New-York tribune., 1874-11-06
FOREIGN LITERATURE.
PUBLICATIONS IN ENGLAND.

HrRoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRrBuSE'J
LONDON, Oct. 1s.-A new and revised edition Oh
"Chambers's Encyclopedia" is nearly ready. Inc
present edition is twenty years old' curing
which time il has ranked one of the Dest perhaps
the best, of popular English cyclopedlas LII the nc"
one all the articles say the publishers, Messrs A. N
c. Black of Edinburgh have undergone thorough
revision to bring them up to date, and many have
been entirely rewritten. They describe 1T truly as
The cheapest cyclopndia in the worldten royal Svo
volumes. 1900 articles, $500 wood engravines 80
colored maps and index to 1900 ncidentally-lnen'
1ioned subects-al for CA 10s say S25. In cloth'
Or Won NAV have il strongly bound in hall cali ior
60 This is the publishers price but If you IKE 10
send to Mr. James Bane, the excellent bookseller In
Abe Haymarket London from whose advertisement
lam copying you may have it in half calf for 60
not quite S25 in gold Duty and freight to New
York might come to $40 more. There ought to be
no duty. / am as good ProtectiOnist as any
body. but / draw the line at books. Shall
we ever have Congress capable of seeing
that duty on books is premium on ignorancef
Or which will find ont that the private buyer from
the American importer is made to pay, directly or
indirectly at least twice the nominal duty to say
nothing Of the extortionate Custom-house charges
This cyclopedia which / can buy here for $25 will
probably be sold in New-YoTk by importing book
sellers for at least $50. The cloth edition. here
about S15 80 will fetch $50 to $35 in New-fork.
sm likely to have undeTstated the price in both
cases. and particularly for the hafcalf binding, II
may Judge by the enormous prices charged IN Amer
lea for that and all other kinds of binding 10 take
the first two examples at hand, from the advertise
ments of two eminent American publishing houses.
An ordinary octave in cloth at 81 so may be had in
half calf at 81 80 and deducting 25 cents for the
cloth binding the charge to the purchaser for the
hafcalf binding alone is 81 25. This is trade bind
Ing and certain not to be of the best quality, but
the cost of il is at least ono-hrd greater than the
rost OF full cali extra by good English binder.
The other case is still stronger, being 81 80
for a 12mo half calf binding-a price which,
Judged by English standards, only be called
monstrous And if American publishers reply that
labor is deareT the United States my answer is
that the binding is far inferior to good English
work, and one thing may balance the other
not to speak also of the excessive
American use of machinery. Nor does
any good binder care to do half-calf:work, and the
best Will not do it, Ihardly see how so poor fash
bon of clothing book came to be so popular in
America unless the interests of trade made it so.
Almost the only half-binding which can be
commended in point of tastes is q French half-mO-
rocco with uncut edges; which, when well done, is
binding may put on his shelves without too
much humiliation. English half-morocco, sewn
flexible is good thing for books Of reference. and
for book the price of which it is desired to keep
down, like the cyclopedia of which began writing
, baIf.caIf Is n toleTaple - s uoes
Dot care for bindings if he has no pleasure in show
jng respect to his books let him stick to cloth, and
che palmer the better and for many classes of books
he will do well not to go beyond that. But if he
pretend 10 give them good dress. let him eschew
shams and slop-wOrk, and not think book is bound
merely because bookseller tells him it is, and
labels il half-calf and sells it at double price.
Messrs. Smith q Elder are reissuing their illus
trated library edition Of Thackeray in % volumes,
minus the green and gold cloth covers which made
it vulgar and a shilling volume dearer. The new
be in plain neat boards with paper label
Oh the backbone of the best forms in which book
can be published MessTs Smith & Elders explana-
zion of The change is a curiosity. They say it has
recently been suggested to them that there many
Yeaders of this authors writings who would prefer
purchasing the series in a style not involving the
sacrifice of its present gilt cloth binding, should
fhey desire subsequently, to have it bound according
10 their respective tastes" wish other publishers
would be as considerate, and if Messrs. Smith q
Elder had been at first and given us the choice be-
tween green cloth over gilt and plain boards Ishoud
have been exactly twenty-five shillings richer. Or
perhaps much more than that, since with Thackeray
tent but with Thackeray arrayed like Solomon in
his glory il was not possible, and had his gaudy
glory stripped off and he now reposes on honorable
shelves in excellent modest calf, The extra gilt
cloth continues Messrs. Smith S Elder assure MS,
10 command large sale. and will still continue
very likely. The progress enterprising publishers
have Of late years made in corupting the general
taste by glittering covers to their books is
very considerable indeed. The season when this
dstemper rises to its hight is close upon Christ
mas bindings are the worst of ALL They are, for the
most part designed in pattern and color to attract
the eye, not 10 please il, and no combination of i'll
matched hues is too startling. The buyer who looks
helplessly over booksellers counters, reSplend-
ent with these wares, ends by losing all sense of
what is urly and doSpairnCly selects the most odi
ous Of al because is the most conspicuous. deal
OF money is spent these things and the price of
bcoks thar, but for the covers would be good and
fairly reasonable, is increased Competition in gift
books is kceneT every year, and only the binders
cay what new horrors are i'll store for MS. Ii other
book did not suffer il wOuid be no great matter for
there are not many of these merely holiday publica
tions which man cares 10 buy for himself. He has
TO buy them to give away. and he supports with
signatOa the miseries he iniicts on his friends Let
us nevertheless be grateful to Messrs. Smith & Elder
foI their small ilstament Of reform. | cheeTfully
forgive them nay twenty-five shiliDSs, which, ln-
deed need not have paid. for could have bought
the volumes i'll sheets as they came out had not
wanted to them long before the edition was COM
plee. Even that privilege is sometimes difficult to
obtain. Publishers are getting into habit of send
ing whole edition 10 the binder and you must
often take whatever that worthy fit TO remit
you. Nor are gilt covers his greatest crime. He has
no for nd hotfa alU Inv