Excerpt from A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, Vol. 2: Based on the Work of John Smith<br><br>As I said in the preface to the first volume, I have not noticed pictures in museums and private collections which I do not regard as originals. I have omitted them partly to keep the work within reasonable limits, partly also to spare collectors the pain of seeing their pictures described as unauthentic.<br><br>Unfortunately it has come to my knowledge that many private collectors are annoyed even at finding that my notes on the quality and condition of their pictures are, as may naturally happen, not altogether full of praise. Thus I have been compelled as far as possible to suppress such criticism, so as not to risk depriving myself of the indispensable co-operation of collectors, without which the completion of the enterprise would be to some extent involved in doubt.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.