8vo pp. xiii [1] blank [vii]-xvi [2] 134; 8 4 advertisements; 22 engraved plates including 13 hand-coloured two tinted and three on coloured paper (one plate watermarked '1828' wood-engraved text illustrations and 57 colour samples in the text; early 20th century green half calf over cloth boards spine with raised bands and lettered in gilt, a gilt top; contemporary inscription on title 'S.M. Cotton' and a slightly later inscription on half-title 'R.W. Short from his affectionate Aunt S.M. Burrows [i.e., nee Cotton]' and the bookplate of Theodore Besterman on front pastedown. In his introduction, Smith describes how art is 'certain to bring neither regret, anxiety, fatigue of body, nor enervation of the mind' thereafter follows an assault on every other form of amusement '...dancing, riding, walking, and every other exercise, however necessary for health, are more or less productive of fatigue; while the novel, even the best, always produces an enervation of the mental faculties, which incapacitates the reader for the proper fulfillment of his more serious occupations'. Coloured plates in order: 1. Frontispiece. Figure Drawing. 2. [On drawing in] Indian Ink. 3. Sketch on Coloured Paper. 4. 31 colour samples. 5. 27 colour samples. 6. Cottage. Plate 1. 7. Cottage. Plate 2. 8. Seine Boat. Plate 1. 9. Seine Boat. Plate 2. 10. Marine. [Plate 1] 11. Marine. Plate 2. 12. Flowers. [Plate 1] 13. Flowers. [Plate 2] 14. Fruit. 15. Still Life. 16. Animal Painting. [Cattle] 17. Animal Painting. [Chicken] 18. Bull-Finch / Gold-Finch.