AN editor, when reviewing an important work which has just been brought to completion under his guidance, cannot but be sensible of the disparity existing between a thing done and a thing sketched out vividly in projects — in enchanted cigarettes as Balzac called unrealised schemes; for in books, as in all other works of art, many unexpected difficulties and disappointments interpose between con ception and execution, limiting the scope of the aim in view, and lowering, more or less, the quality ot craftsmanship. The fact that several modern workers of repute are unrepresented amongst the illustrations is one cause of regret the large but unavoidable reduc tion in size of many of the illustrations is another; also it is felt that the absence of the raised line of the original plates causes a loss of distinction in the half-tone plates, which no amount of care in the selection of paper and in the printing could entirely remedy. There are, however, other sides of the question in the light of which the very faults of the volume become virtues and, in spite of inevitable shortcomings, the hope is entertained that the publication will add something to the general knowledge of the subject of etching and will give an impetus to the revival of interest in one of the most delightful and personal forms of artistic expression.
