[Plate VI.] Soft-ground etchings. See [p. 52].
[Plate VII.] Dry-point etching. See [p. 53].
[Plate VIII.] À Seville. A sketch, given as a specimen of printing (see [p. 58]).
[Plate IX.] À Anvers. Le Waag, Amsterdam. Sketches from nature, to serve as examples.
[Plate X.] (Frontispiece). Souvenir de Bordeaux. To be consulted in regard to the manner of using the points and partial bitings.
MY DEAR MONSIEUR LALANNE,[B]
If there is any one living who can write about Etching, it must certainly be you, as you possess all the secrets of the art, and are versed in all its refinements, its resources, and its effects. Nevertheless, when I was told that you intended to publish a book on the subject, I feared that you were about to attempt the impossible; for it seemed as if Abraham Bosse had exhausted the theme two hundred years ago, and that you would be condemned to repeat all that this excellent man had said in his treatise, in which, with charming naïveté, he teaches the art of engraving to perfection.
I must confess, however, that the reading of your manuscript very quickly undeceived me. I find in it numberless useful and interesting things not to be found anywhere else, and I comprehend that Abraham Bosse wrote for those who know, while you write for those who do not know.