tores
completely changed.

The next undertaking was a systematic plan for improving the pictures
on the walls of the American home. Bok was employing the best artists
of the day: Edwin A. Abbey, Howard Pyle, Charles Dana Gibson, W. L.
Taylor, Albert Lynch, Will H. Low, W. T. Smedley, Irving R. Wiles, and
others. As his magazine was rolled to go through the mails, the
pictures naturally suffered; Bok therefore decided to print a special
edition of each important picture that he published, an edition on
plate-paper, without text, and offered to his readers at ten cents a
copy. Within a year he had sold nearly one hundred thousand copies,
such pictures as W. L. Taylor's "The Hanging of the Crane" and
"Home-Keeping Hearts" being particularly popular.

But all this was simply to lead up to the realization of Bok's
cherished dream; the reproduction, in enormous numbers, of the greatest
pictures in the world in their original colors. The plan, however, was
not for the moment feasible; the cost of the four-color process was at
that time prohibitive, and Bok had to abandon it. But he never lost
sight of it. He knew the hour would come when he could carry it out,
and he bided his time.

It was not until years later that his opportunity came, when he
immediately made up his mind to seize it. The magazine had installed a
battery of four-color presses; the color-work in the periodical was
attracting universal attention, and after all stages of experimentation
had been passed, Bok decided to make his dream a reality. He sought
the co-operation of the owners of the greatest private art galleries in
the country: J. Pierpont Morgan, Henry C. Frick, Joseph E. Widener,
George W. Elkins, John G. Johnson, Charles P. Taft, Mrs. John L.
Gardner, Charles L. Freer, Mrs. Havemeyer, and the owners of the
Benjamin Altman Collection, and sought permission to reproduce their
greatest paintings.

Although each felt doubtful of the ability of any process adequately to
reproduce their masterpieces, the owners heartily co-operated with Bok.
But Bok's co-editors discouraged his plan, since it would involve
endless labor, the exclusive services of a corps of photographers and
engravers, and the employment of the most careful pressmen available in
the United States. The editor realized that the obstacles were
numerous and that the expense would be enormous; but he felt sure that
the American public was ready for his idea. And early in 1912 h