PREFACE 



TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 



TN the revival of the too long neglected art of 

 *l etching, we who in England and France have 

 tried to recover the right use of the needle have 

 had to contend against many difficulties ; and little 

 of what we have hitherto done can be considered 

 more than tentative and experimental. Etching, 

 however, has this advantage over line-engraving, — 

 that the comparatively rapid and spontaneous 

 nature of the process, and its purely artistic and 

 intellectual aims, obtain indulgence for many im- 

 perfections which would not be tolerated in a craft 

 professing great mechanical finish. In etching, the 

 spirit of the work is of more consequence than 

 manual accuracy; and I have therefore allowed 

 several plates to be published in this series, in 

 which the manual work is rude, because they 

 expressed my meaning, though in a rough way. 



