Chapter 3

Recently a new mode has been introduced, called Cloth Binding. This is done by covering the Book with Cloth; and, by means of a strong pressure, Stamping it with some Ornamental Device Engraved for the purpose, and which is called Embossing. There is in this new method also another improvement--that of Lettering the back in Gold at one operation, which is thus effected:--instead of the mode employed in Leather Binding, of impressing each Letter singly on the Gold, the whole of the Lettering is cut on a solid piece of brass, and in this form impressed on the back at once. This is not only a great saving in time and labour, but admits also of much tasteful ornament in emblematical and other fanciful devices, which produce a very pleasing effect at a comparatively trifling cost.

This latter process, now very generally adopted, and of which the Binding of this little Work, presents a Specimen, is applicable to almost all works of Science, History, Biography, Travels, &c., and not only gives to them a very superior appearance when first Published, but also, from their close imitation of Leather Binding, renders them fit to be placed at once in the Library. This mode of Binding does not, however, possess much durability, as it differs only in the exterior from the former Boarding--still, until a Book is Bound in Leather, it certainly forms a very agreeable substitute.

Cloth Binding, general as its use has become, has not, however, been adopted for Novels, which are still usually published in Boards. For Annuals, and other Embellished Works, as well as many of those of a smaller size, this mode has been justly and generally preferred.

PUBLISHING AND ADVERTISING.

Publishing, though the last step in order, is undoubtedly one of the first in importance to most Works issuing from the Press. There may perhaps be some few exceptions, but, generally, their success must in a great degree be influenced by the mode and means adopted for their Publication. Not that it can be supposed that all Works can alike succeed; but that many fail in obtaining that degree of attention which they might otherwise have received owing to some circumstances attending the means adopted in the final step of Publication.

London is undoubtedly the great emporium for Literary Works, as for almost every other species of Production. Even Printers in the country are so well aware of this, that they rarely fail to obtain the co-operation of a London Publisher in bringing out any Works in which they may venture to engage; though Works thus Published labour under the disadvantage naturally arising from their not being entirely under the management of the London Publisher.

There are other reasons which render London[54-*] the peculiar, and it might be said almost the exclusive channel for Publication. In it all the branches of the Periodical Press are conducted; Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Quarterly, the various avenues to the public, not only in this vast city, but in every part of the empire, and of the world, are here open, and consequently all the vehicles for Announcements, Advertisements, and Criticisms, are here only accessible. Add to this that from London every species of literary production is constantly despatched to every part of the empire and of the world, and it will then be seen how small a probability there can be that any work not Published in London can obtain even the most moderate share of general attention.

London Publishers are of two classes: those who reside at the West End of the Town, and who confine their attention to Publishing only; and those who reside in the City, and who are also engaged in Wholesale Bookselling. Wholesale Booksellers generally devote their especial attention to the supply of the Retail Trade both in Town and Country. Some make no further arrangements for Publishing than simply to supply, when applied for, such Works as their Country Correspondents, who are Printers, may have transmitted to them for that purpose; while others are Publishers to a considerable extent of what are called Standard Works--Works on Education, Science, &c., and such as are in regular and constant demand. To these, therefore, the attention of the City Booksellers is very generally directed; while that of the Publishers at the West End of the Town is almost entirely devoted to what may be called the Literature of the Day--Works of Amusement and light reading, Travels, Memoirs, Novels, Tales, Poems, and other productions of a similar character.

This distinction of the two Classes of Publishers arises therefore, in the first place, from the nature of their avocations, and in the second from their peculiar Locality; the one having their Establishments in the centre of resort, for those who are engaged in Trade and Business; the other in that of Fashion and Amusement; so that there is not only a convenience but propriety in the arrangement that custom has established, that works of what may be called Current Literature should be Published at the West End of the Town, while those more immediately connected with the Business of Life should appear in the City.

It is generally understood that the name of an Established Publisher operates not only as a Recommendation to those Works to which it is Prefixed, but also tends to make them known through Extensive Connexions already formed. It also tends to associate them with other Popular Works issuing from the same Establishment.

There are three modes of Publishing--that in which a Work is Published entirely for, and at the expense of the Author, who thus retains the Property of the Work; that in which the Publisher takes all or part of the risk, and divides the profit; and that in which the Publisher purchases the Copyright, and thus secures to himself the entire proceeds. The First of these is the basis on which many First Productions are Published; the Second, where a certain demand can be calculated upon; and the Third, where an Author has become so popular as to ensure an extensive circulation.

The first step that should be taken by an Author intending to produce a Work should be to take the opinion of an experienced Publisher, by doing which not only much unnecessary trouble may be spared, but frequently much unavailable labour and even expense. It is not at all uncommon for Authors, in the course of their reading, to become so impressed with some favourite subject as to conclude that it must prove of the same interest to others, and under this impression proceed to bestow considerable labour upon it. Had they, however, taken the course here recommended, they would probably have learned either that there was already some very similar Work, or that the production proposed would not, from some cause known perhaps only to the Publisher, be at all likely to meet with the success anticipated. These are circumstances of constant occurrence, which the Publishers of this little Work have had frequent opportunities of knowing.

Generally speaking, Publishers are the most competent advisers on all subjects connected with their peculiar avocations, having constantly before them the best means of judging, and being naturally interested in the success of the Works in which they engage. Authors cannot therefore adopt a more judicious course than to commit the entire management of their Productions to their care.

Many Authors, after having written their Works, consign them to oblivion, from Publishers declining, often in consequence of their own peculiar engagements, to undertake their Publication. This may be avoided by the Plan now adopted of _Publishing for Authors_, and which is more particularly referred to in a subsequent page.

Advertising, as an essential part of Publication, should never be lost sight of; but it is a measure which should be judiciously regulated and cautiously pursued, or a large amount of expense may be incurred to very little purpose.

Another point to be attended to, is the placing in the proper channels Copies for Review. This is a very advisable measure, as without it many of the Works issuing from the Press would not be likely to meet the eye of those engaged in the announcement of New Works.

Where Authors may desire to Print only a limited number of Copies for the use of their friends, this may easily be accomplished without the least personal inconvenience, through the intervention of the Publishers.

Should further information on any of the foregoing subjects be desired, the Publishers will have great pleasure in affording it on application personally, or by letter.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 2-*: Shallow frames of wood, divided into as many compartments as there are Letters, Capital, Small Capital, and ordinary (called _Lower-Case_), together with Italic, and the different Stops, Marks, and other Points employed for reference, quotations, &c.]

[Footnote 2-+: Technically called Copy.]

[Footnote 2-++: A blank piece of Type metal, or one without a Letter, of which there are various kinds; used also to separate the lines from each other, according as the pages may be; whether _full_, having the lines close together, or _light_, with a greater distance between them.]

[Footnote 3-*: This is done by placing the several pages at proper distances on a large stone, fixed on a strongly constructed table; each Page being surrounded by blocks of wood prepared for the purpose, and when firmly wedged together in an iron frame are ready for the press, and are then called a _Forme_.]

[Footnote 4-*: Driven back the wedges by which the Type is compressed and held firmly together within the iron frame, in order to allow of his separating any part of the Pages which may be necessary.]

[Footnote 5-*: It is desirable to observe this, as it has sometimes been supposed that the Proof-sheets of an entire work may be furnished at once. This it will be seen could not be, in a work of any extent; as the quantity of Type required for each sheet renders it necessary that the type should be liberated as speedily as convenient, in order to facilitate the progress and completion of the Printing.]

[Footnote 5-+: Taken asunder, and every Letter, Space, Point, &c. restored to its allotted compartment in the Type Case.]

[Footnote 5-++: The cost of Setting the Type is regulated by the Thousand, which will explain why a full page or a smaller type is more expensive than a light or a larger.]

[Footnote 6-*: From the labour required in setting the Type, it will be easily conceived that Printing must necessarily be a rather slow process: it is so generally, three or four sheets per week being usually considered tolerably good speed, allowing for the unavoidable impediments occasioned by the transmitting and correcting of Proofs, &c. On urgent occasions, however, much greater progress may be made, which is accomplished by dividing the Manuscript among a greater number of hands. The publishers of this little work have had a volume printed in the astonishingly short space of three days. It was a work by Sir Lytton Bulwer, and the effort was rendered necessary in consequence of the arrangements made for the Foreign Editions. Nearly one hundred workmen were employed in effecting it.]

[Footnote 7-*: The Roller is a modern improvement. Formerly, the Inking process was performed with two large Balls, filled with wool, and covered with a sort of parchment. The Roller is a great improvement, diffusing the Ink more equally and producing a much greater uniformity of colour (as it is called) in the Printing.]

[Footnote 10-*: The Newspaper Press affords a remarkable instance of the surprising effect of combined and persevering effort. Few persons, perhaps, among those who are accustomed to receive the Daily Papers, are aware of the vast amount of cost and labour constantly employed in their production. To take for an instance the Times Newspaper. To accumulate the various articles of intelligence which are there collected, persons are constantly and assiduously employed in all directions, both at home and abroad. For the Foreign department, gentlemen, men of education and address, especially fitted for their office, resident in the various foreign capitals, and who regularly transmit (when necessary, by express) the earliest accounts of important occurrences, so effectually indeed as sometimes even to precede the government couriers; so that during the late war, events of the highest importance were first promulgated through the columns of this paper.--For the daily occurrences of the metropolis and its environs, others, devoted to this particular office. For the political circles, the Courts of Law, Police Offices, Accidents, Offences, &c., others;--and for the two Houses of Parliament, expert and expeditious short-hand writers; all of whom are continually engaged in transmitting their various reports to the office with the most persevering activity, to be there arranged, condensed, and fitted to their respective columns, by the sub-editors and those employed in what is called making up the Paper; while the Editor's attention is more especially engaged in watching the progress of events, and in furnishing on the moment those remarks which are to be found in what is called the Leading Article. Thus the whole is in one day communicated, arranged, and printed; and by the same evening's post transmitted to the most distant parts of the Empire; a result which may well strike those who enter into the contemplation of the vast expenditure of effort and capital which are constantly employed for the purpose, with astonishment.

In the completion of their Steam Printing Press alone, the Proprietors are said to have expended upwards of sixty thousand pounds. The daily sale of the paper is understood to be about ten thousand copies; and these, by means of the Steam Press, are printed off in the almost incredibly short space of about two hours and a half.]

[Footnote 12-*: Something like this is the plan originally invented and still practised in China. The work intended to be printed is transcribed by a careful Writer upon thin transparent Paper. The Engraver glues this with its face downwards upon a smooth tablet of Pear or Apple tree, or some other hard wood; and then with Gravers and other instruments, he cuts the wood away in all those parts upon which he finds nothing traced, thus leaving the transcribed characters Embossed and ready for Printing. In this manner he prepares as many Blocks as there are written Pages. In printing they do not as in Europe use a Press; the delicate nature of their Paper would not admit of it; when once, however, their Blocks are engraved, the Paper is cut, and the Ink is ready, one man, says Du Halde, with his brush, can without fatigue print ten thousand sheets in a day. The Block is Inked with one Brush, and with another the Paper is rubbed down upon it so as to take the Impression. In this way the Printer can travel with his Ink and his Blocks, and from place to place take off as many copies as he may find occasion for. According to Chinese chronology, this art was discovered in China about fifty years before the Christian era. It seems to be especially adapted to their language, in which are employed such a vast variety of characters.]

[Footnote 14-*: "Before the invention of this divine art, mankind were absorbed in the grossest ignorance, and oppressed under the most abject despotism of tyranny. The clergy, who before this era held the key of all the learning in Europe, were themselves ignorant, proud, presumptuous, arrogant, and artful; their devices were soon detected through the invention of typography. Many of them, as it may naturally be imagined, were very averse to the progress of this invention, as well as the _brief-men_, or writers, who lived by their manuscripts for the laity. They went so far as to attribute this blessed invention to the devil, and some of them warned their hearers from using such diabolical books."--_Lemoine._]

[Footnote 22-*: Mr. Lodge's Peerage is perhaps the only instance in which a whole work, of that magnitude, has been kept standing in Type. This has been done for two reasons; first, because of the great expense of setting the Type afresh for each Edition; and secondly, that by being thus kept standing, it may be rendered constantly and uniformly correct, a point of the greatest importance in a work containing so large a mass of family history, the value of which so much depends on the accuracy of names and dates.]

[Footnote 26-*: The Rev. Dr. Macknight, who translated anew the Apostolic Epistles, is said to have copied over with his own hand that laborious and valuable work five times, previously to his committing it to the Press.]

[Footnote 27-*: The Publishers of this little work have frequently had Works committed to their care for Publication, on which the charge for Correcting has almost equalled that of the Setting of the Type, occasioned in a great degree by a want of attention to the points above referred to.]

[Footnote 50-*: Engraving on Steel is a modern and highly important improvement. Previously, elaborate Engravings on Copper would lose their delicate tints after Printing a few hundred copies, but from Steel many thousand impressions may be taken without the slightest perceptible difference between the first and the last. To this is chiefly attributable the present very moderate price of beautifully Embellished Works, the use of Steel instead of Copper rendering it no longer necessary to Re-Engrave the Plates.]

[Footnote 54-*: This is of course not to be understood as applying to Edinburgh and Dublin, both of which have their respective local circles, though for their English circulation they depend chiefly on London.]

PUBLICATION OF WORKS FOR AUTHORS.

Having been for many years engaged in conducting an extensive Publishing Business comprising the productions of the most Popular Writers, the Publishers of this little Work beg leave respectfully to state that they have, in consequence of repeated applications, now devoted a branch of their Establishment to conducting the

PUBLICATION OF WORKS FOR AUTHORS,

securing to them the direction and controul, as well as the entire proceeds and property of their Publications.

Estimates of the Cost of large or small Editions, including Paper, Printing, &c., will be given on application personally, or by Letter addressed to Messrs. SAUNDERS and OTLEY, Publishers, Conduit Street, Hanover Square, London.

PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. SAUNDERS AND OTLEY. CONDUIT STREET, HANOVER SQUARE, LONDON,

ON THE FIRST OF EVERY MONTH.

THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE,

A Monthly Journal

OF

LITERATURE, SCIENCE, & THE FINE ARTS.

THE METROPOLITAN was commenced in 1831, Edited by THOMAS CAMPBELL, Esq., Author of "The Pleasures of Hope;" afterwards assisted by THOMAS MOORE, Esq., Author of "Lalla Rookh," &c.; and subsequently by CAPTAIN MARRYAT, R.N., Author of "Newton Forster," "The King's Own," "Peter Simple," &c. In its pages have appeared all the Popular Novels of Captain Marryat, as well as many productions of the first writers of the day, among whom may be mentioned JAMES MONTGOMERY, Esq., Author of "The World before the Flood," whose valuable "Lectures on General Literature" are to be found in its pages only. Tales by CAPTAIN CHAMIER, Articles in Prose and Verse by THOMAS CAMPBELL, Esq., and THOMAS MOORE, Esq., Papers by Sir CHARLES and Lady MORGAN, UGO FOSCOLO, Lady CLARKE, the AUTHOR of the "Kuzzilbash," WILLIAM SOTHEBY, Esq., and a great number of other distinguished writers, comprising a vast variety of ORIGINAL ARTICLES, CRITICAL NOTICES, REVIEWS, PAPERS on the FINE ARTS, LITERATURE, THE DRAMA, &c. &c.

The whole forming an interesting Miscellany, as well as a valuable permanent Record of the Progress of Literature and Science, throughout the entire period from its first publication, under the auspices of its distinguished Editor.

No effort is spared to perpetuate the high character which

THE METROPOLITAN

has attained, both at home and abroad, for its ORIGINAL PAPERS; while its Review Department will continue to receive that attention which has hitherto rendered its Criticisms so impartial and satisfactory.

Orders for THE METROPOLITAN may be forwarded through any of the Booksellers or Newsmen of the United Kingdom, or for the Continent or Colonies through the Agents at the Post Office.

All communications are requested to be addressed (post free) to the Editor at the Publishers.

POPULAR WORKS, BY DISTINGUISHED WRITERS.

PUBLISHED BY MESSRS SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT STREET, HANOVER SQUARE, LONDON.

WORKS BY SIR LYTTON BULWER, BART., M.P.

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In One Vol. Royal 8vo. THE PILGRIMS OF THE RHINE. Beautifully illustrated with Engravings, by the first artists.

"This is in all respects a most superb book; the Literary contents, which are of the highest order, being fully equalled by the splendour of the pictorial embellishments."--_News._

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"Great as is both the power and beauty of the Author's former works, we know none that mark the creative thinker, more than the present production. Its pages are full of new lights and happy illustrations."--_Literary Gazette._

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In Three Vols. Post. 8vo. RIENZI, THE LAST OF THE TRIBUNES.

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In Three Vols. Post. 8vo. THE PACHA OF MANY TALES.

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In Three Vols. Post 8vo. JAPHET IN SEARCH OF A FATHER.

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*.* Most of the above Popular Works were first published in _The Metropolitan_, Edited by Captain Marryat. They have since passed through several Editions.

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XXI.

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