Part 7

14. The process of binding books, as just described, is varied, of course, in some particulars, to suit the different kinds of binding and finish. A book stitched together like a common almanac, is called a pamphlet. Those which are covered on the back and sides with leather, are said to be _full-bound_; and those which have their backs covered with leather, and the sides with paper, _half-bound_.

15. The different sizes of books are expressed by terms indicative of the number of pages printed on one side of a sheet of paper; thus, when two pages are printed on one side, the book is termed a folio; four pages, a quarto; eight pages, an octavo; twelve pages, a duodecimo; eighteen pages, an octodecimo. All of these terms, except the first, are abridged by prefixing a figure or figures to the last syllable: thus, 4to for quarto, 8vo for octavo, 12mo for duodecimo, &c.

16. The manufacture of account-books, and other blank or _stationary_ work, constitutes an extensive branch of the bookbinder's business. It is not necessary, however, to be particular in noticing it, as the general process is similar to that of common bookbinding. Those binders who devote much attention to this branch of the trade, have a machine by which paper is ruled to suit any method of keeping books, or any other pattern which may be desired.

THE BOOKSELLER.

1. The book-trade has arisen from small beginnings to its present magnitude and importance. Before the invention of typography, it was carried on by the aid of transcribers; and the booksellers of Greece, Rome, and Alexandria, during the flourishing state of their literature, kept a large number of manuscript copyists in constant employ. Among the Romans, the transcribers or copyists were chiefly slaves, who were very valuable to their owners, on account of their capacity for this employment.

2. In the middle ages, when learning was chiefly confined to the precincts of monastic institutions, the monks employed much of their time in copying the ancient classics and other works; and this labor was often imposed upon them as a penance for the commission of sin. From this cause, and from an ignorance of the true meaning of the author, much of their copying was inaccurately performed, so that great pains have been since required in the correction of the manuscripts of those times.

3. This mode of multiplying copies of books was exceedingly slow, and, withal, so very expensive, that learning was confined almost exclusively to people of rank, and the lower orders were only rescued from total ignorance by the reflected light of their superiors. For a long time, during the reign of comparative barbarism in Europe, books were so scarce, that a present of a single copy to a religious house was thought to be so valuable a gift, that it entitled the donor to the prayers of the community, which were considered efficacious in procuring for him eternal salvation.

4. After the establishment of the universities of Paris and Bologna, there were dealers in books, called _stationarii_, who loaned single manuscripts at high prices; and, in the former place, no person, after the year 1432, could deal in books in any way, without permission from the university, by which officers were appointed to examine the manuscripts, and fix the price for which they might be sold or hired out.

5. For a long time after the invention of printing, the printers sold their own publications; and, in doing this, especially at some distance from their establishments, they were aided by those who had formerly been employed as copyists. Some of these travelling agents, at length, became stationary, and procured the publication of works on their own account.

6. The first bookseller who purchased manuscripts from the authors, and caused them to be printed without owning a press himself, was John Otto, of Nuremburg. He commenced this mode of doing business, in 1516. In 1545, there were, for the first time, two such booksellers in Leipsic. The great mart for the sale of their books was Frankfort on the Maine, where were held three extensive fairs every year. Leipsic, however, soon became, and still continues, the centre of the German book-trade.

7. The first Leipsic catalogue of books appeared as early as the year 1600; but the fairs at that place did not become important, as regards the book-trade, until 1667, when it was attended by nineteen foreign booksellers. The booksellers of Germany, as well as some from distant countries, meet at the semi-annual fairs held in that city, to dispose of books, and to settle their accounts with each other. Every German publisher has also an agent there, who receives his publications, and sends them, according as they are ordered, to any part of Germany.

8. In no other part of the world, has such a connexion of booksellers been formed, although almost every kingdom of Europe has some city or cities in which this branch of trade is chiefly concentrated; as London, in England; Edinburgh, in Scotland; and Amsterdam, Utrecht, Leyden, and Haerlem, in the Netherlands. In Spain and Portugal, the price of every book is regulated by the government.

9. A very convenient method of effecting the sale and exchange of books among booksellers, has been adopted in the United States; and this is by auction. A sale of this kind is held in Boston once, and in New-York and Philadelphia twice, every year; and none are invited to attend it but the _trade_; hence such sales are denominated _trade-sales_.

10. The sale is usually conducted by an auctioneer who has been selected by a committee of the trade in the city in which it is to be held. In order to obtain a sufficient amount of stock for the purpose, the agent issues proposals, in which he informs publishers and others concerned in this branch of business, of his intention, and solicits invoices of books, to be sold at the time specified. A catalogue of all the books thus sent for sale, is distributed among the booksellers.

11. The booksellers having assembled, the books which may have been accumulated from different parts of the Union, are offered in convenient lots, and _struck off_ to the highest bidder. Each purchaser holds in his hand the printed catalogue, on the broad margin of which he marks, if he sees fit, the prices at which the books have been sold; and the record thus kept affords a tolerable means of determining their value, for a considerable time afterwards.

12. A sale of this kind occupies from four to six days; and, at the close of it, a settlement takes place, in which the parties are governed by the terms previously published. The payments are made in cash, or by notes at four or six months, according to the amount which the purchaser may have bought out of one invoice. The conductors of the sale are allowed about five per cent. commission for their services.

13. A vast number of books is also sold, every year, at auction, to miscellaneous collections of people, not only in the cities and considerable towns, but likewise in the villages throughout the country. By many booksellers, this method of sale is thought to be injurious to the trade, since it has reduced the prices of books, and interfered with the regular method of doing business. These disadvantages, however, have been far overbalanced by the increased number of readers which has been thus created.

14. The circulation of books is likewise promoted by means of travelling agents, who either sell them at once, or obtain subscriptions for them with the view to their future delivery. These methods have been employed more or less from the very commencement of the printing business; and they have probably contributed more to the general extension of knowledge than the sale of books by stationary booksellers. In fact, they are among the most prominent causes of the vast trade in books, which is now carried on, especially in the United States.

15. Nevertheless, publishers, who do not employ agents to vend their books, generally consider them interlopers upon their business; and the people themselves, who owe a great share of their intellectual cultivation to this useful class of men, are generally averse to afford them the necessary patronage, because they require a small advance on the city prices to pay travelling expenses.

16. A considerable amount of books is also sold by merchants who reside at some distance from the cities and large towns. They, however, seldom venture to purchase those which have not been well known and approved in their neighborhood; and, in a majority of cases, regard them as mere subjects of merchandise, without taking into consideration the effects most likely to be produced by these silent, but powerful agents, when circulated among their customers.

17. Some booksellers in Europe confine their trade chiefly to particular departments; such as law, theology, and medicine. Others deal in toy-books, and books of education, or in rare and scarce books. This is the case, to a limited extent, in the United States, although our booksellers commonly keep an assortment of miscellaneous publications, as well as various articles in the stationary line; such as paper, quills, inkstands, and blank work.

THE ARCHITECT.

1. Architecture, in the general sense of the word, is the art of planning and erecting buildings of all kinds, whether of a public or private nature; and it embraces within its operations a variety of employments, at the head of which must be placed the Architect. Architecture is of several kinds, such as _civil_, _naval_, _military_, and _aquatic_; but it is the first only that we propose to notice in the present article.

2. The construction of buildings as means of shelter from the weather, appears to have been among the earliest inventions; and, from the skill exhibited in the construction of the ark, we have reason to believe that architecture had been brought to considerable perfection before the deluge. This opinion is also supported by the fact stated in holy writ, that the descendants of Noah, not more than one hundred years after the great catastrophe just mentioned, attempted to build a city and a lofty tower with bricks burned in the fire. This project could never have been thought of, had they not been influenced by the knowledge of former centuries.

3. The confusion of the language of the people caused their dispersion into different parts of the earth; and, in their several locations, they adopted that method of constructing their dwellings, which the climate required, and the materials at hand admitted; but, whatever the primitive structure may have been, it was continued, in its general features, from age to age, by the more refined and opulent inhabitants; hence the different styles of building, which have been continued, with various modifications, to the present day.

4. The essential elementary parts of a building are those which contribute to its support, inclosure, and covering; and of these the most important are the foundation, the column, the wall, the lintel, the arch, the vault, the dome, and the roof. Ornamental and refined architecture is one of the fine arts; nevertheless, every part of an edifice must appear to have utility for its object, and show the purpose for which it has been designed.

5. The _foundation_ is usually a stone wall, on which the superstructure of the building rests. The most solid basis on which it is placed is rock, or gravel which has never been disturbed; next to these are clay and sand. In loose or muddy situations, it is always unsafe to build, unless a solid basis can be artificially produced. This is often done by means of timber placed in a horizontal position, or by driving wooden piles perpendicularly into the earth; on a foundation of the latter description, the greater part of the city of Amsterdam has been built.

6. The _column_, or _pillar_, is the simplest member of a building, although it is not essential to all. It is not employed for the purpose of inclosure, but as a support to some part of the superstructure, and the principal force which it has to resist is that of perpendicular pressure. The column is more frequently employed in public than in private buildings.

7. The _wall_ may be considered the lateral continuation of the column, answering the purposes both of support and inclosure. It is constructed of various materials, but chiefly of brick, stone, and marble, with a suitable proportion of mortar or cement. Walls are also made of wood, by first erecting a frame of timber and then covering it with boards; but these are more perishable materials, which require to be defended from the decomposing influence of the atmosphere, by paint or some other substance.

8. The _lintel_ is a beam extending in a right line from one column or wall to another over a vacant space. The _floor_ is a lateral continuation or connexion of beams, by means of a covering of planks. The strength of the lintel, and, in fact, every other elementary part of a building used as a support, can be mathematically determined by the skilful architect.

9. The _arch_ answers the same purpose as the lintel, although it far exceeds it in strength. It is composed of several pieces of a wedge-like form, and the joints formed by the contact of flat surfaces point to a common centre. While the workmen are constructing the arch, the materials are supported by a _centring_ of the shape of its internal surface. The upper stone of an arch is called the _key-stone_. The supports of an arch are called _abutments_; and a continuation of arches, an _arcade_.

10. The _vault_ is the lateral continuation of an arch, and bears the same relation to it that a wall bears to a column. The construction of a simple vault is the same with that of an arch, and it distributes its pressure equally along the walls or abutments. A complex or groined vault is made by the intersection of two of the common kind. The groined vault is much used in Gothic architecture.

11. The _dome_, or _cupola_, is a hemispherical or convex covering to a building or a part of it. When built of stone it is a very strong kind of structure, even more so than the arch, since the tendency of the parts to fall is counteracted by those above and below, as well as by those on each side. During the erection of the cupola, no centring is required, as in the case of the arch.

12. The _roof_ is the most common and cheap covering to buildings. It is sometimes flat, but most commonly oblique, in shape. A roof consisting of two oblique sides meeting at the top, is denominated a _pent_ roof; that with four oblique sides, a _hipped_ roof; and that with two sides, having each two inclinations of different obliquities, a _curb_ or _mansard_ roof. In modern times, roofs are constructed of wood, or of wood covered with some incombustible material, such as tiles, slate, and sheets of lead, tin, or copper. The elementary parts of buildings, as just described, are more or less applicable in almost every kind of architecture.

13. The architecture of different countries has been characterized by peculiarities of form and construction, which, among ancient nations, were so distinct, that their edifices may be identified at the present day even in a state of ruin; and, although nearly all the buildings of antiquity are in a dilapidated state, many of them have been restored, in drawings and models, by the aid of the fragments which remain.

14. The different styles of building which have been recognised by the architect of modern times, are, the Egyptian, the Chinese, the Grecian, the Roman, the Greco-Gothic, the Saracenic, and the Gothic. In all these, the pillar, with its accompaniments, makes a distinguished figure. The following picture has therefore been introduced by way of explanation. The columns are of the Corinthian order of architecture.

15. _The Egyptian style._--The first inhabitants of Egypt lived in mounds, caverns, and houses of mud; and, from these primitive structures, the Egyptians, at a later period, derived their style of architecture. The walls of their buildings were very thick, and sloping on the outside; the roof was flat, and composed of blocks of stone, extending from one wall or pillar to another; and the columns were short and large, being sometimes ten or twelve feet in diameter. Pyramids of prodigious magnitude, and obelisks composed of a single stone, sometimes often exceeding seventy feet in height, are structures peculiarly Egyptian. The architecture of the Hindoos seems to have been derived from primitive structures of a similar character.

16. _The Chinese style._--The ancient Tartars, and other wandering tribes of Asia, appear to have lived in tents; and the Chinese buildings, even at the present day, bear a strong resemblance to these original habitations, since their roofs are concave on the upper side, as if made of canvas instead of wood. Their porticoes resemble the awnings spread out on our shop-windows in the summer. The Chinese build chiefly of wood, although they sometimes use brick and stone.

17. _The Grecian style._--This style of building had its origin in the wooden hut or cabin, the frame of which primarily consisted of perpendicular posts, transverse beams, and rafters. This structure was at length imitated in stone, and by degrees it was so modified and decorated in certain parts, as to give rise to the several distinctions called orders of architecture. The Greeks, in perfecting their system of architecture, were probably aided by Egyptian examples, although they finally surpassed all other nations in this important art.

18. _Orders of architecture._--By the architectural orders are understood certain modes of proportioning and decorating the column and entablature. They were in use during the best days of Greece and Rome, for a period of six or seven centuries. The Greeks had three orders, called the _Doric_, the _Ionic_, and the _Corinthian_. These were adopted and modified by the Romans, who also added two others, called the _Tuscan_ and the _Composite_.

19. _Doric order._--The Doric is the oldest and most massive order of the Greeks. The column, in the examples at Athens, is about six of its diameters in height; in those of an earlier date, it is but four or five. The temple here adduced to illustrate this order was built by Cimon, son of Miltiades, about the year 450 before Christ. It is said to be in a state of better preservation than any other of the ancient Greek edifices at Athens. It will be seen that the shafts are _fluted_, that is, cut in semicircular channels, in a longitudinal direction. The United States' Bank, at Philadelphia, is a noble specimen of this order.

20. _Ionic order._--This order is lighter than the Doric, its column being eight or nine diameters in height. Its shaft has twenty-four or more flutings, separated from each other by square edges; and its capital consists, in part, of two double scrolls, called _volutes_, usually occupying opposite sides. These volutes are supposed to have been copied from ringlets of hair, or from the horns of the god Jupiter Ammon. The following example of this order consists of three temples, each of which was dedicated to a different individual, viz., Erectheus, Minerva Polias, and the nymph Pandrosus.

21. _Corinthian order._--The Corinthian is the lightest and most decorated of all the Grecian orders. Its column is usually ten diameters in height, and its shaft is fluted like that of the Ionic. Its capital is shaped like an inverted bell, and was covered on the outside with two rows of the leaves of the plant acanthus, above which are eight pairs of small volutes. It is said that this beautiful capital was suggested to the sculptor Callimachus by the growth of an acanthus about a basket, which had been accidentally left in a garden.

22. The Greeks sometimes departed so far from the strict use of their orders, as to employ the statues of slaves, heroes, and gods, in the place of columns. A specimen of this practice is exhibited in the cut illustrative of the Ionic order. It belongs to the temple dedicated to Pandrosus.

23. The most remarkable buildings of the Greeks were their temples. The body of these edifices consisted of a walled cell, usually surrounded by one or more rows of pillars. Sometimes they had a colonnade at one end only, and sometimes at both ends. Their form was generally oblong, and as the cells were intended as places of resort for the priests rather than for assemblies of the people, they were but imperfectly lighted. Windows were seldom employed; and light was admitted at the door at one end, or through an opening in the roof.

24. Grecian architecture is supposed to have been at its greatest perfection in the days of Pericles and Phidias, when sculpture is admitted to have attained its highest excellence. It was distinguished, in general, by simplicity of structure, fewness of parts, absence of arches, and lowness of pediments and roofs.

25. _Roman style._--The Romans adopted the three Grecian orders, with some modifications; and also added two others, called the Tuscan and Composite. The former of these they borrowed from the nation whose name it bears, and the latter they formed by uniting the embellishments of the Doric and the Corinthian. The favorite order in Rome and its colonies was the Corinthian. Examples of single pillars of these orders may be seen at the end of this article.

26. The temples of the Romans generally bore a strong resemblance to those of the Greeks, although they often differed from the specimens of that nation in several particulars. The stylobate of the latter was usually a succession of platforms, which likewise served the purposes of steps, by which the building was approached on all sides. Among the Romans, it was usually an elevated structure, like a continued pedestal, on three sides, and accessible in front by means of steps. The dome was also very commonly employed rather than the pent roof. The following is an example of a temple at Rome.

27. _Greco-Gothic style._--After the dismemberment of the Roman empire, the practice of erecting new buildings from the fragments of old ones became prevalent. This gave rise to an irregular style of building, which continued in use during the dark ages. It consisted of Greek and Roman details combined under new forms, and piled up into structures wholly unlike the original buildings from which the materials had been taken. Hence the appellations _Greco-Gothic_ and _Romanesque_ have been applied to it. The effect of this style of building was very imposing, especially when columns and arches were piled upon each other to a great height.

28. _Saracenic style._--This appellation has been given to the style of building practised by the Moors and Saracens in Spain, Egypt, and Turkey. It is distinguished, among other things, by an elliptical form of the arch. A similar peculiarity exists in the domes of the Oriental mosques, which are sometimes large segments of a sphere, appearing as if inflated; and at other times, they are concavo-convex on the outside. Several of these domes are commonly placed upon one building. The _minaret_ is a tall slender tower, peculiar to Turkish architecture.