Page:Chats on old prints (IA chatsonoldprints00haydiala).pdf/63

 to put the amateur collector more at his ease and free him from being abashed at the record prices reached in auction-rooms for prints which read in the daily press like an advertisement of contributions by wealthy patrons to charitable funds.

At this juncture the writer wishes it to be clearly understood that in ignoring "states" it is not by reason of his indifference to their place in collecting, but it would be trespassing beyond the scope of the present volume to dwell in detail upon their qualities.

It might even be urged that half the possessors of "early states" of the great masters could not give adequate reasons why one state was worth more than another. The same weakness exists among collectors of rare editions of books in sumptuous bindings who never read them. It is of exceptional interest to close students of the fine arts and to those who themselves practise engraving to examine the methods and the corrections of an engraver up to the time when he deemed his plate finally complete to issue to the general public. But the writer holds the opinion that for the ordinary man "states" are confusing, and that it is far better for him to confine his attention to finished examples of engraving than to dabble in the details of technique of which he is not conversant.

This is heterodox to the fraternity of cognoscenti, and is written in fear and trembling, but to the ordinary man with the vast field of engravers' work untouched it is the only common-sense way to approach the study of old prints. If the contrary view be advanced what answer can be given to the