Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-09-08
EXTRA ILLUSTRATING.
HOW RICH MEN SOMETIMES MAKE,
COSTLY PICTURE BOOKS.

Extending . Book BY Adding to It Plates
Which Did Not Originally Belong to It.
Biographies Most suitabis-where tho
Hngravings Come from.
Extra illustrating Is so commonly al.
luded to by its votaries as . mania. that
other people may accept the term. The
word seems not misapplied when one sees
the astounding things which the extra
illustrators are led to do. But it Is q
mania that gives 30 much delight In its
manifestations. and Is so agreeable In its
results that those who are whole may
well envy the afflicted. Extra illustrating
or extending books. as It Is called, consists
In adding plates to book to which they
do not belong. but which refer In some
way to the contents.
"The book best adapted for extra Illus
trating." said Mr.. William E. BENJAMIN,
. gentleman familiar with the habit OF
extra illustrating. lis one that refers to
persons and places. II not on every cage,
at brief intervals. A book that contains
forty pages Of philosophical reflections
and then mentions Shakespeare, Byron
and whole galaxy Of noted names, would
not suit the illustrators design. He
would, II he could, insert plate between
every leaf Of his book. but the plate must
illustrate something In the text on the
opposite page.
"For this reason books of biography are
the most suitable. 1t doesn't matter who
the man Is II he only has large acquaint-
snce among notable people. As It hap
pens. some Of the best biographies are the
best adapted for the purpose. Among
these are Boswell's Life of Johnson,
Mrs. Bray's Life Of Stothard, Life Of
Bacon Cunningham's Story Of Nell
/ 5Gwynne.' No book compares with this.
The story Is romantically Interesting, the
period. II dissolute. is brilliant, and the
persons mentioned make q gallery into
which enters every person worth knowing
Of at that time"
SECURING THE ENeRAvINGs.
'How does the extra illustrator pro-
ceedy"
He chooses his book. and then begins
the search for his plates. The distin-
guished personages mentioned he can
readily find portraits Of. and as many as
he wants Sometimes he wants one Of
each kind; then he can produce the man
at every period Of his lie. These plates
cost him probably from twenty five cents
to g. For example, II it Is Bacon he Is
illustrating he finds him easy and cheap.
But suppose he wants portrait Of Van
brughf He may then have to pay several
dellars. and II 1t Is Oliver Cromwellis
porter-snd l believe. although his name
is unknown, there Is portrait Of the
porter-he may have to pay &5 or moro.
L. L. ~ u
difficult to get, and 1t Is those that allure
the extra illustrator. His book has al
the distinguished men h Ill their pre-
sentiments. but here is an obscure name.
This Is the man he wants, 30 he waits
and hunts. sends here and there his or
ders and If he has the money viii pay any
price to secure the face Of this humble
individual utterly unknown to fame. Il
Is for this reason privately illustrated
books are SO seldom finished. There Is
always one illustration for which the
earth must be searched, and before it Is
found the extra illustrator dies"
But isn't 1t difficult to find plates of
uniform size adapted to the bookr'
N"It Is the book that must adapt itself
to the most valuable Of the plates. For
example, Q gentleman not long ago
W0uttQ W hlHSLLBb0 OuuukukuAlu INtu
Gwynne. which b an unpretending little
octave volume. At great expense he So
cured large rare engraving Of Nell
Gwynne lying on lounge attended by
loves. The engraving couldn't be pared
down. accordingly every leaf Of the book
was built up. There Is practice known
as inlaying. which consists in giving Q
picture or page Of text margin Of any
"a l. L.
that 1t can scarcely be detected In this
case the result was that Nell Gwynne,"
originally an humble octave, became Q
magnificent folio. This is . common
practice among extra illustrators. OF
course. the work is done by experts"
WHERE THEY COME FROM.
Where do the engravings come fromr'
Everywhere. In the earlier days the
extra illustrator haunted the second hand
dealers ware. tore the plates out from
magazines. books. found them In the
most unsuspected places. OF course. the
delight that accompanied such find is
among the things Of which words fail.
etc. Nowadays the matter Is simpli6ed.
A man chooses the book he wants to Illus
trste. and makes it known. Immediately
we will say $50 plates are selected for
him. There may be . number. we viii
say, Of Talleyrand. These are sent him
and he makes his choice. He may prefer
Q number Of portraits Of Talleyrand, pro-
vided they are taken at different periods
or by different men. Now, out Of that
$50 selected there may be perhaps thirty
that can't be duplicated In years. The
next man will have to try for them some
other way.
- A~,Az. .h~ ~
come educated and difficult to satisfy;
they throw out, In time, their common
plates and get better, and these, again,
FOR artist proofs or on India paper. In this
way engravings keep up circulation.
going and returning. OF course large
number come from the other side. and
dealers look out for them and collect them
for some possible need. Now here. for
example. Is large, imposing portrait Of
Owen McSwiney. Did you ever hear Of himi
Inever did; but some day his name will
be found in some obscure line. Then his
portrait will be wanted"
"Are scenes never required In. extra
flustrating?"
Rarely. They are usually works Of
Imagination. and the extra illustrator
wants something that Is real. There are
exceptions, Of course. Suppose . man
wants to illustrate the life Of Napoleon.
battles which are so associated with his
career. as they adorn the palace at Yer
sailles and as they have been engraved,
streets are frequently used. Old London
tions of Whitehall or Gad's Hill, for ex-
q, Ef, - n{o1ono xvo,xlA ~,