Excerpt from The Capitals of the World: With Introduction by H. D. Traill
Nor have the illustrations of the work been a subject of any less careful or less successful provision. The aim Of the French publishers has been to make them genuinely illustrative, in the sense of elucidation as well as in that of adornment. They desired, as they have informed their public, to satisfy the claim of utility, no less than that of beauty, in the matter, and to arrange for the enrichment of the volume with Sketches which shall not merely delight the eye Of the reader, but contribute substantially to the information to be derived from the text. Sometimes these designs will give him a general View of a capital, framed within the lines of its encircling landscape; sometimes it will be some characteristic incident Of its daily life that has employed the artist’s pencil, or some charming female figure, in which is personified the native beauty or the refined elegance Of the race. But all the sketches are from nature, all taken with the Object before the eyes. The artist, like the writer, has brought a direct vision, a personal impression, to bear upon his share Of the work. Often it is his own home that he depicts, his own city whose inner life and familiar lineaments he reproduces.
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