Pamphlet entitled 'Technical education, a letter etc.'

Printed pamphlet, containing an essay reprinted from a letter to Midland Counties Herald, February 13, 1868, with new foreword by author, George Wallis. His biography on front cover: "Keeper of the Art Collections, South Kensington Museum" plus a list of his other appointments. The essay is a call to arms for employers of skilled labour to take action on Technical Education' - to educate people in science and art for practical use in workshops etc. rather than the simply classroom - lest the country slip into the complacency it suffered in the 1830-40s. He bemoans how the Schools of 'Art' and 'Design' from this era were mistaken and that did not encourage their students into industry. He compares British employers' encouragement towards their employees' education unfavourably to that of French industry. Passages and lines throughout the essay are underlined or marked in manuscript red pen, for example, "...as dilettanti art went up technique went down", a manuscript annotation next to a section on the author's support for accuracy in fine lines and shading in the face of derision by other, says "much has been done and [...] work is the result". He laments the middle-class students who don't know how to draw accurately and decries the "pooh-poohing" of ornamental and decorative art by "high art" people, who utterly fail when they attempt it." Bears the signature of Gilbert Redgrave.