THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



17 



THE LIBRARY. 



the history of art is believed to be one of the choicest in the country. It was 

 made by an American gentleman distinguished as a scholar no less than as a 

 statesman, with a special design of illustrating the process and resources of the 

 art of engraving, in all its branches, from its early masters to its present time. 

 This collection contains some of the best works of nearly every engraver of much 

 celebrity. There is one portfolio of the works of Albert Durer, containing twenty 

 engravings on copper and two on iron by his own hand and among them most 

 of his best and rarest works ; about sixty fine copies on copper, including the 

 famous seventeen by Marc Antonio ; thirteen different portraits of Durer, and a 

 large number of wood cuts engraved by him or under his inspection. Another port- 

 folio contains a large collection of the etchings of Rembrandt, including some of 

 his most beautiful pieces, particulary the " Christ Healing the Sick," an early 

 and fine impression. There is a portfolio of two hundred engravings and etchings, 

 by Claude Lorraine, Hollar, and Bega; a portfolio of superb portraits by Nanteuil, 

 Wille, Edelink, and others, among them a first impression of the " Louis XIV in 



