New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-12-05
HOLIDAY BOOKS.
NEW EDITIONS AND FRESH PUBL
CATIONS.


ideas might seem to make IL easy 10 De UNJUST
to the artist who has illustrated the new van
rwiiler' edition Of OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES History ol
New-York" g. p Putnam's sons. MI he''p'e
has sketched the Southern negro ihI"''a0''
Could he be expected to treat the ola Noi '"''"
Dutchman Of Irving's charming book VIII" any
thing like the same success? But we sPeah Va
this possibility of criticism only 10 repuui"'e
IT, Judging the drawings in these TWO VoiuiheS
without any prejudicial comparison Oh t'on
with Mr. Kenbles better known WORK. IL 10
still the conclusion that as an ILLUSTRATOR VI
Irving he has not hit the mark lie mas hu"'o''
He has such erudition of picturesqueneSs aS 10
required by the environment end costumes IN
which their period envelops the rotund burghe'S
OF old New-Amsterdam. He has a suincieh'
&oohr,ous of course and he has shown some
originality in illustrating the least conventional
nossaoes in the history He has pictured the
rreat dragon swallowing the moon as the event
may have occurred according to one OF the MS
tor,ans authorities and all through his TASK ne
has avoided stereotyped scenes. the groups vi
Dutchmen smoking and drinking, which less
sympathetic talent might have conceived as ."e
principal dramatis personae IN the DUN Du'
af,ar all the fun in these illustrations has beeh
credi,ed where is the Washington Irving spirit
The Irving atmosphere and charm? 10 SPEAK
mite canddy il appears to us TO De compe'eiy
absent 1t is impossible TO give dehniuon Oh
Il for atmosphere is indefinabe. You feel IT, OF
Won don't. 1t is a matter Of personal con-
tact and with the essential feeling of Irving
Mr.. Kemblc does not seem to have come in con-
&oct at olI except in a superficial way. This IS
A,.a nnointiny and melancholy. Capacity or a
ourely artistic sort, like Mr.. Kemble's. deserves
success. But Mr.. Kembe should never nave
attempted the illustration of an author foreign
IN hts temncrament 1t should be added that
the nresent volumes maintain the high standard
nj mechanical excellence set in previous issues
of the Irving series published by the Putnams.
Mr. Willis O. Chapin's luxurious volume. en-
4;tIed 1.-THE Masters and Masterpieces OF En-
craving Garper e. Brothers., is a good tenta-
five study of its subject. To attain to the
airnity Of anything more than sketch 1t Will
baye IN he rewritten with more thoroughness
than II now reveals and will especially have TO
no resystematized Mr.. Chaplin says, for exam
nile. and says it as early as his seventeenth
mage that Rembrandt Is "among the masters
OF engraving" A writer capable OF state
n,ent like that destroys confidence in himself
at the outset Rembrandt was an etcher' not
an engraver. TO bracket him, as MT Chaph
does, with Albrecht Durer, is to BRING ABOUT
exactly the confusion Of ideas which shoud De
avoided in a treatise intended for circulation
among lay students. To be sure Mr. Chapn
Is aware of the difference between the needle
and the BURN, between etching and engraving
but this being So he is the less excusaoe LOT ue-
parting fro Il hi province. and including not ohly
Rembrandt, but number OF other etcheis III
his scheme. Moreover If etchers are to be dis
<,,,ssed st all in a book engraving II is
merely absurd to dismiss the revival of etching
IN the nresen century with the remark that ITS
story has been SO often told that repetition is
unnecessary" and with few brief passages on
men recently deceased, like Meryon, RaJon ana
1alanne. "An account of the works of living
artists cannot be attempted here says Mr..
f,hapin apropos of the crowd of etchers whose
names occur to him. Then why so much as
name etching from one end of his book to the
other? To write copiousiS of Rembrandt even
making one of his etched portraits OF himseit
the frontispiece to the volume. and then 10
simply catalogue Haden, Whistler, Jacque'
Iegros. Buhot and others Of their GLASS; Is 10
stand confessed as specialist of no special
authority whatever.
Turning to the other side Of Mr.. Chapin's
hook to that which is concerned with engrav-
ing. we find him emitting altogether so i'm
nortant man as c. w. Sherborn. the English
engravcr, whose work has only recently been
made widely known here hut Of whom no stu
dent of engraving has right to remain In ig-
norance: and we regret to add. also, that the
brief treatment of contemporary engravers IN
america Is in the last degree inadequate. In
fact Mr.. Chaplin has done no more than reas-
semble a goody amount OF Information on the
history Of engraving, which he has only half d.
Rested. He states number OF facts; he mas IN
cluded as matter of course, all the great his
toric masters in his survey. and the reader who
is not anxious for severely minute instructor
vii. find him, the whole. useful author
For the publishers have done their work care
fully. There are many plates. and the hello
Rravures are interesting. Some OF these days,
we hope, Mr. Chaplin will hide away this
Christmas effort and, after careful study, pro-
duce a manual Of engraving that will prove Of
lasting value.
? Fiction Is fiction, and history Is history and
m indifference to the distinction between the
4wo is one of the foibes of the novelist with
which we are more frequently confronted at this
season Of the year than at any other. The
illustrated reprint of the historical novel Is
one of the regular features Of the holidays. AS
a rule. 1t Is to be welcomed for the sake OF It's
new dress, its pictures and its binding. But
here and there in the mountain Of fiction which
has accumulated ever since storytelling began
there Is a novel in which the reconstruction of
a past era is so perfect that, every time 1t re-
appears 1t brings delight, whether well printed
and illustrated or not. Such novel is Victor
Hugo's "Ninety-three." Another Of the same
value is Scott's Quentin Durward" a third.
and one Of the best the list, Is Charles
Reade's tale of the fifteenth century, THE
Cloister and the Hearth" new edition has
been published by Harper & Brothers in two
bound volumes. lavshly illustrated.
Mr. William Martin johnson, who made the
drawings for the most sumptuous edition Of
s'Ben Hur" has embellished the pages Of this
hardly less popular work He has accom-
plished his task with the aid Of a sympathetic
Imagination and clever hand. His sketches
are artistic little "black-and-whites," and they