i love my history and am having a hard time finding out things about my book, it has been a go-to for lots of information and now i am noticing differences between what is available online about some of the artist named in it, so i began looking into my book however i cant seem to find much can anyone help please?
hello and welcome. this may help http://used.addall.com/SuperRare/Re...or=&exDesc=&match=Y&&order=SHOP&ordering=DESC
@Escence -- are you trying to figure out whether your book is more authoritative and likely to be accurate in its information than what you are finding on the Internet? There is a wide variety of information available online. When related to people in history, there are many sites that copy the information from other sites, making it look more like it is correct. But it may not be. There are also some very good online sources that are backed by research. It's also likely that there are copies of your book digitized online. In fact, I just found a catalog entry in the HathiTrust site that has links to two digitized copies, one from the library at Harvard University and one from the New York Public Library. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000207649 There is probably something out there that analyzes Ottley's book and what it contributes to the study of painters and engravers up to the late 19th century. Is that what interests you, when you say you are trying to find information? Yours appears to be the 1866 edition. Is that correct? Your picture is too small for me to make the date out clearly.
Thank you yes i was looking into a painter and thought i would get it out again to see what it had to say but it was varying in information so i thought maybe my book was just some random history and not so much fact.
Most seem to be later, I agree ..I did see one rather beat-up ex library 1866 edition though, https://www.alibris.com/booksearch....n=2&siteID=oP5Nuw5q6fc-reKNgcc6xB2W1ea30duB8g
I have a copy of Bryan's which apparently your edition is designed as a supplement to ... Modern scholarship may have updated some of the information in these older texts, but I love the connoisseur's approach these things have - for instance, my Bryan's reflects the opinions of the day and terminology that was in common use among the students of art history ..one particular thing springs to mind ..at the time, Reni was thought to be the last word in portraiture and all other portraitists were graded against the Reni yardstick. Reni is hardly ever mentioned by that moniker, however ...always referred to as "The Guido" Just love that kind of writing!
Many libraries own editions of the Ottley book. So that, at least, indicates that somebody thought it was worth collecting for the information it contains. And, like @blooey , I think there is joy in reading some of these old texts. It's true that the information could be updated. Your book would not be a random history. It's much more likely for things on the Internet to be random. Could you share at least one of the other sources you found about that artist?
If the book is old and it describes the events that took place at the time of printing, it may be more reliable. On the other hand. Modern times events of past epochs, are more detailed and extensive. Due to the fact that now there are more sources of information (including from old books). In any case, it is necessary to understand in more detail all aspects that are of interest. Taking advantage of both old and new sources. And let's not forget that some things of the past were treated differently in the past and in the present.
