even the wash of water
color, or india ink. One with some theoretical knowledge of the art will
find wonderful opportunities for study in some of the holiday volumes of
the present season, which show the latest developments of the skill of
the engraver, and the different methods of producing effects.

[Illustration: IANTHE.

[From Childe Harold.]]

Let us stand here at the counter in one of our largest bookstores, and
turn over the pages of a few of the books which lie nearest. First at
hand is _Childe Harold_, the latest in that admirable series of gift
books which includes _The Princess_, Owen Meredith's _Lucile_, and
Scott's _Lady of the Lake_. How charmingly everything is balanced in the
making of the book,--type, margin, binding, and what we are now
specially considering, illustration. How full of atmosphere are the
landscapes, and how clear and perfectly kept their values! Look at the
exquisite little wood scene on page 123, with the foreground in shadow,
and a bar of sunshine lying across the middle distance. And here, in a
totally different subject, a view of Stamboul, where the engraver has
had to deal with land, water, and sky,--how cleverly he has managed to
bring each part of his picture into its proper relations with the
others, and yet how simply it is done! Changing from landscape to
figure, take the ideal head, "Ianthe," which one might imagine was
drawn, feature by feature, from the portrait of Byron, which forms the
frontispiece of the volume. It is an example of what perfect knowledge
can achieve on the part of the engraver,--delicate and yet strong in its
way, soft without being indistinct, every line being made to fulfil its
purpose and nothing more.

[Illustration: TOWER OF THE MENGIA.

[From Tuscan Cities.]]

Here is another volume from the same house, "Tuscan Cities," which shows
the capabilities of wood-engraving in quite another direction. Some of
the illustrations might absolutely be taken for etchings, so faithfully
have the peculiarities of the artist been followed. Compare the
treatment of "The Tower of the Mengia" with that of the pictures already
mentioned, and mark the difference of effect.

[Illustration: THE LADY OF THE LAKE.

[From Heroines of the Poets.]]

[Illustration: "HOW THEY CARRIED THE GOOD NEWS."

[From Ideal Poems.]]

[Illustration: EVENING BY THE LAKESIDE.

[From Poems of Nature.]]

[Illustration: MATERNITY.

[_From "Songs of Seven."_]]

Here is anothe