NGRAVINGS "O-^^l Stlium. ^tm fork Cornell University Library arV17772 Engravings and their value 3 1924 031 290 319 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031290319 ETCIIICS jestablisbeJ) 22 l^ears. Collectors of engravings Cij and other Works of Art can frequently obtain rare or valu- able Specimens which could not be heard of through any other channel by means of ^be Basaar, Eycbange Si flRart, which, besides affording an unrivalled medium for private bar- gaining, gives a large amount of Literary matter of the most di- versified character, amongst which is sure to be found many items of interest and value to any reader whatever may be his particular hobby. Price 2d., o^ all Newsagents; 2id. by post from The Office: 170, STRAND, LONDON. LiBlIlY Mlllll; A GUIDE TO THE FORMATION OF A LIBRARY, AND- THE Daluation of IRare anb Stan^ar^ 3Boo{?s. THIRD AND ENLARGED EDITION, By J. Herbert slater, Author of '^Engravings and Their Valued' Editor of "Book .Prices Cicrrent" iir'c. L. UPCOTT GILL, 170, Strand, London, W.C. IN THE PRESS. »A[NTERS AND THEIR WORKS. A COMPANION VOLUME TO 'Engravings & Their Value," Doing for PAINTINGS uuhat Mr. Slater has done for ENGRAVINGS. By RALPH N. JAMES. L. UPCOTT GILL, 170, Strand, London, W.C. ESTABLISHED 183S. Samuel Goombes, MANUFACTURING gA RVER / MILDER. PRINTSELLER « PUBLISHER, 331, STRAND, LONDON {Immediately Opposite SOMERSET HOUSE). OHI^PIST MO¥SE M L0MD@II. ENGRAVINGS, ETCHINGS, ,,,,,-„,,,, A choice collection of the All the Best Masters. , , j. most popular subjects.i, Om ^AINHTINGS AND Dl^AWINGS, Prom the Salon and Eoyal Academy. OIL PAINTINGS SKILFULLY BACKLINED, RESTORED and VARNISHED, on the Premises. OLD FRAMES RE-GILT EQUAL TO NEW. Engravings and their Value. : THEIR YILUE. A GUIDE FOR THE PRINT COLLECTOR BY J.* HERBEET SLATER, EDITOR OF "book PRICES CURRENT"; FOBMBRLT EDITOR OF "*BOOK LORE " AUTHOR OF **THE LIBRARY MANUAL," "BOOK COLLECTING" (" YOUNG collector" series), "the law relating TO COPYRIGHT AND TRADE MARKS," ETC. LONDON L. UPCOTT GILL, 170, STRAND, W.O. 1891. ® : RNEL UrMfVE?^":fn*Yj LONDON A. BRADLEY, LONDON AND COUNTY PBINTING "W0BK8, DBDRY LANE, W.C. PREFACE. The Valuation of Engravings, if it is to be accomplished satisfactorily, requires great technical knowledge and a thorough acquaintance with the market. No amount of book-learning can ever compensate for a deficiency in practice, and the following pages are not written with the object of promoting an impossibility. That the information contained in them may be useful in many respects, I do not, however, doubt.' As a rule, the works of living engravers have not been noticed, since the judgment on their labours yet remains to be pronounced. I may conveniently mention here that that excellent and indeed indispensable work of reference known to all collectors as Bryan's " Dictionary," is specially noticed under the head of " Basan (F.) " page 83, post. J. H. S. Temple, KG. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. The Origin op Engeaving . 1 II. Yaeious Methods of Engeating III. On Foeming a Collection 23 IV. The Examination and PpECHASB op Feints . ... 33 V. On the Genttineness op Feints 43 VI. The Cleaning op Feints 60 Vn. The Feeseetation op Feints 69 VIII. The Feices op Feints . 74 IX. Technical Teems .... 78 X. List op Books usEPtrL to Colleotoes 82 XI.—^XXXII. List op Engeatees, in Alpha- betical Oedee, with some op thbie Chiep Woeks and Auction Values op each FeInt Catalogued . 91-456 ERRATUM. "Removing" read "Repairmg." Page 67, line 3, for , ENGMVIES AND THEIR VALUE, , , CHAPTER I. THE ORIGIN OF ENGRAVING. Engkating is tlie art of CTitting metals, wood, and pre- cious stones, and representing on tte face of any of these mediums a device or design to be reproduced on paper or other suitable material. This definition, though not technically accurate, is never- theless popular, for the general idea of the process of engraving is, as a rule, associated with the transfer of the design, to such an extent, indeed, that the very terms "engraving" and "print" are frequently regarded as synonymous. Strictly speaking, a "print" is the impres- " sion ; that which produces the print is the engraving," hence the latter term is, technically, applicable to the medium only and not to the impression itseK. Both terms are, however, now frequently confounded, being indiffer- ently applied to the production itself and to the plate or block from which the artist has worked. The process of engraving as a mode of decoration merely, was practised by goldsmiths and metal-workers from the very earliest times, and specimens of ancient art, as B ; 2 ENGEATINGS AND THEIE VALUE. beautifiil in conception and design as any onr workmen are capable of producing at the present day, are fre- quently met witt in the cabinets of collectors. Homer, on several occasions, uses the word ypitpa (grapho), clearly showing that even in the disturbed state of society which the poet delighted to depict, the art was, in his opinion at any rate, in ordinary practice. The Bible abounds in references to the subject, as for example, " And thou shalt take two onyx stones and grave on them the names of the children of Israel " (Exodus xxviii., 9) "With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave," &c. (Exodus xxviii., 11), from which we may certainly conclude that the Israelites had acquired a knowledge of the practice during their captivity in Egypt. There is, indeed, no lack of authority to support the con- clusion that decorative engraving has been in vogue from a very early date, while in the days of the Greeks and Romans it was so common that the laws and important contracts were almost universally engraved on metal plates, and even slaves were sometimes branded with metal stamps. The ancients thus made the first step, thoroughly master- ing in detail the art or process of engraving, although it was not until comparatively recent times that the difficulties attending the transferring of the device were successfully overcome. When we consider that many of the designs of the Roman epoch have, when properly manipulated, the distinct power of making impressions, we can only wonder that such a practical nation should have overlooked the additional step which would have anticipated the flight of more than 600 years. In cutting and carving precious stones, the ancients were infinitely superior to the artists of our own times, and, having the requisite skill and knowledge to excel in the most difficult branch of the science, it certainly seems unaccountable that they should never have thought of engraving on wood or metal with THE ORIGIN or ENG-EATING. 3 the object of transferring an impress to papyrus, linen, or even tte liard waxen tablets wbioh served them for paper. These remarks -will remind the reader that we have hitherto spoken only of the process of engraving—^that is to say, the act of cntting or carving a certain medium into a required design. The practice of transferring an impression of the design to paper is just that very step which, so far as is known, the ancients neglected to take, and which, probably, was not taken at all until the middle of the fifteenth century, and after the invention of paint- ing in oil. The circumstances which led up to this great invention may be briefly narrated. At the period mentioned, a particular kind of work, termed niello, was much in vogue, especially in Italy, for the adornment of all kinds of ecclesiastical and domestic utensils. It was executed in the following manner : The design having been cut with a graver on a silver plate, the latter was covered with a fusible substance, composed of silver, lead, copper, sulphur, and borax, which, being melted by the application of heat, ran into and fiUed the engraved lines, and, when allowed to cool, hardened, and became firmly fixed. This com- pound was called nigellum ; in Italian, niello. The surface of the plate was then smoothed and polished, and the design appeared in black lines on a ground of bright silver. In the preparation of these plates it was necessary for the artist to test the character of his work before infusing the niello, as afterwards no corrections could be made. This was effected by taking a mould in fine clay, and from that a cast in sulphur, which, when the lines were filled with a black colouring matter, presented the same appearance as the plate itself would do when niellated. This mode of procedure was followed until Maso Finiguerra, of Florence, the ablest worker in niello of his time, adopted the simpler plan of taking impres- B 2 — 4 ENGBATINGS AND THEIE VALUE. sions direct from the plate. The first proof so obtained is supposed to be that in the Bibliotheque at Paris, which was taken from the pax of the Coronation of the Virgin, ordered in 1450, and delivered in 1452. Direct impressions from the earliest metal plates are, however, thought by some, and especially by WiUshire, to have been taken from the Corona luminaria of Barbarossa, in the Cathedral of Aix-la-ChapeUe. However this may be, there is no doubt that this great discovery directly suggested the practice of true copper-plate engraving, of which Kniguerra is universally regarded as the inventor. Of all the modes of engraving in its more extended sense, the most ancient is, however, that on wood, for which we are indebted to the brief-malers (or card- painters) of Germany, who not merely confined their attention to the making of playing-cards, but frequently executed the images of saints, and depictured the various subjects connected with ancient history.