New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-11-27
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
SOME ILLUSTRATED BOOKS.


LAMA By John Keats. With illustrative de-
signs by WIN. H. Low. Small ouarto PIP 90.
Philadelphia: ]. b. Lippncot Company. iooe.
THE TRAVELLER. BY Oliver Go,dsmi.h' WIZ" SA
etchincs by NJ. NJ. Taylor PIP ~. -
HERMANN AND poROTHEA. BY Goethe. with six
etchings by Hermann Faber. PIP SO Phiiar
delphis: ]. B. Llppncott Company lsss ~
N iSnle. New-York White & Allen. 1888.
THE OLD FOLKS AT HOME illustrated by g. w.
Brenneman. New-York White q Anen' iooo'
MARINE PAINTING. With sixteen coiored plates
By Walter W. May. New-iork; CaSsen d Co.,
1855.
THE MAGAZINE OF ART Illustrated ted. ~ wu,r.
MODERN ART AND ARTISTS Edited by Wiiind
Newell. Illustrated. New-Y York Csssen & Co..
1855.
The appreciation OF Mr.. Lows illustrations of
Keats's Lamia' has encouraged the publishers
70 reissue the poem in a smaller volume. OF the
purity beauty and nobility of Mr.. Lows employ
ment of classic motives in the treatment of the
figure, we need not speak again. The refinement
and delcacy of his drawings arc the more well
come at a time when materialism. which often be-
comes sheer grossness. is too familiar a character
jstjc of treatment of the figure in pictorial art The
reductions of the photographers exhibit an APP
prcciable coudiness and lack of modelling, but
IN the main the essential qualities of the artists
work are present. The cover, of green cloth, is
stamped with a gold panel bearing the title, and
with gold wreaths
The methods of illustration employed IN the
~Iamia" and in The Traveller and Hermann
and Dorotheas place before us the conflict De-
tween Photographic processes and hand-engravlng
There are many lovers of hand-engravlng Ike MT
Hamerlin who believe that applied photography
IS destined to triumph, and it must be salo 'aO
their conclusion is justified by the evidence, at
least as regards illustrative WOODWORKING anu
reproductive etchng.N The late Paul RaJOn was
won't to assert that etchings should be, and would
be. employed for magazine and book llustra-
tions but NJ. Rajon probably moderated the
practical difficulty of printing enormous ed1uons
in power-presses, something which necessarily in
wolves the use of electrotyped plates II appears
10 be more than doubtful whether etching Is ever
n+ilized for illustration to q greater extent than
ut present, but without attempting discussion
Of the question we have 10 note the employment
of the needle in the plates accompanying The
Traveller" and Hermann and Dorothea.' In
the case of q descriptive poem like the former the
illustrator is compelled to work without positive
ness and directness Of aim, and 1t IS probable
that the half-dozen landscapes etched by MI
NJ NJ Taylor might serve another purpose equally
we'll As an etcher's expression OF personality
their interest is Slight and the same may be
said of the etchings with which Mr. fa0er has
accompanied Goethe's poem But here the artist
is belped by the ever-preSent quality Of human
life with sympathetic appreciation, although his
designs are often curlousy naive. Both these
volumes exhibit excellent paper and typography
"Logbook Notes. which presented in a long
aIhum-like volume nav be described rs a collec
ton of moral aphorisms in verse, Enthusiastically
printed and accompanied by ropes ends, rstilnes,
masts yards, topmasts, and various larger de
1neations of vessels under sail.
The same firm issues The Old Folks at Home
In O booklet with many decorative designs land
scape and figure drawings, by Mr.. Brenneman
which are more remarkable for quantity than
uuality These drawings have been reproduced
by the aid of photography.
The hepfulness of Mr.. Mays lessons in marine
PAINTING will prove the slightest possible, since
his book will be taken as an cncoura cement to
mere copying There is brief general introduce
hon. which is followed by sixteen chromo-litho-
graphic plates, with barren descriptions of the
colors used in the originals and necessary for the
copyist. Whatever Mr.. Mays intentions may have
been. the practical meaning of his lessons" would
he a reyersion TO the old boardng-school system
of scrvie copying. For this purpose injud1clous
students might his plates, but it is Impossible
10 take a serious view of this effort at marine
painting made easy"
Two imposing volumes received from Messrs.
Cassell d Co present the Magazine of Art for SIS,
and collection Of contributions TO the magazine,
chiefly biographical. The bound volume of the
magazine appears an attractive store OF good lit
erature and interesting pictorial features, although
the American department has undergone mel
ancbolv change The volume entitled ." Modern
Art and Artists contains biographies of Whistler,
Thomas Moran David Neal Elihu Vedder, f. d.
Eilct and w. J. Hcnnessy in addition to papers
upon artists Of England, France and Germany.
y