Page:Chats on old prints (IA chatsonoldprints00haydiala).pdf/53

 p. 284). The crumbled character of the work when examined under a glass is one of the chief features in lithography, and its general appearance should not present much difficulty to the beginner in recognising it.

The reader may readily bring these enlargements back to their original size by looking at them through a pair of opera-glasses, using the wrong end next to his eye—that is, having the smaller end pointing to these pages.

In order to embrace the period illustrated by the examples above enumerated the collector will have to cover a wide area, but for the present he may continue his journey through this chapter, returning later to the series of enlargements to prove the various prints which come under his hand.

He will frequently find himself in doubt as to whether a print is a lithograph or an aquatint, a copper engraving or an old etching, but after a little practice, and after handling every specimen that he can come across in old illustrated volumes, prior to the nineteenth century, he will find his new hobby full of fascination, and not unworthy of unremitting study.

Reasons for Collecting.—We have enumerated the various kinds of engraving, and the reader will be in a position to stand on the threshold at the open door and contemplate the wide expanse which lies before him if he desires to enter the field of collecting. If he be a born lover of prints he will enter the arena and be drawn insensibly towards that restricted portion which appeals most to his artistic instincts. Sometimes a man becomes a collector after having