New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-12-02
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
SOME ILLUSTRATED BOOKS.

TIA ted
NOME AND ART rISwS sT So.m ~
SsaET r. sANesrER. PIP. 90. New-York: Harper
H,srSRY' OF NETWORK CITY. By BENSON J.
LOSING. Edition dc Luxe. A. s. Barnes Co.
"A Bacchanaian song to be sung after dinner
vas the name once gwen by Thackerav to TINS
little poem which first appeared in Punch. forty
years ago. Its philosophy, as Mr.. Roche says is
n, old as the skeleton graced feast of the Egyp-
tiapsn Perhaps tho for tomorrow we shall die"
IL TOO plainly heard in the chorus for harmony
with the spirit of Christmas time. but the revel 10
\ mad one while 1t lasts. They are eighteenth
centur, jewellers whom the artist has pictured.
mon of the old fve-bottle days. but possible gross
ness has been avoided in the illustrations as care
fully a. in the text. Without laughter. cons ana
wit the punch-bowl would hardly detain these four
boon companions Mr. Merrill's drawings in their
precise detail and sharp sccentuatou. ms we'll as IN
TIE costumes suggest the work of another Boston
artist MIR. Gaugengig. But it is not so much for
pr csion In the infinitely little even del,cacy OF
execution that these figures are worth notice, as
for y cir refinement and the usually felcitous ex-
preston OF action. Some of The minor designs. as
sorrow, BECOME" are cleverly fancful The draw
inrs arc reproduced by the Lewis phototypc
process a modification of the albertype, in which
the geatine of the plato is made harder with I"
view TO stronger contrasts in the printing. The
illustrations are printed in tinted INKS aud their
general appearance is very credtable.
Itisalways an interesting. although not a very
uncommon circumstance when an artist leaves the
field in which bs laures have been earned, 10 test
himself in another branch OF art AS an &C
complished wood ELI graver. Mr.. French has long
since gained the admring esteem of the readers OF
oar magazines The artistic feeling apparent IN
his ergravicgs has brought discomfort with the
narrow restrictions of Translation, and this vorme
represents effort at original expression. In
rreparing this collection of twenty chidren's heads
Mr. French tells us that he has IN some cases
painted the heads from nature; sometimes from
photographs with the aid of bright faces near at
hand. Sometimes the photographs have been used
with but slight change" For some of these heads,
therefore. we are indebted to Mr. French's original
interpret atoms as well 40 to his TRANSACTIONS, AND
the artists right Of selection aud modification has
been eicised in all Some of them have ap-
peared in Haypcr's Young People, but We think they
were worth preservation. Perhaps the prettiness
even of these childish faces may pail little upon
one who advances straight from cover TO cover
perhaps the collection may be dismissed as mere
ly popular by those who crave diet more high
" spced bnt real lovers of child-liie Will find these
faces charming. and will feel the artists sincere
sympathy with mis- subjects. Few children even
are unconscious in this age and we sometimes feel
"the pose in Mr.. Frenchs subject rather than the
perfect artlesspess which, alas, is becoming
tradition of childhood. But this is fault from
which few artists of the day are wholly free. Mr.
French's gallery of children v ill be welcomed by
the fond mothers and fathers brothers or sisters"
to whom he makes especial appeal There is an
abundance of floral embellishments. head and tail
pieces and initial letters, which furnish additional
grounds for the artists continuance OF original
work. The engraving, We need hardly say, is ex-
Al Il
merit and to this attribute instances of lack of
tonic differentiation and variety. Mrs Sangsters
poems are in harmony with the pictures and the
spirit which produced them The title of the vol
nme is pei hsps its least feicOus feature although
the is cacu lated to make the judicous greve.
Messrs. A. s. Barnes & Co. have published an
edition de lure Of Lossings History of New-York
City" in two weghty aud handsomely made folio
volumes The illustrations are steel engravngs
which NAV said to he undesignedly appropriate
in historical work. for the interest of steel en-
craving rs an art is almost entirely historical.
Much Of it is being done to-day but it is usually
more or less commercial in its character. The old
landscape line engraver has been eibDwed aside by
the advance in wood engraving and etcLiug within
the last twenty years and by the varieh appca-
tons OF photography in the printing press which
are of still more recent date The line engraver of
figures has been also forced to YIELD Some ole has
said that MaBde who died in Germany few
years since the last OF the artist engravers In
our own country James d. Smile, ono OF the
foremost of the old-schoo engravers. died year
ago, and Asbur Durand. who died few months
SINCE left reputation as an engraver as we'll as a
pioneer in American landscapepalntiDg The veneer
able ohu Sar ain hose ngraved portraits nstruc-
ted gen. ration and more of readers still lives In
Philadelphia. In this city Messrs kitchie and Mar
shall still at work. tue latter fresh from the COM
ple.ion of his Head of Christ" But,as We have said.
line engraving art Is very nearly extinct,
although ITS s,aptability for various business our
poses will keep the buIin III use. We no longer
see it employed for the translation of paintings,
as-to make a local application in the days of
Huntingtons LADY Washlnston's Reception
and Dream of Peace" But in publications of
various kin Is, some in periodical. Others in hook
for'n cite other instances. steel engraving is
still fOuni useful in presenting cearcut likenesses
cOnventionalIy EXPRESSED. The essence OF steel
engraving is convention. and although it may be
said that this is less truo of all linear arts
yet the wood engraving and even the etching have
initiate resources which the steel engraving does
not share. Whether the wood engravei is right in
aiming at imitation or whether he should express
himself only in the con ven ional pure line OF the
earlier masters is question which We need not
discuss. We have to recognize the fact that all
recent popular education in reproductive art has
been IN the direction of imitation. not only OF form
and texture, but even within obvious limitations Of
color.
The engraviDgs in Lossings History appear to
he good likenesses executed with moch care but
the claims put forth with sheer at other neiho Is
Leaf us to look for pictorial quality which is sell
dom found. The conventional formula is patiently
carried out, tho faces stippled, the costumes
heavily cross-hatched, the backgrounds machine
rued--all the arbitrary methods are shown with
out Disguise, ind the spectator must supply the
value of these forms and deceive himself to their
significance. All this it may be urged, applies to
all steel engraving in varying degrees but We are
rather discussing the wisdom of the emphasis
nlacsd unan nfeel eugraying In this case Than