The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1859-06-16
From the Boston Transcript.
BOOK-MAKrN(; IN AMERICA.

cluding periodicals, amounts TO more ihun
three humdred. About thrco four,hs of
these are engaged in Boston, New York,
! Ih'ladc'piia and Baltimore the balance
being divided between Cincinnati, Buffalo,
Auburn, Albany, Louisville, Chicago, St.
Louis, and Il few other places. There arc
more than three Mousu,d bookmllcrs, who
dispense :hr publications of these three
hundred, besides six or seven Thousand
apothecarics, grocers, and hardware dealers,
who connect literature with drugs, moli.sscs,
and nails.
The best printing in America is proba-
hly now done in Cambrilge; the hest
cloth binding in Boston, and the best calf
aud morocco in New York and philade!
! rhia. In these two latter styles, we are, as
yet, long distance from lIay,lay. the
p,idc Of London. His finish is supreme.
There is nothing between it and pclfec-
ton.
Books have multiplied TO s,ch an extent
in our country, that it now takes 80 pa
per mills, with 1000 engines in constant
operation, to supply the printers, who work
day and night, cn'!cavouring to keep their
engagements with publishers. These tire
less mills produced 30 100000 pounds of
paper the past year, which immense supply
has sold for ab"u, 100000. \ pound
and quarter of rags are required for a
pound of paper, and 4OO,ooo0oO pounds
We're, therefore, consumed in this way last
year. The cost of manufacturing Il twelve
months supply Of paper for the United
States, aside from labor and rags, is COM
ru;rh n, 100000.
So'e Idea OF the stock required TO launch
popular wolk. may he gathered from
McSsrs. l.ongman's Ledger. These gen
t'eIncn report, that when $4,000 copies
of Mr.. Macauav's two rcccn. volumes
went flying nj abroad from pa,rrnostcr
Row, no less than 5000 rca,ns OF IN, er.
tons pastrh"arl and 1000 yards Of cali
co were swallowed up
Most OF the larg" publishing houses
now stereotype everything they intend TO
PRINT. lhe e.cctr"tyPng process is largely
employed, and an experiment is now be.
| my made i'll Boston, Of which we shall
hear more at me future day, which, if
successful, will decrease the expense Of
stercotyping about onc-,lird. We have
lately heard that Il machine is in use in
New York for tyrc-sctling, and that the
second volume OF Mr.. llvin.s LiIc Of
y asAtn1to" WAS prepared for tic press by
| lis aid
-Four hundred years ago, single book
OF gosspiny fcion WAS sold before the
palace gate in the French capita, Tor fifteen
hundred dollars. The same amount OF
matter contained i'll this expensive volume
Mr. Haler now supplies for twenty-five
cents. Costly books, however, are not yc,
out OF f;tsi,ion, for we are all glad to
Know that seventeen hundred subscribers
have already been obtained for Pro.
icssor Agassiz's splendid new enterprise.
1lle Harper estabiishment-thc largest
OF our publishing houses cs-covcrs half an
acre Of ground. If old Mr.. Cax,on, who
printed those stories Of the Trojan war
SO long ago, could follow the cx Mavor
of New York in one OF his murniu"
rounds in Franklin Square, he woul,. be-,
TO say the least, lillIe surprised. lie
| would see in one room the floor loaded
with weight Of 80 tons Of presses. The
eIectrotyp'ng process would ruzzcl him
somewhat; tic drying and pressing pro-
cess would startle him the hustle would
make his head ache; and the stock room
would quite finish him.
An edition of Xuler's NouiAiy Mum
zane alone consists Of 100000 cop;cs
Few persons have any idea how large :,
number this is as applied to the edition
OF book. 1t is computed that if these
magazines were to rain down, and one man
should attempt to pick them up, like chips,
it would take him n fortnight to pick up
the copies of one single number, suppos.
ing him to pick up one every three
second', and to work ten hours a
,av
The rapiL:ty with which books arc
now manufactured! is almost ncrcdis lc. A
complete copy Of one Of BuIwcr's novels
published across the water, in three volumes
and reproduced here in one was swenl
through 'le press in New York in fifty
hours, and offered for salo smoking hot in
the streets. The fabulous clifce proposed
by a Yankee from Vermont, no longe,
seems an impossibilty. Bald the estab.
I's''ment according to any plan,' said he
"drive shoep in at one end, and he shall
Immediately come out at the other, fou,
quarters OF n lamb, hat, q leather apron
and a 1uarto Bible"