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Show any rate, it is a harmless fiction with us to think that we presented a fairly plausible argument for the collecting habit. From early life man is a collector. As a boy, he fills his pockets with marbles and other impedimenta of like character. With the passing of the years utility and beauty make their appeal to him. If the possession of one hobby is good for the soul of a man, why aren't two hobbies also of advantage? It is hard to confine an enthusiastic collector strictly to one line. Love for literary autographs carries with it a fondness for books, and after that it is but a step to book embellishment- to etchings, to wood engravings, and to all those various pictorial processes that have from time to time been used so effectively in the making of the book beautiful. A hobby that has come to us with our love of books and autographs, in 8 a small way it is true, is that charming one of forming an assemblage of etchings. Here, as in the other hobby, modest expenditure is the insistent rule. We believe not in ex. travagant outlays of money for the up-keep of a hobby. There's more fun in taking all the time necessary to look for a good print at a modest price. For be it understood that a creditable collection of etchings can be made and the portfolios contain no print by an artist of wide reputation. Certes, if you can obtain etchings by R~!mbrandt, the father of the art and the king of etchers, or by Whistler or Hayden, the great etchers of recent years, so much the better for your collection. But it takes a long purse these days to get a worth-. while Rembrandt, and even good Whistlers and Hayden.s are not to be had for small sums. If an etching appeals to one, either ~--------------~ 9 |