This work contains an explanation of the processes of cold metal work, chiefly as applied to decorative or industrial art, and especially with a view to their being taught to children in elementary and preparatory schools. The author believes that it may be regarded as thoroughly adapted to this purpose, he having been founder and director for four years of the industrial art classes in the public schools of Philadelphia, in which some of these branches of metal work were taught with great success, so that many of the pupils on leaving school immediately obtained well-paid employment. As many as six girls at once thus went from the metal class to a factory, the proprietor of which declared that all the preliminary education, which gave him more trouble than anything else, had been perfectly imparted. On another occasion, a principal in an ornamental metal factory, after careful examination of the design and work of the pupils, offered to take forty together, and guarantee "living wages" from the beginning, and a rapid increase of payment, if their parents would consent. All that these children knew, and much more, is set forth clearly and briefly in this work, so that no person, young or old, who wishes to learn metal work either as an art or a trade, can with a proper degree of interest and industry fail to do so.

The principle which guides this and other books on the industrial or minor arts by the same author, is that the rudiments, or first and easiest stages of anything to be mastered, must be very thoroughly acquired, and no step forward be allowed till the pupil is really a master in all that has preceded it. Self-evident as this principle seems, it is as yet so far from having been understood or followed, that most writers on education in anything neglect it, and in a recent book on metal work for amateurs, not only is there no full description of what may be done in the early stage, but the latter is even spoken of contemptuously, as only fit to produce inferior objects.

I beg the reader to specially observe that in every subject treated there is something of special importance, which is either now published for the first time, or which was first taught and made known in my other works on industry and art. I refer here, for example, to figures in bent iron work, to an advanced style of cut metal work, to embossing for beginners on wood, nail-ornaments, and scale work.

In the Middle Ages in Europe, as in the East, the vast extension of decorated work was entirely due to the fact that the rudiments were so perfectly mastered, and the very utmost made of their resources. Thus an immense proportion of the carving, and, indeed, of most kinds of ornamental work, was actually such as would be included in the first two or three lessons in an industrial or minor art school. Nowadays all pupils hasten on as rapidly as possible to the "higher stages," despising the lower, the result being vast quantities of petty elaborate foliage and fine work, valued for great skill and labour, while on every house-front, and door, and elsewhere, we see dead blank space. The art education of the present day is all wrong in this, that it constantly holds up before pupils the idea that they are to become great artists, when what the country needs is good artisans. Practical result guided by good taste is what the latter require, and I believe that I have had this before me in every paragraph of my work. I will now explain the nature of its subject and clearly set forth its subdivisions.

Metal work may be divided into two kinds, the hot and cold. Heated or hot metal, which is naturally produced by the aid of fire, includes that which is melted and cast in moulds, or simply heated and forged till it is soft enough to be hammered into shape, as a horseshoe is made. To this latter, but much connected with cold metal work, belong soldering and brazing, which is the joining of one piece of metal to another by heating, and using some intermediate substance, such as solder, or borax and resin, as a flux and cement which readily promotes an union. Two pieces of red-hot iron hammered together join with difficulty, but with a flux or binder, such as solder or borax, they unite at once when hammered.

Cold metal work has many subdivisions, chief among which, in decorative and easy art, are :

I. Band, strip, or ribbon work. II. Cut sheet work, and stencil cutting.

III. Repousse or embossed sheet metal work.

IV. Nail or knob work. V. Scale work.

VI. Sheet silver work.

To these might be added the remarkably difficult art mentioned by Vasari, of filing or cutting images out of solid ingots of iron, which is probably not practised by anyone at the present day, and therefore is not included among the current metal works.

As regards practical experience and qualification in these, I venture to mention, with all due reserve, what is, however, well known to hundreds in authority, that it was in my work on the "Minor Arts," published in 1879, and in my "Manual of Metal

Work," and "Repousse Album," that sheet brass work was first shown to be possible on wood, which greatly reduced the price of materials and the difficulty of the rudimentary stages of repousse or embossing. And though it is usual for those who really do not know what can be done on wood to deny it, it is certainly true that it was the cheapness and ease of hammering on soft wood which caused the art to spread with such incredible rapidity over the United States, and, soon after, through Great Britain and Europe.

It may, however, here be mentioned that I had previously practised repousse on wood in England, and explained it to a few friends, among them Mr. Karl Krall. It was also introduced at once into the Home Arts and Industries Association (Albert Hall, S.K.), where it is, I believe, still taught. Into this latter institution the Venetian bent iron or strip work was introduced at an early date by Miss Annie Dymes, the secretary, and there it is now taught by Miss M. H. C. Legh, the author of an admirable and very succinct "Handbook of Brief Elementary Instructions for Classholders in Bent or Strip Iron." I beg the reader to observe that while none of the works on this subject carry it beyond the extremely simple, rudimentary, and very monotonous ornamentation of the C and S and similar curves of Venetian iron work, this book teaches a very much more advanced, though not more difficult, art of making figures, floral ornaments, and, in short, a great advance on all that has been thus far made in the work.

Nail or knob work, and easy silver work for ladies, which are fully described in this work, are subjects on which I was, as I believe, the first to write or publish, and it will be seen that even yet they are as here set forth almost entirely among the arts as yet unknown. The latter is not only extremely easy, but when guided by good taste may be made very profitable. These (like advanced bent iron work, with figures, as here taught) are as yet so very little known that thousands of people could easily get a living by practising or teaching them.

This work is not intended "for amateurs to pass an idle hour," but to train the young to use their brains and hands, to develop ideas of design and its application, and, in short, to awake and exercise that constructive faculty which enables them to most readily learn a trade of any kind, and which, as great experience has shown, awakens all the mental faculties.

It may be observed, as regards the subject of this work and its practical use, that cold metal work in such rudimentary ornamental forms as bent iron or strip, repousse, and wire work, can be mastered in a short time even by children, as I know by extensive personal experience. Secondly, it forms the very best preparation for working in-heated metal or forging, leading insensibly and easily to it. Among our early ancestors every well-educated man was a smith - smith, earl, and thrall, or the artizan, the noble, and the labouring man, were the family names of the whole human race - and there is no reason why every man should not be more or less of a smith now. All such work opens the eyes and makes deft the hands to all kinds of crafts, and the first step to it will be found in the extremely easy and entertaining art taught in this book, which is indeed so easy that there is nothing in it which any young lady or schoolboy cannot master. What children have done, children may do.

In "Repousse Work for Amateurs," the author, L. L. Haslope, speaking of the various series of designs for embossing metal, says that "the best sets I have met with are by Charles G. Leland, a well-known writer on art. . . . They include designs for a great variety of subjects; . . . some of them are very quaint and original, and would form good practice for a beginner." I venture to hope that the illustrations in the present work will be found in all respects superior to those so kindly described, and even more adapted to the use of the inexperienced. They have all been executed in Italy, and in the home of such art, and I have spared no pains to reap good models.

In conclusion I have to express my sincere thanks to Mr. Karl Krall for having read the proof sheets, and for several useful additions and suggestions.