DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.73059#0020
Bartolo^zi and his Works.
CHAPTER XXX.
Hints on Beginning the Collecting of
Prints.
m 6qBN^ye<Rs
&& the print can hardly be thoroug
have always a guide to the value of a print in
the quality of the drawing; for if this be good,
hly bad. No amount of mechanical skill and
height of finish will compensate for the defect of bad or uncertain drawing ; and in looking
for imperfections, the collector gradually educates or improves his own judgment in this
important matter. A novice in collecting should begin by buying what he likes, and not
what other people like. It may be that at first he will buy badly, and he will certainly
make a great many mistakes ; but every mistake acknowledged to one's self is a step
in the right direction. This may seem at first a process costing time and trouble, but
experience cannot be had at a bargain. It is better to gain knowledge by experiments, for
knowledge so gained is living ; whereas to go groping through the tastes and experience
of others does not really inform the taste. As the collection increases, and opportunities
offer for close and studious examination, taste will improve; what was once liked may
cease to give pleasure, and examples of a higher class will be sought for. It is more than
probable that at first the large sums asked for prints in the best and brightest condition
will frighten the beginner, who will content himself with impressions at a quarter, or, may
be, even a tenth of the price. And this is just as well; for by buying and closely studying
inferior prints, or rather inferior impressions of good prints, an intimate knowledge is
obtained, which, in the course of time, must lead to a fuller appreciation, and the student
will cease to wonder at high prices, or at the eagerness with which fine examples are
coveted and hunted out.
A broad and safe rule for the collector to follow when his taste is sufficiently formed,
is to give the preference to the most beautiful examples. Old editions of books on
subjects of interest are scarce and valuable ; while the wearisome and ponderous tomes of
the schoolmen, stuffed with platitudes as ponderous as themselves, can be purchased in any
4 quantity
CHAPTER XXX.
Hints on Beginning the Collecting of
Prints.
m 6qBN^ye<Rs
&& the print can hardly be thoroug
have always a guide to the value of a print in
the quality of the drawing; for if this be good,
hly bad. No amount of mechanical skill and
height of finish will compensate for the defect of bad or uncertain drawing ; and in looking
for imperfections, the collector gradually educates or improves his own judgment in this
important matter. A novice in collecting should begin by buying what he likes, and not
what other people like. It may be that at first he will buy badly, and he will certainly
make a great many mistakes ; but every mistake acknowledged to one's self is a step
in the right direction. This may seem at first a process costing time and trouble, but
experience cannot be had at a bargain. It is better to gain knowledge by experiments, for
knowledge so gained is living ; whereas to go groping through the tastes and experience
of others does not really inform the taste. As the collection increases, and opportunities
offer for close and studious examination, taste will improve; what was once liked may
cease to give pleasure, and examples of a higher class will be sought for. It is more than
probable that at first the large sums asked for prints in the best and brightest condition
will frighten the beginner, who will content himself with impressions at a quarter, or, may
be, even a tenth of the price. And this is just as well; for by buying and closely studying
inferior prints, or rather inferior impressions of good prints, an intimate knowledge is
obtained, which, in the course of time, must lead to a fuller appreciation, and the student
will cease to wonder at high prices, or at the eagerness with which fine examples are
coveted and hunted out.
A broad and safe rule for the collector to follow when his taste is sufficiently formed,
is to give the preference to the most beautiful examples. Old editions of books on
subjects of interest are scarce and valuable ; while the wearisome and ponderous tomes of
the schoolmen, stuffed with platitudes as ponderous as themselves, can be purchased in any
4 quantity