When that most sensitive of American print-lovers, the late Francis
Bullard, learned that I was to deliver at Harvard, each year, a course
of lectures on the History and Principles of Engraving, he wrote me
one of those characteristic letters which endeared him to his friends,
concluding his wise counsels with these words: “_Nothing original--get
it all out of the books_.”
In these six lectures I have endeavored to profit by his suggestion. In
them there is little original: most of it _is_ out of the books. Books,
however, like Nature, are a storehouse from which we draw whatever
is best suited to our immediate needs; and if in choosing that which
might interest an audience, to the majority of whom engravings and
etchings were an unexplored country, I have preferred the obvious to
the profound, I trust that the true-blue Print Expert will forgive me.
These simple lectures make no pretense of being a History of Engraving,
or a manual of How to Appreciate Prints. My sole aim has been to share
with my audience the stimulation and pleasure which certain prints by
the great engravers and etchers have given me. If I have succeeded,
even a little, I shall be happy. I would add that the lectures are
printed in substantially the same form as they were delivered.
Consequently they must be read in connection with the illustrations
which accompany them.
The Bibliographies which follow each chapter have been prepared by Mr.
Adam E. M. Paff, Assistant in the Department of Prints at the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston.