In the second half—in which we claim to have had our share—were such brilliant contemporaries as John Jackson, John Thomson, the Williams', J. W. Whymper, Orrin Smith, Mason Jackson, W. L. Thomas, W. J. Linton, J. D. Cooper, C. Roberts, Biscombe Gardner, Joseph Swain, and J. W. Palmer—all true artists, draughtsmen, and painters, as well as wood engravers.
Touching the old cry of defective reproduction, we say that at times there could not fail to be some amount of depreciation, but never such as justified the senseless and vulgar remarks made by certain critics, which can only be passed over in consideration of their total want of technical knowledge of the art, and of the conditions under which much of the work was produced. Coarse epithets have been used towards men who were devoting, with all possible earnestness, their skill to an art for the reproduction of work for popular issues. Wood engraving, being no exception to other arts, demands conditions necessary for the production of perfect work. First, the man who makes the drawing ought to know the capabilities of the material and should work accordingly; second, the engraver should have all the true instincts of an artist; and, third, he must have the full interval of time to perform his work with proper care.
A large amount of wood engraving being done on the rush, it was a common thing to "burn the midnight oil" and the engraver's eyes at the same time, and it is a marvel that so much beautiful artistic work was done under such conditions.
We have printed in this book many letters from distinguished artists expressing their satisfaction with our rendering of their drawings, with one object—to place beyond all doubt that if wood engravings were produced under the conditions named, the results would always prove satisfactory.
We have a letter before us from Sir Edward Burne-Jones, in which he says: "I was quite unprepared for such fidelity."
By the introduction of the various "processes" by which artists' drawings are nowadays made applicable for reproduction, the days of wood engraving are practically over, and we have to bow to the new light which we had long felt would come; and we need hardly say that, for the reproduction of good pen work, with the new process by line etching, the results are perfect.
Also, when we look at the reproductions of tint drawings by such men as William Small, De Haenen, the Pagets, Caton Woodville, W. L. and C. Wyllie, Edgar Bundy, Jacomb Hood, and many other artists of distinction, by the half-tone process, and when we think (beyond all this fine artistic work) of the vast mass of wonderful illustration given to the public, week by week, of every conceivable class of subject, direct from the camera, in which the draughtsman has no part at all, and this work is generally of singular beauty and truth—we feel that our occupation is gone. In saying this we wish to add that we hail with satisfaction the marvellous results from these many ingenious adaptations of photography, and the consequent wide spread of the art of illustration, which has ever been our greatest delight.
In preparing the contents of this book it would have been impossible to give the many specimens of our work but for the kind and liberal spirit with which our requests were responded to by the various publishers who had entrusted us with their commissions from our very earliest days. Our best thanks are due, in the first instance, to Messrs. Adam & Charles Black, for the loan of two engravings for the "Abbotsford Edition of Scott's Novels," which were amongst our first important works; the Art Union of London, for a specimen of Kenny Meadows'; Messrs. Macmillan, for specimens from "The Ingoldsby Legends," "Tennyson's Poems," and "Alice in Wonderland"; Messrs. Bradbury & Agnew, for selections from Richard Doyle's work; Messrs. George Routledge & Sons, for specimens from "Gilbert's Shakespeare" and various "Fine Art Books"; Messrs. Herbert Virtue & Co., for several from Millais' "The Parables of Our Lord" and "Dalziel's Bible Gallery"; Messrs. Blackwood & Son, for "Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers," by Sir J. Noel Paton; Messrs. James Nisbet & Co., for "Lays of the Holy Land;" Messrs. Longman & Co., for Tenniel's "Lalla Rookh"; Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co., for "Framley Parsonage" and the Cornhill Magazine; Mr. James Hogg, for "London Society"; Messrs. D. Appleton & Co., for "Poems by W. Cullen Bryant"; Mr. John Hogg, for "Poems by Robert Buchanan"; Messrs. Chapman & Hall, for many illustrations to the works of Charles Dickens; the Proprietors of the Graphic, for "The Sisters," by G. J. Pinwell; and to Messrs. Ward and Lock, for "Dalziel's Arabian Nights" and "Dalziel's Goldsmith."
Mr. Alexander Strahan has our warmest thanks for much help which he kindly gave us in procuring many valuable representative specimens of our work from his various publications.