THE GRAY COLLECTION OF ENGRAVINGS.

THIS rich and valuable collection of engravings was bequeathed to the College by Francis C. Gray, LL.D., a graduate of 1809.

After graduation, Mr. Gray studied law and was admitted to the bar, but never practised, turning his whole attention to literature and the fine arts.

He was a contributor to the North American Review and the author of several pamphlets. For some time he held the position of private secretary to John Quincy Adams, and was in Russia with him in that capacity.

This, and subsequent visits to all parts of Europe, developed in him an intense love for art, and he devoted all the energies of his cultivated mind to its study. The result of this was the gradual acquisition of this magnificent collection of over five thousand engravings and a valuable library of works on art in many languages.

To try to give even the most meagre description of the collection would be a fruitless task; every one who is interested in art ought to examine it for himself and pass judgment upon it; still, we may mention here two gems of the collection. One is an engraving by Baccio Baldini, one of the very earliest Italian engravers, born in 1437. It is a unique impression of a circular silver plate about four inches in diameter; one of a set of twenty-four, described in books as bought in Florence over a hundred years ago, and which were for many years the glory of the Otto collection in Leipzig. When this collection was broken up there were but eighteen of the original twenty-four left; these were sold, and the finest one in many respects was purchased for Mr. Gray at a great price, while the British Museum got the rest.

The other is a fine specimen of the skill of "The Master E. S., 1466," the earliest-known German engraver. Hardly known either, for it is uncertain what his family name was, and it is only supposed that he was the first to use a rolling press and make copper-plate engraving his occupation.

But these are only two of the very earliest, while every school and age has some representatives in the collection. As Mr. Gray was particularly interested in those painters who engraved their own works, the collection is particularly rich in the works of Albrecht Durer, Rembrandt, and other peintres-graveurs. There are also impressions of all the finest of Raphael's drawings, done on copper by Raimondi, and under Raphael's own supervision.

It would be extremely difficult to compare this collection with others in Europe or America, for some are more complete in the works of one particular master, a great many more numerous, and one, even in this country, more costly; but we believe it is not overstepping the limits of our authority to say that, as an aid to the history and study of the graphic art of all periods and schools, it has few superiors anywhere, and none in this country. Indeed, it can hardly be otherwise, made as it was by a man of such cultivation, judgment, and taste as Mr. Gray, who had devoted his whole life to the study of engraving as an art by itself, and to its history in every country.

Though it has been known in a general way, for over a year, in undergraduate circles, that this collection could be seen by any one who eared to make application to the Curator, it has been as little visited by them as another object of interest in Cambridge, - our fine Observatory, with its mammoth telescope, a sight of which blesses the eyes and satisfies the curiosity of undergraduates but once in their four years' course, and only then by a gracious "special invitation."

Probably not more than one in fifty of those now in college have ever seen the engravings, and yet there are some good reasons for it; the limited time of the Curator, the small space allotted to them in the Library, and the number of applications from persons not in college.

Applications are made by note, and only a few, in the order of their application, can be accommodated in the one alcove at a time.

To give every one that wishes an idea of the collection, and to cultivate the taste for art more generally, the Curator is now having a few of the principal engravings heliotyped (a process superior to photography, because an indestructible copy is produced), and, should the copies prove satisfactory, they will soon be for sale at Sever's. Students can have them at cost, - twenty-five cents to a dollar, we believe, - so it is within the power of any one to possess a Raphael or Rembrandt for a mere trifle. If this venture prove successful, other copies will follow in course of time. The advantages that will arise from this generous project need not be commented upon here.

While the engravings are being heliotyped, we understand the collection will not be open to visitors.