Academy Sketches ; containing nearly 200 illustations, drawn by the artists from varioius exhibitions / edited by Henry Blackburn

`First Year. 1883.' [head of title page].

“The great public interest taken in “Academy” and “Grosvenor Notes” since the first publication in 1875, has led to a demand for Sketches of Pictures which the original Shilling Volumes have been found unable to meet. It has therefore been decided to issue a Supplemental Volume of Sketches (drawn by the artists) of pictures in the Royal Academy and other Exhibitions, to give to distant readers a more complete impression of the art of the year. The original idea of “Academy Notes” was to give, in the simplest form and in the fewest lines, a key to the composition of a picture. But the fashion has set in favour of more elaborate illustrations, and the activity of foreign nations (imitating the English system) points to the necessity of placing the works of Englis artists more en evidence as regards to other countries. In the present Volume (which will in no way interfere with the regular issue of “Academy” and “Grosvenor Notes”) it will be possible to do fuller justice to many drawings, and to draw attention to some pictures which, from various causes, might have escaped public notice.

The Exhibitions represented in 1883 are: The Royal Academy, The Grosvenor Gallery, Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours, Institute of Painters in Water Colours, Society of British Artists, Exhibitions of Pictures of Children by English Artists, Exhibitions of Paintings on Chinas: “Les Impressionnistes” and “Tentures Artistiques.

Next year “Academy Sketches” will be published earlier, and include pictures in various Exhibitions; forming a handsome pictorial record of “The Art Season of 1884.””[Preface, pages 3-5].