172 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, lss;t. 



various scientific instruments, as thermometers, barometors, and mag- 

 net ic needles, in the study of special industries, in the illustration of 

 of books, and as an aid to the artist and engraver. The literature of the 

 science was represented by a series of photographs of the title-pages of 

 more than three hundred books and pamphlets relating to photography. 

 A small collection of photographs, forwarded by Mr. A. Howard Clark, 

 curator of the section of personal and historical relics, was exhibited in 

 this space. It consisted of a series of photographs of Washington and 

 Grant relics in the possession of the Museum, and a collection of por- 

 traits of men promiuent in the various branches of science during the 

 past three centuries. 



SECTION OF GRAPHIC ARTS. 



This exhibit, prepared by Mr. S. E. Koehler, Curator of the Section of 

 Graphic Arts, was intended to illustrate the various methods employed 

 in the preparation of blocks and plates for pictorial printing. It was 

 divided into four groups as follows : 



(1) The various processes of engraving and printing from the begin- 

 ning of the Sixteenth century to the present time, exclusive of the mod- 

 ern photo-mechanical processes ; (2) The history of wood-engraving in 

 the United States; (3) The history of etching in the United States; 

 (4) The modern photo-mechanical processes. The first group contained 

 prints illustrating all of the most important processes of this division, 

 twenty-four in number, and in the case of the principal ones an attempt 

 was made to give, some idea of their history by the exhibition of care- 

 fully selected series showing the progress made in several of the lead- 

 ing countries including England, Germany, France, the Netherlands, 

 and Italy, during different periods. 



As both wood-engraving and etch ing owe much of their present popu- 

 larity to American artists either by nativity or adoption, and as the 

 Exposition was largely for the purpose of showing the progress made 

 in the arts and sciences, it was thought desirable to prepare extensive 

 exhibits showing separately the growth of these processes in the United 

 States. Considerable space was given to these collections in which 

 specimens of the work of all prominent artists in either branch were 

 displayed. The series of wood-engravings began with samples of the 

 earliest work of Dr. Alexander Anderson, 1818, and included engrav- 

 ings by no less than sixty different artists. The earliest etchings shown 

 were those by Chapman in 1852, the bulk of the collection being made 

 up of work executed within the past ten years. '• Special stress" says 

 Mr. Koehler was » laid upon the painter etchings (i. e. original work), 

 and the smaller reproductive plates made from about 1877 to about a 

 year or two ago, while the large plates of a more commercial character 

 which have appeared lately were represented only by a few selected 

 specimens." In this collection over fifty of the leading etchers of the 

 countiy were represented, thirteen of them being women. 



The fourth group was devoted to the modern photo-mechanical proc- 



