I would like to take the opportunity which a Preface affords to thank
those friends who have helped me in the preparation of this little
book. Most of them will find their names mentioned somewhere in the
text. It is also my pleasant duty to heartily acknowledge the kindness
I have everywhere experienced when collecting the materials on which
these studies are based. On many occasions I have entered a museum in
Britain or abroad, not knowing any one on the staff. On explaining my
object every facility was at once offered, cases were opened, specimens
were handed to me, and various conveniences arranged; often, too, help
was rendered me at the time, not only by curators and assistants, but
also by museum porters and _gendarmes_. It is particularly gratifying
for a stranger to be received as a colleague, and to find that museum
authorities everywhere recognise that the collections put under their
charge serve their end best when they are utilised by students.
A word of apology may be needed for the copious extracts which have
been made from the works of other writers. My object in this has
been to show that there has been quite a considerable number of
investigators who have approached the subject of decorative art from
a similar point of view to that elaborated in the present essay. A
quotation brings one more face to face with the author than does a mere
abstract, and personally I like to feel the comradeship of similar
studies. We all contribute our mites, and the only pity is we cannot
all be personally known to one another.
It would afford me great pleasure if this book leads to new students
entering upon this important and intensely interesting field of
inquiry, and I shall always be pleased to correspond with those who are
or who desire to be fellow-workers.