is, if high prices mean
anything, was over week in engraving the
portrait of Madame Modjeska, from Schools
photograph, that appeared in the Century
Magazine, but then he was paid SITS for his
work. This seems like pretty large figure
for a comparatively small block, but when
one considers that an artist of the same rep
utation would get good many hundred
dollars for picture that 1t took him no
longer to paint, it is small pay. Sometimes
a block no larger than that would take four
or five weeks 70 engrave. If Mr. Cole makes
$4,000 or $4,000 year be does very well, and
while this is a comfortable enough sum, 1t
is not great deal when one considers the
position he holds anon engravers, and that
he is the only man in the country who can
do certain work. He is, l believe, training
up some pupils in bis methods, one of the
most successful of whom is a young lady.
Mr.. Closson, of Boston, comes next to Mr..
Cole as an engraver Oh fine work, and many
people think that he is quite az good. He IL
almost, but there is just enough difference
to make Cole the better of the two. don't
see any of Marsh's work, nowadays, who
used to be considered the finest engraver of
natural history subjects in the world, and If
you will go into Mr.. brakes Office of the
Century Company he will show you, with
bated breath, a bit of sponge and butterfly
engraved by Mr.. Marsh that experts go wild
over. One can almost see the dust on the
butterfy's wings, and hesitates to touch the
paper too rudely for fear of brushing 1t off;
but Mr.. Marsh is genius and only works
when be feels like it. Some of his engrav-
ings of Mr.. LaFarge's drawings are among
the most priced treasures of the collectors.
Every publishing house has its art director
and venture to say that he is the NEST
bothered man in the concern. AT Harpers'
Mr.. Charles Parsons, himself an artist of no
mean ability, has entire charge of all the il
Illustrations of that enormous establishment
mot only of all their periodicals, but of all
their books. OF course be has innumeraple
assistants, but be is still the head one, and
responsible for everything in the art line.
His labors have recently been lightened by
the securing of Mr.. King, very clever en-
grayer, as his right-hand man. At the Cen
fury Company, Mr.. A. w. Drake has had
charge OF the illustrations ever since the
magazine was started. Mr.. Drake studied
for an artist and finally became an engraver,
and 1t was while running an engraving es-
tablishment of his own in New York that he
was secured for Scribner's Monthly. With
in the last few years Mr.. Drake has been
ably seconded by Mr.. William Frazer, a Ca
madam artist, who also has practical knowl-
edge of engraving
At Charles Scribner's Sons, Mr.. Marvin
looks after the illustrated work, but, as they
make no specially of illustrated books there,
his labors are not as arduous as in the two
houses already mentioned. Mr.. Anthony
was for number of years connected with