1. The article, published in The Art Journal, is ‘Drawing and engraving on wood’ (Herkomer 1882). A note to the article says: ‘This paper was delivered at the London Institution in January, 1882’. The tenor of the passages cited corresponds with what Herkomer wrote. There is no way of knowing whether Van Rappard enclosed the extracts from the article in his letter (cf. letter 276) or sent them separately, with or without an accompanying letter.

2. The Graphic first appeared in December 1869.

3. The word ‘decadence’ is found in Herkomer and must have particularly impressed Van Gogh; he refers to it several times. After a brief history of the wood engraving, in which the engraving was done by a person other than the draughtsman, Herkomer wrote: ‘Now, here we pass to modern times, when some of our best painters have drawn their best works on wood, and for whom a body of engravers has been raised up who have brought the art of engraving on wood to such a degree of perfection, that the most modern work, especially that of the Americans, is done to show the skill of the engraver rather than the art of the draughtsman. I do not hesitate to say that this is the first sign of a decadence’ (Herkomer 1882, p. 167, col. 2; cf. for the word also p. 133, col. 2).

4. In the original article on p. 167, col. 2.

5. This quotation is on p. 168, col. 1.

6. In the original article the passage cited below came before the one above; Van Rappard may have turned them round in his extract.

7. This quotation is derived from p. 168, col. 2.

8. De Zwaluw. Volksblad met Platen onder Toezicht van de Maatschappij tot Nut van ’t Algemeen (1882) was aimed at the lower classes. It included four folio pages in each issue, one with a large illustration and another with a small one. The short texts were moralistic or didactic in character. The magazine appeared only in the years 1882-1883 and was published under the supervision of the Society for General Welfare. The price was 7.5 cents per issue and 90 cents per volume in 1882, and 5 cents per issue and 60 cents per volume in 1883.

9. For the ‘Zuid-Hollandsch Koffiehuis’, see letter 214, n. 9.

10. Jules or Emile Adélard Breton, Charles Degroux and Jozef Israëls.

11. Richard Caton Woodville (ii), The state of Ireland: Distributing relief tickets in the turf-market, Westport, County Mayo, in The Illustrated London News 76 (6 March 1880), engraved by W.I. Mosses, ‘Extra supplement’, between pp. 224 and 225. Ill. 1992 . Van Gogh is mistaken in his interpretation of the print; the accompanying text speaks of the ‘distribution of relief tickets for small portions of “yellow meal” or maize flour doled out by the local Relief Committees’ (p. 227).

12. Charles Joseph Staniland, “Help the helpers!” – Hospital Sunday, June 13 1880, in The Graphic 21 (12 June 1880), pp. 596-597. Ill. 1351 . Van Gogh derived his knowledge about the call for money from the commentary accompanying the illustration in the magazine (p. 594).

13. Hubert von Herkomer, Christmas in a workhouse, engraved by Charles Roberts, in The Graphic 14 (25 December 1876), Christmas Number, p. 30. Ill. 166 . (t*93).

14. For Fildes’s Houseless and hungry , see letter 199, n. 8.

15. Charles Albert Bertall, vicomte d’Arnoux, depicted the beau-monde in numerous magazine illustrations (fashion, horse racing, sport, hunting and at the beach). He also illustrated an edition of Balzac’s Petites misères de la vie conjugale (1845). As far as can be made out, he did not contribute to the sumptuous magazine La Vie Elégante, that had the same type of illustrations.

16. Luke 9:62.