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5.

idea of technical peculiarities, while, on the other hand, they add largely to the illustration of the progress of ideas as expressed in art.

For the sake of completeness it may be well to state here that the Section of Graphic Arts confines itself strictly within the limits indicated by its name, that is to say, to drawings and printing and the various methods of producing pictures to be multiplied in the press, or, in other words, to the various methods of delineation on surfaces.

As comparatively but little material (308 numbers in all) had been collected at the time when I took charge of the section, the first thing to be done, in the almost total absence of means wherewith to make purchases, was to solicit contributions from artists, publishers, and private persons. The measure of success attained is shown by the list of donors and depositors given elsewhere. Of the 2894 entries in the catalogue up to June 30, 1889, only 294 represent objects purchased at a cost of

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