Excerpt from The Print Collector: An Introduction to the Knowledge Necessary for Forming a Collection of Ancient Prints The study of art needs no apology. Man may sometimes acquire too much power, or too much money, for his own advantage or for the good of his fellow-men, but true art is like true religion - the more it is cultivated the richer are the heart and mind of its possessor. Should it not beget wisdom, it will increase knowledge; and these, if not twin brothers, are very closely related. There are good and bad systems of religion, as there are true and false forms of art, and a consideration of this analogy might be followed up with profit, to the edification of some people, and to the incredulity and disapprobation of others. In this new country, where for the last one hundred years utility has been the predominant idea, I have often wondered why the poetic mind of the age has not created a goddess of Utility, to whom we might render homage similar to that paid in the olden time at the shrines of the goddesses of Wisdom, Beauty, and Riches. We know that art in its highest forms is capable of inspiring the purest of religious sentiment, but this is only a portion of what it has done for the world in the past, and is capable of doing for us now. In all real art there is something which the lowliest person may partake of and enjoy; just as art may be found, and does exist, in the lowliest and simplest forms and detail. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.