A Treatise on Etching = Traite de la gravure à l'eau-forte

Paris: Société des beaux-arts, Editeurs. New York: John C. Yorston & Co., Importers, [between 1867 and 1878], nd. Wraps. Very Good. English and French on opposite pages. 283 pages, 8 leaves of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm. Cream colored wraps, uncut fore-edge. with a highly decorative pressed cloth slip-on chemise featuring an elaborate floral pattern of Morning Glories in gilt, red and green, all backed in pale blue silk. Book Condition: Very good at least, with minor wear to wraps only. Binding very sound and interior immaculate and unmarred. Luxurious cream colored pages completely lacking any hint of foxing or soiling of any kind. Eight plates collated and perfect (some lacking tissue guards to no effect). Chemise is good only with spine lacking pressed cloth surface altogether and chipping with loss in other spots though blue silk backing is entirely intact and providing stalwart structural integrity to the whole enterprise. While this offering is lacking the called for "portfolio containing 15 examples of modern etchings" the eight plates included are both exquisite and illustrative. A seminal work with a plethora of editions all the way into the modern age Dover reprint [titled: The Technique of Etching- same author] this title is easy entry down a bibliographic rabbit-hole. We believe this to be one of the earlier editions and indeed one of the more scarce, the face-to-face English-French edition with a New York importer and Société des beaux-arts, Editeurs. [Certainly earlier than any translations with Koehler listed as translator] More to the point though, it's a book that includes such intriguing chapter headings as: "Biting", "Accidents", and "Various Methods of Biting"