Cruikshank’s Phrenological Illustrations;

∵ This reissue, of which only a limited impression has been made, is printed from the original coppers.

“Have we not before us, at this very moment, a print—one of the admirable ‘Illustrations of Phrenology’—which entire work was purchased by a joint-stock company of boys—each drawing lots afterwards for the separate prints, and taking his choice in rotation? The writer of this, too, had the honor of drawing the first lot, and seized immediately upon ‘Philoprogenitiveness’—a marvellous print, indeed—full of ingenuity and fine, jovial humor.”—Wm. M. Thackeray.

SEVEN GENERATIONS OF EXECUTIONERS.

Memoirs of the Sanson Family.

“A faithful translation of this curious work, which will certainly repay perusal, not on the ground of its being full of horrors—for the original author seems to be rather ashamed of the technical aspect of his profession, and is commendably reticent as to its details—but because it contains a lucid account of the most notable causes célèbres from the time of Louis XIV. to a period within the memory of persons still living.... The memoirs, if not particularly instructive, can scarcely fail to be extremely entertaining.”—Daily Telegraph.

“A book of great though somewhat ghastly interest.... Something much above a mere chapter of horrors.”—Graphic.

Avesta.

English scholars who wish to become acquainted with the “Bible of the Parsees,” now for the first time published in English, should secure this copy. To thinkers the “Avesta” will be a most valuable work; they will now have an opportunity to compare its Truths with those of the Bible, the Koran, and the Vedas.

Freemasonry.

Hand-Book of Archæology.

The Gnostics

∴ The only English work on the subject. Out of print and scarce.

Champneys’ Quiet Corner of England.

“Mr. Champneys is an architect who takes the liberty to think for himself—a man of much original genius and sincere culture, young, and with an enthusiastic contempt for conventionality, which I hope he may never outgrow.”—New York Tribune, Letter from London Correspondent.

Ireland’s Shakspeare Forgeries.

Enthusiasts are easily duped, and of all enthusiasts, excepting the religious, those who give themselves up to the worship of some great poet or artist are the easiest prey of the impostor. To them, a book, a letter, the least scrap or relic which is connected directly, or it would seem indirectly, with their idol, is an inestimable treasure, and they are uneasy until it is in their possession, or removed hopelessly beyond their reach. Of all these enthusiasts the “Shakspearians” are, and for a hundred years have been, at once the most numerous, and the most easily, because the most willingly, deceived. To their craving and their greed we owe the “Ireland Forgeries,” which were merely an impudent attempt to supply a demand—an attempt made by a clever, ignorant young scamp, who succeeded in deluding the whole body of them in England two generations ago. His “Confessions” are the simply told story of this stupendous imposture: and the book—long out of print and scarce—is one the most naïf and amusing of its kind in the whole history of literature. His exhibition of the “gulls,” whom he made his victims, is equally delightful and instructive; and chiefly so, because of his simplicity and frankness. He conceals nothing, palliates nothing; tells the whole story of his ridiculous iniquity, and leaves a lasting lesson to the whole tribe of credulous collectors, Shakspearian and others.

“It has frequently afforded me a matter of astonishment to think how this literary fraud could have so long duped the world, and involved in its deceptious vortex such personages as Parr, Wharton, and Sheridan, not omitting Jemmy Boswell, of Johnsonian renown; nor can I ever refrain from smiling whensoever the volumes of Malone and Chalmers, together with the pamphlets of Boaden, Waldron, Wyatt, and Philalethes, otherwise, —— Webb, Esq., chance to fall in my way.”—W. H. IRELAND’S “Chalcographimania.”

Womankind in Western Europe,

This work is something more than a drawing-room ornament. It is an elaborate and careful summary of all that one of our most learned antiquaries, after years of pleasant labor on a very pleasant subject, has been able to learn as to the condition of women from the earliest times.

DeFoe’s Life and Works,

A most valuable contribution to English history and English literature.

For many years it has been well known in literary circles that the gentleman to whom the public is indebted for this valuable addition to the knowledge of DeFoe’s Life and Works has been an indefatigable collector of everything relating to the subject, and that such collection had reference to a more full and correct Memoir than had yet been given to the world.

World’s Masonic Register:

The Rosicrucians;

∴ A volume of startling facts and opinions upon this very mysterious subject.

Scientific and Religious Mysteries of Antiquity:

∴ “The sublime depths of the mysteries of antiquity have been sounded but by few minds in the lapse of ages, and those who have leisure to follow upon their tracks will meet with an ample reward.”

ONLY ONE HUNDRED COPIES PRINTED.

Duyckinck’s Cyclopædia of American Literature.

Payne Knight’s Worship of Priapus.

“R. P. Knight, the writer of the first ‘Essay,’ was a Fellow of the Royal Society, a member of the British Parliament, and one of the most learned antiquaries of his time. His museum of Phallic objects is now most carefully preserved in the London British Museum. The second ‘Essay,’ bringing our knowledge of the worship of Priapus down to the present time, so as to include the more recent discoveries throwing any light upon the matter, is said to be by one of the most distinguished English antiquaries—the author of numerous works which are held in high esteem. He was assisted it is understood, by two prominent Fellows of the Royal Society, one of whom has recently presented a wonderful collection of Phallic objects to the British Museum authorities.”

Gesta Romanorum.

“They” (the Monks) “might be disposed occasionally to recreate their minds with subjects of a light and amusing nature; and what could be more innocent or delightful than the stories of the Gesta Romanorum!”—Douce’s Illustrations to Shakespeare.

Jones’ (Owen) Grammar of Ornament.

This new edition is a reproduction of the larger work on a smaller scale; a few of the plates which could not be reduced have been printed on a larger scale, and the same artistic matter has been extended from 100 to 112 plates.

Dibdin’s Bibliomania;

“I have not yet recovered from the delightful delirium into which your ‘Bibliomania’ has completely thrown me. Your book, to my taste, is one of the most extraordinary gratifications I have enjoyed for many years.”—Isaac Disraeli.

Greville’s Memoirs.

No equally important contribution to the political history of the last generation has been made by any previous writer. As a man of rank and fashion, Mr. Greville associated, on terms of equality, with all the statesmen of his time, and his long tenure of a permanent office immediately outside of the circle of politics compelled him to observe a neutrality which was probably congenial to his character and inclination.—Saturday Review.

Archie Armstrong’s Banquet of Jests.

∴ The edition (of all kinds) was limited to 252 copies. It is completely exhausted, and copies are now difficult to obtain.

“A more amusing budget of odd stories, clever witticisms, and laughter-moving tales, is not to be found in Jester’s Library.”

Nares’ Glossary.

Gavin Douglas’ Poetical Works.

The distinguished poets, William Dunbar, Gavin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld, and Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, form a trio of whom Scotland has every reason to be proud; but, as the Works of the second of these have not hitherto been collected, an Edition of them has long been a desideratum in Scottish Literature.

Walford’s County Families.

Caxton’s Statutes of Henry VII., 1489.

Owen Jones’ Alhambra.

For practical purposes, to architects the small paper copies will suffice; but gentlemen desirous of adding a noble book in its finest appearance to their library, must have a Large Paper copy.

“In spite of earthquakes, mines and counter-mines—spite of Spanish convicts, French soldiers, Spanish bigotry, and Flemish barbarism of thieves and gipsys, contrabandists and brigands, paupers, charcoal-burners and snow-gatherers, the Alhambra still exists—one of the most recent of European ruins. It is the most perfect in repair and the richest in design; it has suffered less from man, or the elements, and has fallen more gently into decay. It was not molten like Nineveh in an hour, or buried in a day like Pompeii; it was not smitten down at a blow like Corinth, or sapped for centuries like Athens. Though it has been alternately a barrack, a prison, a tea garden, and an almshouse—though its harem has been a hen-house, its prisons pens for sheep; the Alhambra is still one of the most wonderful productions of Eastern splendor, lingering in Europe long after the Moslem waves have rolled back into Asia, like a golden cup dropped on the sand, or like the last tent of some dead Arab, still standing, when the rest of his tribe have long since taken up their spears, untethered their camels, and sought their new homes in the far desert.”

Prostitution.

In this learned work—the best that we have on the subject—many of the chapters are devoted to dissertations on matters of general interest to students of literature. We instance Chap. XXIV., containing a treatise on the Obscenity of the French language, the Jargon of Argot, its Origin, etc.; also in Chap. XXXII., a highly interesting bibliographical account of the Aretin plates by Marc Antonio, etc., etc.

The author was threatened with criminal prosecution, and pledged himself never to reproduce the work; it has now become scarce.

NEW AND MAGNIFICENT WORK ON TEXTILE FABRICS.

Ornamental Textile Fabrics

The Editor of this work, M. Dupont-Auberville, is known as one of the most distinguished archæologists of modern France, and Textile Art is the department of archæology to which he has devoted the best years of his life. His collection of specimens of textile fabrics embraces models taken from all ages and from all countries, and is admitted by all artists to be unique in every respect.

The works of ancient textile art, both in the East and the West, are done full justice to, but at the same time the framer of “Ornamental Textile Fabrics” has drawn more amply from the extensive stock of models belonging to more recent periods. From his immense collection of specimens taken from the Renaissance and the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, he has selected those subjects which are most worthy of the attention both of the amateur and the manufacturer. In this manner the work now submitted to the public is not a mere ornamental one, but at the same time it possesses a practical usefulness which must cause it to be valued by all who make a study of taste in manufacturing industry in general, and the art of weaving in particular.

AN ENTIRELY NEW AND REVISED EDITION.

Old Print Collectors’ Guide:

∴ This new edition entirely supersedes the previous one, having, in addition to much new matter, full lists of Monograms and marks of celebrated collectors and amateurs. A work indispensable to the Print Collector, being a concentration in one volume of all the varied information relative to the History of Engraving and of Ancient Prints.

Contents.—I. Engraving in Ancient Times. II. Engraving in General, from the beginning of the 13th to the 15th Century. III. On the Various Processes or kinds of Engraving. IV. Advice on the Study and Collection of Prints. V. The Various Schools of Engraving. VI. The Northern Schools to the time of Dürer. VII. Northern Schools from Dürer to the 17th Century. VIII. The Southern Schools of Wood Engraving. IX. The Masters of “Chiaro oscuro.” X. Metal Engraving. Masters of 1446, etc. XI. Dutch and Flemish Schools. XII. French and English Schools. XIII. Chief Etchers of the Northern Schools. XIV. On Engraving in the “Dotted Manner.” XV. The Southern Schools of Engraving on Metal. Nielli. XVI. Italian Schools. XVII. School of Marc Antonio. XVIII. Chief Etchers of the Italian Schools. XIX. Mezzotinto Engravings and Engravers. XX. On the Examination and Purchase of Ancient Prints. XXI. On the Conservation and Arrangement of Prints. Appendix.—British Museum Collection, Douce Collection, Oxford, Polytypage, Cliché, Mezzotinto Engraving, High-priced Books, Varia Bibliography, Monograms, indexes, etc., etc.

The Works of William Unger.

“No engraver who ever lived has so completely identified himself with painters he had to interpret as Professor Unger in the seventy-two plates which compose his ‘Works.’ He can adopt at will the most opposite styles, and work on each with ease, a fluency such as other men can only attain in one manner—their own—and after half a lifetime. Indeed, one would not be going far wrong to describe Professor Unger as an art critic of very uncommon insight, who explains the sentiment and execution of great painters with an etching needle instead of a pen.

“It has been said of engraving that it is an unintellectual occupation, because it is simply copyism; but such engraving as this is not unintellectual, for it proves a delicacy and keenness of understanding which are both rare among artists and critics. Unger has not the narrowness of the ordinary artist, for he can enter into the most opposite styles; nor has he the technical ignorance of the ordinary critic, for he can draw—I will not say like a great master, but like twenty different great masters.

“Mr. Vosmaer, the now well-known Dutch critic, who writes in English and French as well as in his own language, has much increased the interest in Unger’s etchings by accompanying them with a valuable biographic essay of his own, much superior to the ordinary ‘letter-press,’ which publishers in general appear to consider as a necessary companion to engraving.

“The seventy-two etchings before us are, on the whole, the most remarkable set of studies from old masters which has been issued by the enterprise of our modern publishers, and they can hardly fail to make fine work better appreciated both by artists and amateurs.

“A few words of praise are due to the spirited publisher, Mr. Sijthoff, of Leyden, for the manner in which these etchings of Unger have been published. They are printed on fine Dutch paper, and mounted (pasted by the upper edge only) on sufficiently good boards in such a manner as to enter into the most carefully arranged collections without further change. They are accompanied by a text printed with the greatest taste, on very fine Dutch paper. This series is printed in one class of proof only, and issued at a price that is most reasonable, and Mr. Sijthoff deserves our thanks for placing works of real art, thoroughly well got up, within the reach of cultivated people who have limited incomes.

“We recommend them strongly to all artists and lovers of art as a valuable means of art education and a source of enduring pleasure.”—Hamerton in the International Review for Jan., 1876.

Etchings after Frans Hals.

“They who know the Dutch painter Hals only through the few portraits by him which have reached this country have but a slight comparative acquaintance with his works. ‘A stranger to all academical lore, to all literary co-operation,’ writes Mr. Vosmaer, ‘Frans Hals appeared merely as a portrait-painter, like most of the modern artists of his youth ... true to life, but also excelling by naturalness and masterly handling. Subsequently he portrayed the joyous popular life of the streets and the tavern; at last those phases of national social life, which have at once their image and memorial in the pictures of the arquebusiers and the civic governors.’”—London Art Journal, Aug. 1873.

THE NEW FRENCH ART JOURNAL.

L’Art.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

“Nowhere but in Paris could such a Review be produced every week as L’Art, so magnificent in every respect, paper, typography, illustrations, and above all, so many sided in its view of art, and so abundant and interesting in its information. It has now been brought to the fourth year of its life, with every sign of assured and increasing vigor, and we are glad to learn, from the report of the editor to the subscribers, that something more substantial than the succès d’estime has rewarded the experiment of such a costly venture.... It is simply the cheapest and the best thing of its kind. M. Véron seems, at any rate, to have solved the problem of combining excellence with cheapness. We find, besides numerous little facsimiles of sketches, and autograph letters of eminent artists, musicians, and dramatists, no less than seventy fine etchings by such men as Flameng, Courtry, Desbrosses, Lançon, etc., and woodcuts of Claude’s and Turner’s pictures, with a series of very remarkable copies of the famous tapestries at Madrid, from the designs of Albrecht Dürer and Van Eyck, by Edmond Yon, Perrichon, and C. Maurand, as well as singularly fine examples of wood engraving. Supposing the reading matter of the Review were as ephemeral and trivial in its purpose as the cheapest of the cheap instead of being, as it is, rich and racy, with the native style of all French pens, thoughtful and often profoundly suggestive, and generally complete, in reference to detail, the two etchings by Flameng, from pictures by Frans Hals and Nicholas Maas, alone would be really most valuable and acceptable to the print-collector.... While L’Art is conducted in this style the editor may feel quite secure that France will not lose that artistic supremacy she has long held.”—London Times.

“It would be easy and pleasant to go on discoursing about the pictures in L’Art, a paper which is so full of good, sober, and just criticisms, trustworthy news about art, and designs not otherwise to be obtained by most people.”—Saturday Review.

“The new volume of L’Art sufficiently manifests the success of a very valuable and interesting publication.... There is no other journal in existence which so happily and skilfully combines the labors of artists and authors which does not subordinate art to letters, or letters to art, but permits them to go ‘hand in hand, not one before another.’... In brief, this grand folio volume of L’Art abounds in matters of interest to all readers and students of æsthetic and cultivated taste.”—The World (London).

“There is some monotony in praising each successive portion of a periodical as it appears with an absolutely equal cordiality; but the evenness of merit in L’Art makes this uniformity of commendation a duty.”—The Nation.

“America is so destitute of illustrated works which can at all compare with L’Art that she cannot do better than study and enjoy this French publication. Certainly there is no other means by which so many valuable pictures can be obtained at so small a price.”—The Christian Union.

“Sumptuous in paper and type, lavish in illustrations, and with critical and explanatory text of singular merit; the most famous of modern art journals.”—N. Y. Times.

The Portfolio:

“The chief intention of ‘The Portfolio’ is to supply to its subscribers, at a lower cost than would be possible without the certain sale of a regular periodical circulation, Works of Art of various kinds, but always such as are likely to interest a cultivated public; and to accompany them with literature by writers of proved ability, superior to mere letter-press, and more readable than pure criticism or cataloguing.” Among the artists who have furnished original etchings are Bracquemond, Lalanne, Rajon, Legros, and Leopold Flameng, who has given some noble specimens of his skill, especially in the reproduction of “The Laughing Portrait of Rembrandt,” in his particular province as a reviver of the works of that artist. The subjects in all cases are chosen for their worth and rarity, and in these respects the “Portfolio” fairly rivals its great contemporary, one of the noblest fine-art periodicals ever issued, the Parisian “Gazette des Beaux-Arts.” It has the same finish in execution in the minutest details of paper and print, and is in every way a thoroughly artistic production, far ahead in this way of anything of the class heretofore issued in England.

There are numerous single illustrations in the “Portfolio,” worth the price of the volume, suitable for framing.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

“Of the Portfolio altogether it is to be said, that not only is it the first periodical in the English language devoted to fine-art, but that it leads all others by a very great distance, whatever the second and third of such publications may be taken to be.

“We warmly commend it to the notice of all who would cultivate in themselves and their families an appreciation of the beautiful in nature and art. The illustrations are largely of sylvan scenery, and etchings from the finest paintings are given, with letter-press descriptions, and the best articles from the highest authorities, so that the monthly paper itself, an illustration of what is taught, becomes a complete magazine of the science of art. We would regard the introduction of such a journal into the family as a good educator, while it will prove a source of exquisite pleasure to those who have already a taste for the beautiful.”—N. Y. Observer.

“We look for the Portfolio as for the only serial published, in which works of art of a certain kind and of peculiar merit are to be found. Etching is not as popular, perhaps, as it should be, but if anything is likely to bring its merits before the public, it is such examples as are to be had here. Their effect is striking, and in execution they are little short of perfect; at any rate they exhibit this kind of work in the highest degree of perfection to which it has attained.”—N. Y. Daily Times.

“Mr. Hamerton’s Portfolio is easily chief among English art periodicals, and has the advantage of being written by men who are not only familiar with the literature of art and the works of artists, but are artists by profession, and so know the feelings, aims, and technicalities of artists. The editor is probably better acquainted with continental artists and their work than most of the insular fellows, and his art theories and criticisms are proportionately more catholic and valuable. The Portfolio, instead of being a magazine of current gossip about artists and their doings, is a work of permanent value, apart from its excellent illustrations, as a collection of able essays, critical, historical, technical, and personal, very free from narrowness and professional or national prejudice. It is the glory of the Portfolio that it is in a way cosmopolitan, free from the prejudices of nations and schools.”—Atlantic Monthly.

“The Portfolio is very charming. An Art periodical far superior to anything which has hitherto appeared.”—Guardian.

“From the first it has stood nearly alone as really ‘an artistic periodical.’ An hour spent over the Portfolio is one of refreshment, encouragement, and unalloyed delight.”—Spectator.

“Of the Etchings the merits are unquestionable: indeed, the work is enriched with some of the finest examples. The literary part is generally worthy of praise for being scholarly, graceful, and interesting.”—Athenæum.

“Dealing with artistic subjects generally, and always in a spirit of intelligence and refinement.”—Graphic.

“To the portfolio is unanimously accorded the first place as an artistic periodical.”—Cambridge Chronicle.