Etchers and etching: Chapters in the history of the art together with technical explanations of modern artistic methods

A merica, France, Germany, I taly, andE ngland. There are two technical books byE tchers, onE tching, which may be read with profit: Lalanne sT reatise onE tching (T raite de laG ravure a IE au Forte, in the original French), andS horts On theM aking of Etchings, re-issued as Etchings andE ngravings. Singer andS trang sE tching andE ngraving should have been perfect one of the authors is an acknowledged authority on the history of the art, the other a recognised etcher, but the combination was not altogether a success. Hamerton sE tcher sH andbook was written by an amateur for amateurs. And there are endless others in endless languages, but all alike are of little importance. Hamerton sE tching andE tchers, while it certainly did turn the attention of the artless to etching, and gave it a financial standing in modern times, had nothing to do with encouraging etchers, as the two or three then living, whose art is, discussed, had already encouraged Hamerton, by their work, before Hamerton began to encourage them, by writing of what they had done. His chapters on processes and methods are of small value, mostly disused, while others never were used, unless by himself. His Etcher sH andbook too is completely out of date, and even Lalanne andS hort have no knowledge of many of the present methods or do not refer to them, while some later writers are too conservative, or stupid, or hide-bound to have anything to do with the newer ways of working. Other writers are authors, not artists, and what they say is of no importance technically, unless some artist told them to say it, and then they frequently flounder into technical traps. Far away the best recent historical work is Prof. Dr. Singer sD ie Moderne Graphik, Leipsic, 1914. Haden sA bout Etching contains many interesting comments but few practical instructions. Everything about making an etching can be learned
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)