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    —"— ¦ ¦ ¦ v !6o ? The Publishers' Circul...

  • 

    ' THE MAKING OF CHRISTMAS BOOKS.

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    —?< » Boor^Elleift Of To - Da ? .

    days , when Saturday half-holidays were unknownand work was vigorously carried on

    till Bl 41 ^ k long BBi , - past midni a ^ b ^> ght __ , especiall —O a B . ^ y duri ^ Bi A ng busy BK season 3 . Thenfewer books were sold and at

    much larger profits , . Another of the chief , changes which strike one in looking back is

    I the great increase in the number of periodicals , and the great _ 7 number of cheap Xbooks issued

    , from the press . Asked whether he thought this a good sign , Mr . Stock replied that certainly more reading

    more was got fragmentary through than character ever , and but the it was purchase of a

    and stud . ^ y of the . ^ m best ^ books _ ^ , had 4 ^ k not increased Bl ¦¦ in proportion with the larger population i .

    * Turning x to the subject _> of the x new Booksellers' SocietyMr . Stock said he was a

    member of the , Council of that body , and he regularly attended the sub-committees when

    special subjects were dealt with . He stated that already »/ many «/ evils - - — had - - been -- — checked — — in

    believed a quiet unobtrusive the new reg way ime b inaugurated y its action , and by this he

    new companionship , would , do much towards bringing the booksellers of London into closer

    union on vexed questions which needed uniform action . In a number of Le Livrewhich appeared a

    year or two ago , a clever 4 — — ^^^ - ^^^— w sketch ^ ¦ * — — , « - Bk - — of —— ^^ r ^ k ^^™ ^™ Mr ^ BBt r *™~ bbbp ™~ fl . BT ^ " ^ Stock . «« ^^ i ^^ _ ^^ ^— ^^^ ^ — m ^ ^» ak ' s life ' s work was given . The author remarked

    that this was a firm which came entirely before i men m m m ^* * " ^ of ^ "' " ¦ letters ^» ^^ ** ** ^ b * _^ ^*» and v ^ r •« *^ fc lovers JL \ r ^ W ^ _/ ^ L Kj of \ S * _ , books w ^ f \* J \ J AaVI ^ # 9 . The ^ ILp bLbL ^ bS pub \ -J \ J ^ V < J -

    ; lications were got up with rigorous attention to details . Consequentl - - ¦ yno _» one bbj would ii bb be B » asto Bf bp b » -

    nished to find that —— — the — ' w , catalogue ^ ^^ - **_* ' ^ m -m * - w w ^ - of r- ^ _— this ^^ ' - ^^ ^ house " ^> _ ^^ was one of the smallest ¦ ~ in ¦¦¦ bb size ¦ ifc ¦ «¦ ¦ but nb ¦ ¦ ¦¦ one » fc ¦ of r the

    most valuableintrinsicall ™ — - — - ^* ^— ™ » ^ ^ - — from , _—^ r the ^*^«» "_ ^^ book " * ^» s _ ^ - lover ' s point of , view . Mr . Stock y , ' s publications

    were usually both rich in contents and in appearance ; in fact , were born to live . The

    had publisher been ' , s personal to acquire preference and reproduce was , and ancient always

    literature and old books . The reproduction of old books was the characteristic 4 of ' his house ;

    it was the work of ^^ his ^^ ~¦ ^ ^^ ^^ ^ life ^ ^^ ^^ ^ BV ^ ^^ ^ which ^ B v ^^ ^^ K ^ W ~ ^ r V ^ B he ^^ *^ ^ 1 ^ V ^^ P followed ^ B * B ^ * M * ^^^^> V ^« V ^* B' W as a man might his love ; it was that which

    occupied his mind day by day , and upon which he expended all his best taste and greatest

    energy the cours . e In of one ex case ecutio a n work and was th two e year er s in , pap

    manufactured result desired threo could times be obtained before the . Yet special in

    sp managed ite of Mr to . S keep tock ' s pace devotion ^^^ ^^^ with ^ i ^ > V ^^ ^^ ^ to ^ *^ *^ contempora ^^ ^ " the ^ to' ^^ W past ^*^^ ^ b ^ ^» r , B , he jBh JB AH

    history , and had published several volumes ry of modern poetry , sumptuously prepared in the

    very best taste of the day .

    —"— ¦ ¦ ¦ V !6o ? The Publishers' Circul...

    — " — ¦ ¦ ¦ v ! 6 o The Publishers' Circular Dec . 15 , 1890

    ' The Making Of Christmas Books.

    ' THE MAKING OF CHRISTMAS BOOKS .

    A correspondent of the Fall Mall Gazette has lias been Deen interviewing interviewing Mr Mr . . C < Jharles harles Welsh Welsh , ot of

    of Messrs Christmas . Griflith books , Farran . Speaking & Co ., on of the his subj firm , ect JBh ' s

    business in that line , Mr " ^^ . ¦^ ^^ Welsh ^^"' " »¦ ^ r ~ " —~ - •—*^ BBjBh . said - ^ ^^ m ^^ : — «« > t * «¦>!¦¦» ^ Bk ffB . « Bj - | j f M ' Not _ onl b > y do we shipJL , ' early bin the p ^ ub year , / _ , ^ ^ A * . .

    large editions to Australasia * * and to the ^ United ^^ German States , but ' Italian we make and - ¦ arrangements even Russian II r for editions French of ,

    I ^ B BBl ^ — , W — ^^ -- ^ r- , — BHBBh , 41 — BB 1 BB -- ^ ^^ - «— -v- « ^ F—m " ^^ I" ¦ ^"^ " ^ ^^^ p »^ ^ V | " ^ BF ^ ¦¦ IV B BBq W HB ^ b ^ H « ¦^•^ ^ W P ^ ¦¦ such books a > s " ^ Told ^^ by the _ ^ Fireside ^^^^^^ A _ ^ , " < - . » a five _ - ¦

    ? m— .. 1 ¦ — Wr

    ' The Making Of Christmas Books.

    shilling book , with sixteen coloured and ninety tl black-and-white p ictures /

    ' Would you consider it indiscreet to tell duction me something of this of work the V cost — - Not and at method all ; this , of book

    prorepresents an investment of considerably over one thousand poundsfor which we shall not

    see the return for more , than two years from the date of putting X Oit in hand . '

    I- suppose such books have to be put in hand i Certainl long y : before Mrs . the Seymour time of Lucas publication ' s sixteen ?'

    brilliant oil V paintings for V this book were begun nearly two years ago . ' f

    ' How 1 / are t / they reproduced % 7 —By lithography . For some years we have gone to

    Germany for this work , and the bulk of our best work is done there . But for this book we have employed the house of Lemercier & Co .

    of Paris , with */ the excellent result you see . ' , ' I suppose OUpUUOC you ^ UU 7 . 4 are dAC something OWIllC / lillllJg of yJM . an till expert CA . JJCA K

    in lithography ?—Not practically , but I can give you a general idea of the process .

    Lithography is simply printing from stone instead of type «/ J . . A peculiar L limestone , Fslaty «/ , com 'X pact , *

    and fine-grained , is prepared , and on it is traced in chalk , or with a fine pen with prepared ink' the drawing which has to be printed .

    In colour , printing , or chromo-lithography , for every separate colour a separate

    stonecontaining that part only of the picture to be , printed in that particular x tint , has to be prepared x - ¦ . ,

    which sometimes is done addit by ional means effects of transfers are iven , althoug bthe h superposition of colours . In such g books y as

    those XX before you , fourteen to seventeen different stones have to be used for one p icture , so as to

    produce the effect of the original drawing , and the care and the skill required to do this are well-nigh unimaginable . Here are some books

    of proofs and some original pictures , and if you % > turn them over you % l can see the p Xicture

    grow , as it were , as the impression of each stone is added . The smaller stones—each representingsaya page picture—being

    prepared J . , the drawings « n , J , are A . OXT transferred from them by a chemical process to larger onesso as to

    fit the size of the sheet on which , they are printed . The actual printing isof course done

    X by steam , and grea t preci sion , and accurac , y are required x in order to insure a perfect reg

    oister , as it is called—that is , to secure that each colour falls into its proper placeand thus

    faithfully represent the artist ' s orig , inal . * Did the artist illustrate a story already

    written , or were the stories written to the pictures in the case of this book I '— ' The stories

    were written to the pictures . As Mrs . Seymour Lucas finished each one , a sketch was sent

    to the author who wrote the story . ' * Do the authors find it difficult ¦ or

    disagreeable able tnus thus to to write write to to order order ? : ¦ '— —¦ * borne Some do do . and and some don't . But our great difficulty is to , get them to write the story to — the _ .. _ exact _ . _____ length __ - ^ - ^ __ so _ ,

    as to dovetail each in its place , and build _ . up the book in the proper form within the

    prescribed limits . ' * Nowas to the black ¦ ¦ i -and-white vvwm p ¦ ¦ ictures -w ^ f 1

    pag of which e ?'— I , — These see there — were - — — - — — --. ^ are « — drawn — — — — one — — - — _ .. __ b or __ y the more . . . ^_ _ ^^ artist ^^ on ^ ^ . every - ^ after - ^^* a f ™^ ^ b ^ b ^ b , *^

    the story was written , and here again the

• Citation
  • Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890), Dec. 15, 1890, page 1602, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/pc/issues/tec_15121890/page/10/