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Ignorance of printing and of the improvements in that art is really in this country too awful to contemplate. The average critic will blame a competent artist for the imperfections of a process and the ignorance of a printer. It never occurs to this critic that he knows nothing practically about the subject. No attempt is made to surmount mechanical difficulties; no attempt is made to study improvements; one is simply told to work down to the lowest level and to copy the fads of an obsolete past.

Quaintness and eccentricity, too, have their followers, and though both are dangerous games to play, still they imply, if good, such an amount of research, study, and invention, whether original or not, that from them good work may often come. Still I no longer dare to prophesy. I know not what a man will do or will not. There is possibility in every one.

As for the other men who calmly go on doing their work in their own way, showing the process-engraver what is wanted, instructing the printer on the subject of effects and colour, and dealing satisfactorily with intelligent publishers and editors, or even, as some do, ignoring all these factors, which they should not, their work is around us and delights us.

One therefore turns with interest to some of the younger men--men who have made and are making illustration their profession. Among them, one looks first to that erratic genius, Phil May, who has produced work which not only will live, but which successfully runs the gamut of all wit and humour. Nothing in its way has been done in England to approach his designs for the "Parson and the Painter." They appeared first in the pages of the "St. Stephen's Review," where they were scarcely seen by artists. But on their reappearance in book form, though even more badly printed than at first, what remained of them was good enough to make May's reputation. Between him and everyone else, there is a great gulf fixed, but the greatest is between May and his imitators.

I did not mean I hoped it would die. It has now ceased to appear.

I should like to discuss the schools that have been developed by the Arts and Crafts Society in some of the provincial centres. But as none of the students approach for a moment such an exquisite draughtsman as Sandys, to say nothing of the work of the older men whom they attempt to imitate, it seems rather premature to talk about them.

Still, A. J. Gaskin, limiting himself in a way that seems quite unnecessary, has illustrated Andersen's "Fairy Tales" very well, if one adopts his standpoint. E. H. New has made portraits that are decorative; and, under Gaskin's direction, a little book of "Carols" has been illustrated by his pupils; while, in the same style, C. M. Gere and L. F. Muckley are doing notable work, and they are about to start a magazine "The Quest." The "Hobby Horse," the organ of the Century Guild, has contained many good designs by Herbert Horne and Selwyn Image. On much the same lines, too, Heywood Sumner, Henry Ryland, Reginald Hallward, Christopher Whall and others have been very successful. Nor can one ignore the initials and borders of William Morris, made for his own publications.

There are dozens of artists, whose names, like their works, are household words, Forrestier, Montbard, W. L. Wyllie, Barnard, Nash, Overend, Wollen, Staniland, Caton Woodville, Durand, Stacey, Rainey, Barnes, and Walter Wilson, who have a power of rendering events of the day in a fashion unequalled elsewhere, and whose excellent designs are seen continuously in the pages of the "Graphic," the "Illustrated London News," and "Black and White." There is also another set who amaze us by their power of compelling editors to publish weekly, and even daily, stacks of their drawings, when those of better men go a-begging.

Whether the idea of the "special artist on the spot" originated in England or not, I cannot say; certainly he was employed, and his work acknowledged in the early numbers of the "Illustrated London News." But, at any rate, many Englishmen have devoted themselves almost entirely to this form of pictorial reporting and correspondence. The man who has had probably the most extensive experience is William Simpson, of the "Illustrated London News," but F. Villiers, Melton Prior, and Sidney Hall have assisted at almost all the scenes of national joy or grief--have followed the fortunes of war, or the progress of royalty, or any other important event in every quarter of the world. These artists' methods of work were most interesting. They trained themselves to sketch under the most dangerous, fatiguing, and difficult conditions--making rather shorthand notes than sketches, which were quite intelligible to a clever band of artists attached to their various journals. These artists, on receiving the sketches, produced finished drawings in a few hours, or, at longest, a few days. Now, however, matters have changed somewhat. The editors have learned to appreciate sketches, and men who can either produce a complete work of art on the spot, or work from their own sketches, are more generally engaged in this way. I do not mean to say that the war correspondents I have named could not do this work, only that often they did not, owing to exigencies of time and other difficulties. Mr. Hall's work at present is finished on the spot. His drawings at the Parnell trial were most notable. But I think in the next artistic generation the correspondent will have to work harder--if he produces less.

S. Read was the first artist correspondent; he worked during the Crimean War.

AMERICAN ILLUSTRATION.

In many ways the illustrative work of America is more interesting than that of any other country. The rapidity of its growth, the encouragement that has been given it by publishers, and the surprisingly important artistic results obtained have won it recognition all over the world.

Twenty-five years ago, at the time that the best work was really being done in England, scarcely anything was being produced in America. It is true that some of the magazines had been started, and that some of the men, who are best known as illustrators to-day, were at work. But it was not until 1876, the year of the Centennial, the first international exhibition held in America, that American artists, engravers, printers, and publishers were enabled to form an idea of what was being done in Europe. At the same time a brilliant band of young men, who had been studying abroad, returned to New York, and it is mainly owing to their return, and the encouragement which intelligent and far-seeing publishers gave to them, and also to the artists and engravers who were already in America anxious to work, that what is now known as the American school of wood-engraving, together with American illustration and printing, was developed.

The way in which this school has been built up is so interesting that it may be well to refer to it somewhat in detail. From the time that Mr. A. W. Drake, and, later, Mr. W. Lewis Fraser were appointed art editors of the "Century," then "Scribner's," they made it their business, as art editors, to assist and aid and encourage young artists. And earlier, too, Mr. Charles Parsons who managed the art department of Harper Brothers, gave such kind, sensible, and practical advice to many young artists that not only will his name never be forgotten as one who helped greatly to develop American art, but many an American illustrator now looks back to Mr. Parsons as the man who really started him on his career.

I do not mean to say that the American idea of having artists for art editors is unique. Everyone knows the good editorial work that has been done, and is still being done by Mr. Bale, Mr. W. L. Thomas, Mr. Thomson, Mr. Mason Jackson, Mr. L. Raven-Hill, to mention no others.

In printing, too, experiments were made from the very beginning with inks and paper and press-work. And though stiff glazed paper has been the outcome of these experiments, it is used simply because upon no other sort of paper can such good results be obtained. If some of the people who raise such a wail about this paper would only produce something better, I am sure they would be well rewarded for their pains, because all the great magazines would at once adopt it.

Another reason for the success and advancement of American illustrators is because the publishers of the great magazines, like "The Century," "Harper's," "Scribner's," have had the sense to see that if you want to get good work out of a man you have to pay him for it and encourage him to do it, then reproduce, and print it in a proper fashion. Naturally, the artists have taken a personal pride in the success of the magazines with which they have been connected; in certain cases, greater probably than the proprietors themselves ever realized. They have worked with engravers; they have mastered the mysteries of process and of printing; various engravers and printers have also worked with the artist, and in many cases there has been a truer system of genuine craftsmanship than existed in the everlastingly belauded guilds of the Middle Ages.

If, as is universally admitted, America has produced the best example of an illustrated magazine that the world has to show, it is not very difficult to find out the reason. Editors have secured the services of some of the best native artists, and are ready to use the work of foreigners. Also many of the best engravers work for these periodicals, and in machine printing Theodore de Vinne has set up a standard for the whole world. If these men have become master craftsmen, it is because they first studied their art profoundly, and then learned the practical requirements and technical conditions under which drawings can best be reproduced for the printed page, as well as the best methods of printing that page.

Mr. Reinhart and Mr. Smedley have treated the more modern side of life with an intelligence which is almost equal to Abbey's. Mr. Reinhart's most remarkable work is to be found in "Spanish Vistas" by Mr. George Parsons Lathrop, and in his sketches in "American Watering Places." Mr. Smedley's drawings may be seen any month in "Harper's Magazine."

Mr. Howard Pyle has brought all the resources of the past to aid him in the present, and is probably the most intelligent and able student of the fifteenth century living to-day. Yet Mr. Pyle is, when illustrating a modern subject, as entirely modern. He has treated with equal success the England of Robin Hood, the Germany of the fifteenth century, colonial days in America, children's stories, and the ordinary everyday events which an illustrator is called upon to record. He is deservedly almost as well known as a writer. His principal books are "Otto of the Silver Hand," the "Story of Robin Hood," and "Pepper and Salt."

The list of engravers is quite as important. Almost all of those who belong to the American Society of Engravers on Wood are original artists and very well deserving of mention, though their work itself has given them a position which I cannot better. The best known is Timothy Cole, whose engravings from the Old Masters have won him world-wide recognition. He is followed by W. B. Closson, who has to some extent attempted the same sort of work. Messrs. Frank French, Kingsley, and the late Frederick J?ngling have, with surprising success, engraved directly from nature; while for portraits, G. Kruell and T. Johnson are deservedly well known. In fine reproductive work Henry Wolf, H. Davidson, Gamm, Miss C. A. Powell, J. Tinkey, F. S. King, J. P. Davis have shown that wood-engraving is an art which can be used in the hands of a clever man or woman in a hundred ways undreamt of twenty years ago. This list makes no pretension of being complete, for new magazines, new men and new methods are springing up all over the country every few weeks, and a mere list of the illustrators and engravers would make a catalogue as large as this volume.

There was a period of great activity in American etching a few years ago. Among the most notable results were Cassell's Portfolios of the work of American etchers, edited by Mr. S. R. Koehler. But the art seems now to be languishing. Mr. Frank Duveneck, Mr. Otto Bacher, Mr. Stephen Parrish, Mr. Charles Platt, Mrs. Mary Nimmo Moran did some of the best original work, while, as reproductive men, Peter and Thomas Moran, Stephen Ferris, and J. D. Smillie were most notable. However, this brief spontaneous movement toward individual expression unfortunately seems rather to have spent itself; and America, like so many other countries, is waiting for something new to turn up.

CONCLUSION.

I have tried to show the methods of modern illustration, and to give a sketch of its present conditions. It would be absurd to prophesy its future, though I believe it will have a very brilliant one. Much of the work that is being turned out to-day is beneath contempt; much of it is done by young men who are absolutely uneducated, and an illustrator requires education as much as an author; much of it is done by people who are too careless, or too stupid, to read or to understand the MSS. which they illustrate. Thus, in looking through late numbers of a magazine, I learn that all the policemen in New York wear patent leather shoes; while from another I find that when people are very poor in France, they rock their babies in log cabin cradles, cook their meals on American stoves and sit upon Chippendale chairs.

But it is a pleasure to turn from budding geniuses of this sort and photographic hacks; from the gentlemen who copy the imperfections of the woodcut of the Middle Ages; from the people who enlarge the borders of their magazines with decorations that neither belong to our own time, nor are good examples of any other; from those who have succeeded in making a certain portion of the world believe that clumsy eccentricity is a cloak for all the sins in the artistic calendar, to illustrators who are calmly and quietly pursuing their profession, and producing work which may even drag other portions of the magazine or book, to which they contribute, to an unmerited immortality.

I do not pretend to foretell what the ultimate form of the book of the future, or of the magazine either, may be. But I do believe that illustration is as important as any other branch of art, will live as long as there is any love for art, long after the claims of the working classes have been forgotten, and the statues of the statesmen, who are the newspaper heroes of to-day, have crumbled into dust, unless preserved because a sculptor of distinction produced them.

Illustration is an important, vital, living branch of the fine arts, and it will flourish for ever.

Abbey, E. A., "Herrick," 123; "Old Songs" and "Quiet Life," 106, 124; "She Stoops to Conquer," 124; "Shakespeare," 124.

"Abbotsford" Waverley Novels, 26.

Ache, Caran d', 66; "Courses dans l'Antiquit?," "Carnet de Ch?ques," "Albums," etc., 67, 79.

Adams, J. A., 29.

Albrecht, E., 78.

Alexander, Miss, xvii.

Allers, C. W., 78.

Allingham, W., "The Music Master," 88.

American illustration, xv, 30-32, 113, 130.

American Tract Society, 29.

Amicis, E. de, 70.

Andersen's "Fairy Tales," 108.

Andrew, 25.

Angelico, Fra, 3.

Angerer and G?schl, 72.

Anning Bell, R., 105.

Aquatint, 38.

"Arabian Nights" , 24; , 91, 101.

Architectural drawing, 111.

"Arm?e Fran?aise, L'," 60.

Armstead, H. H., 90.

Arnold, Sir Edwin, "Japonica," and "Japan," 126.

Artist-correspondents and their work, 112.

Auriol, Georges, 63, 68.

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