Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-11-14
LITERARY.


a splendid edition of Webster's New Die
tionary. 1t is on very large paper, sized
and ~calendered imperial folio, ten by ff-
teen inches, and in the best style of the
Riverside press" An edition of two
hundred and fifty copies only is to be pub
lished, and sold by subscription at twenty
five dollars per copy, in two volumes, pa
per covers.
]. E. Tilton & Co., of Boston, announce
for immediate publication a work entitled
"The Art of Confectionery with various
Methods of Preserving Fruits, the Prepa-
ration of Jams and Jellies; Summer
Beverages, and different Methods of Max
ing Ice Cream, Sherbet, sc" This vol
ume has been in preparation for some
years, and many Of the receipts, obtained
from the best confectioners in New York,
Philadelphia and Boston, have been salts
factorily tested. In a few days the same
house will publish Tennyson's complete
works, and a fine edition of GOldsmith's
Deserted Village - both a~bundantly
illustrated. Other works ore in prepare
ton, and the assortment for the holidays
will be large and attractive.
The Sunday School Union of this city
has published n little volume of "Ques-
ions on the Natural History of the Bible"
in which we find such frightful conun-
drums as these:
allow does the partridge resemble a
man obliged to relinguish ill-gotten gains ?
allow is the security of the righteous,
with respect to the adder, spoken of
"How much barley was included in the
tribute paid blythe Ammonities to lothian,
King of Israeli"
The religious ediication which the
youthful mind can CLEAN from these studies
is at once apparent.
The new London sixpenny magazine,
the Argosy, is to be started on the lst of
December: Sampson Low & Co, the
Publishers, say in their prospectus: "In
launching the Arsosy, her owners and cup
tain anticipate the question, Are there
not enough of these light magazine craft
aloat already p They answer that their
venture will not run into collision with
any; she will sail the high seas of litera-
ture, and bring her freights from the
realms of Imagination and fancy. The
products of these regions make a market
for themselves-their gems, and silks, and
spices creating the desire which they sat
isfy."
A chronicle of the book taste of the day
would be very incomplete that omitted
any a~llusion to the fashion for "large pa
per" copies now raging with virulenee
and an unhealthy disregard for %pecuniary
considerations among our wOuld-be-ama-
Tours. When a book, by its embellish-
ments or the perfection of its mechanical
execution, becomes a real work of art, a
large-paper copy often stands to al ordi-
nary one in the same relation that all
early proof of an engraving bears to a
common impression. The least imagina
tive of men often delight in possessing as
fine a specimen as possible of a favorite
author or edition, in the same spirit that
led Alexander to enshrine the tGad in the
most costly casket afforded by the spoils
of Darius. The indulgence of a taste of
this kind is of course not only excusable
but laudable. When old stereotype
plates, however, are printed off on paper
of exaggerated size, and rubbish is manu-
featured on the principle of a "rivulet of
text running through a meadow of mar
gin" with the express purpose of taking
in the half-educated, who jump at a name
without any regard to what it really
should imply, the matter becomes simply
ridiculous, and those whose money is
obtained on such shallow pretensions
deserve little real sympathy
Acquaintance with large paper
copies forms no branch of photography
proper. They are generally treated sport
lively, as exemplifying the fopperies that
often attach to serious studies. The great
est of modern book collectors, Richard
Heber, would never admit a large paper
book into his library. The whole thing is
perfectly arbitrary, reduciblo to no rulos, |
depending entirely on the fluctuations of
individual fancy. The early printers, be-
fore A. D.. 1900, were not accustomed to
this luxury; the first well-ascertained book
on large paper was the edition of Livy
printed by Aldus about the year 1918.
The only copy knownt to be preserved was
bought by Lord Spencer at one of M.
Beneard's auction sales, for f99 l5s. By
far the greatest number of classical edi-
tions on large paper have no extra value
on that account, but are rather regarded
as lumber. There are two curious excep-
tions; the Heslod, edited by Robinson, and
printed at Oxford, 1877, is worth, for an
ordinary copy in quarto, fifteen shillings.
Ten copies only were printed on largest
poper, making a folio. They are worth
over one hundred g%uineas. The last
COPY SOU DTOuHub L al duSblOh oe -"
on, where no one was acquainted with Its
value, about twenty years since, two
guineas and q half. 1t was subsequently
purchased by Lord Vernon for one hun
dred and thirty pounds. The other in
stance is equally curious: DR.. Wells edi-
ton of Xenophon, in five volumes octave,
is a very ordinary book, "neither critical
nor elegant" and worth about two pounds.
A set on large paper sold for fl73 5s. in
the Rev. Theodore Williams library.
The first folio Shakespeare on large paper
would undoubtedly command one thou
san dpounds for a fine copy, should it now
be discovered in this shape. One of the
volumes most desired by American col
lectors is a large paper copy of Mathers
Magnolia" (Lond. l7O3.) -Four or five,
probably, are known. They had no value
in England before it was created by the
demand from this country. A fine copy
was bought for ten shillings at a country
town in Yorkshire that has since been sold
for 500, and would bring more money
now.