NOTES
BY THE TRANSLATOR.
[1] (p. 2.) To these associations may be added the German Etching Clubs at Düsseldorf 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 the metal. Still, they are extensively used, and amateurs will find them preferable to the more expensive copper plates.