ABSTRACT
The book was published in 1892 with a second English edition in 1898, followed by a German edition in 1902, then a Dutch translation in 1903, demonstrating the interest in Crane’s work in Europe. Not surprisingly, with Crane’s involvement in the socialist movement, one of the chapters in this book is titled ‘The Prospects of Art under Socialism’, and another is titled ‘Art and Social Democracy’. The fundamental importance of design, and its claims to consideration, will hardly be disputed, particularly at a time when the advancement of art in its application or relation to industry is so much sought for. There is a certain natural logic and common sense of proportion which keeps the reader tolerably straight in these matters, while it allows a sufficiently indefinite margin for individual taste and variety of character. There is of course no absolute determination of rules for all cases. There is nothing absolute in art.
