STATEMENT RELATING TO THE COLLECTION ILLUSTRATING THE 

 GRAPHIC ARTS IN THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM. 1888. 



No formal report upon the work accomplished in connection with the 

 collection" illustrating- the graphic arts, under the care of Mr. S. R. 

 Koehler, has as yet been published. The following letters are placed 

 on record to call attention to au important contribution, received from 

 Mr. J. W. Osborne, of Washington. Mr. Osborne is the inventor of one 

 of the processes of photolithography, still in general use, patented by 

 him in 1859, and he has since that time been familiar with every step 

 of progress in this department of the graphic arts. 



Letter from J. W. Oshorne transferring to the National Museum his collection of proof s 

 and specimens illustrating the development of photo-mechanical printing. 



212 Delaware Avenue, Northeast, 



Washington, D. C, June 6, 1888. 



Dear Sir : Two or three years ago I told you of my wish to give the U. S. National 

 Museum the collection of proofs and specimens illustrating the development of photo- 

 mechanical printing, which was the result of my long practical experience and obser- 

 vation of the several processes comprised under that term, and of my knowledge 

 of the men who practiced them. This earnest intention I have now carried out in 

 forwarding to the Museum last Friday a large box and seven other packages contain- 

 ing my whole collection and addressed to the care of Mr. S. R. Koehler, curator of 

 the section of graphic arts. 



Mr. Koehler and I have spent many days in going over the numerous specimens 

 and have arranged them according to a crude classification, which must be recon- 

 sidered with much more care and judgment before they are fit for public inspection. 

 All the important and typical processes are represented in this collection by many 

 examples, and it is my wish that Mr. Koehler should divide the whole into two parts; 

 one for the U. S. National Museum here and one for the Art Museum in Boston, to 

 which institution I intend then to give it. For this purpose the number of speci- 

 mens I have accumulated is, generally speaking, amply sufficient; but I desire in 

 all cases where a process is representei by a single print, or where a choice has to 

 be made between a good and bad example of some person's work, or where the com- 

 pleteness of a series requires it to be kept unbroken, that the advantage be always 

 given in favor of the Washington collection. After this division has been made 

 there will still remain in very many cases a large number of duplicate copies, which 

 may accompany each collection. These may well be employed, when opportunity 

 offers, for the purpose of effecting exchanges with other persons possessing valuable 

 specimens, so as to increase and perfect the historical presentation here and in Bos- 

 ton. I request that prints so given to other collectors or museums may be marked 

 in some way indicating that thev were originally donated by me. 



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