steel-faced,
but they can be copper-faced.[27] Steel-facing has been adopted by the
Chalcographic Office of the Louvre, and by the _Gazette des Beaux Arts_,
that remarkable and unique publication which is an honor to criticism
and is found in all art libraries. Steel-facing, in fact, is universally
employed; it preserves in good condition the beautiful plates of our
engravers, and makes it possible to put within reach of a great many
people engravings of a choice kind, which but lately were found only in
the _salons_ of the rich and the collections of passionate amateurs.

[Illustration: AN ETCHER'S STUDIO.

From the Third Edition of Abraham Bosse's "Treatise," Paris, 1758.]

[Illustration: Croquis d'apres nature, pour servir de modeles, 1877.

Le Waag, Amsterdam.]

NOTES

BY THE TRANSLATOR.

[1] (p. 2.) To these associations may be added the German Etching Clubs
at Duesseldorf and at Weimar, which issue yearly portfolios of plates
executed by their members, and the American Etching Clubs at New York
and at Cincinnati. The New York Etching Club was organized in April,
1877, with Dr. L. M. Yale as its first president. At this writing Mr.
James D. Smillie is the presiding officer of the club, which has about
twenty-four members, including many of the leading artists of New York.
The Cincinnati Etching Club is composed almost entirely of amateurs. Its
president is Mr. George McLaughlin. Quite lately an Etching Club has
also been formed in Boston, with Mr. Edmund H. Garrett as president.

[2] (p. 3.) Benzine is preferable to turpentine for most of the
operations of the etcher, but more especially for cleaning soiled hands.
It is advisable to use turpentine only when the benzine proves
insufficient to remove the last traces of ground or ink from the lines.

[3] (p. 9.) Something about tools and materials has already been said in
the Introductory Chapter, p. xiv. What is left to be said follows
here:--

_Copper plates_, from visiting-card size (at $1 per dozen), to any
required size can be bought of, or ordered through, the firms named on
p. xiii, or of Mr. Geo. B. Sharp, 45 Gold St., New York. Mr. Sharp will
send price-lists on application. The plates usually sold, at least of
the smaller sizes, are made of an alloy, not of pure copper. These alloy
plates are cheaper and bite more quickly than those of pure copper, but
it happens occasionally that they do not bite evenly, owing to want of
homogeneity in t