series of illustrated works which he published. He began in 1805 with the first part of The Italian School of Design, a series of etchings by himself, after drawings by the old masters. The second part was published in 1813 and the third in 1823, when the whole work was issued in one volume. In 1816 he published an Inquiry into the Origin and Early History of Engraving on Copper and Wood, which was followed by four folio volumes of engravings of The Stafford Gallery. In 1826 came out A Series of Plates after the Early Florentine Artists. Two volumes followed in 1826–28 of facsimiles, by himself, of prints and etchings by masters of the Italian and other schools. In 1831 he published Notices of Engravers and their Works which was the start of a dictionary of artists, which he decided not to continue; and in 1863, after his death, appeared An Inquiry into the Invention of Printing, a companion to his work on the origin of engraving. Besides these works, he published in 1801 a catalogue of Italian pictures, which he had acquired during his stay in Italy from the Colonna, Borghese, and Corsini Palaces; A Descriptive Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery, 1826; and Observations on a MS. in the British Museum, in a controversy concerning Cicero's translation of an astronomical poem by Aratus. References Additional Sources Antony Griffiths, Landmarks in Print Collecting - Connoisseurs and Donors at the British Museum since 1753, 1996, British Museum Press, External links Attribution 1771 births 1836 deaths English writers Art writers Employees of the British Museum English art collectors