Now ready, in One handsome Quarto Volume, Cloth extra, Price £3, 3s. ETCHINGS ILLUSTRATIVE OF SCOTTISH CHARACTER AND SCENERY BY THE LATE WALTER GEIKIE, R. S. A. HE PUBLISHER believes that little explanation or apology is required in placing a new Edition of this Work in the hands of the public. GEIKIE'S ETCHINGS have from the first held a distinguished place in public favour. The story of the artist's life is fascinatingly told by the late Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Bart. That the popular author of the "Moray Floods," the "Wolf of Badenoch," and "Legendary Tales of the Highlands," was in his element in writing the Biographical Introduction" prefixed to the original edition of the Etchings, and which is reproduced in the present volume, may easily be gathered from the graphic details he has preserved of the artist's life, and the estimate he has given of his work. The resolution and ability Geikie displayed in overcoming all obstacles to the free exercise of his genius, is of itself sufficient to render his work an object of deep interest to the Student of Art. That work, however, is of a quality which requires no adventitious aid to establish its claims to the high position it now holds; the absolute accuracy of his delineations, his keen sense of humour, and his wide sympathy, are apparent 2 in every page; and as time goes on the value of his work stands out in fuller relief. He is truly sui generis; he adopted a line in which he had no competitor, and fortunately for posterity he firmly adhered to it. He shews us poverty without squalor, and humble life and hard toil without discontent; as a depicter of peasant life in all its shades, from grave to gay, he stands unrivalled; in comedy his main strength lies, and there are few of his works in which a sly touch of humour is not discernible. In costume he has preserved for us the garb and customs of the lower classes in Scotland of his own time, and has thereby rendered a signal service to the artist and historian. In days when fashions change so rapidly that the shape of garments worn but twenty years ago is matter of dispute among us, Geikie's costumes are of especial value, and will surprise the ordinary reader alike by their variety and picturesqueness. They are, for the most part, obsolete, and the fact that a dreary sameness in dress now prevails from the prince to the beggar, gives an additional piquancy to his work. With all his attention to externals, Geikie was a keen observer of character; no garb, however mean, concealed from him the real man; it would make little difference, after all, whether his women were dressed as princesses or fishwives, or his men as nobles or peasants, the touch of nature runs through all; his children are real children-dumpy, ragged, dirty. The present Edition, comprising several plates which have not hitherto been published, is the most complete set of Geikie's work which has yet been submitted to the public. The letterpress of former editions was the work of a number of men of distinguished literary capacity, among them Mr James Ballantine, some of whose earliest published pieces of poetry appeared in connection with the etchings. Another leading contributor in prose and verse was Mr David Vedder. These original essays have been left virtually untouched, a few notes where absolutely necessary having been introduced relating to descriptions of buildings and localities. A very large number of extremely interesting plates were, in the first and subsequent editions, published without letterpress. For these, as well as for the etchings now published for the first time, a series of essays have been written by Mr Andrew Ross, and occasional extracts from standard authors have been supplied. For a few of the plates original pieces of poetry have been contributed. |