A survey of the art of etching from the seventeenth century up to the date of publication. The author was an artist and critic and a practitioner and connoisseur of etching an art form that underwent a major revival in the mid-nineteenth century. The first edition of 1868 is illustrated with over thirty original etchings. The second edition of 1876 has an expanded text to bring it up to date with new developments but the illustrations are now reproductions. There was a third edition in 1880 about which I have no information at this point. NB the edition here which is listed as 1880 is in fact the 1876 one - see the title page. This needs to be corrected and I can't work out how to do that.