Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1888-09-01
DRIFT.

nary picture can be made to look far better
than u actually Is by an artistic frame
while really fiuo picture can o. readily
have oil liz beauty marred by being put
into an inharrn onious and unsuitable frame.
What IL true OF pictorial art is just s
true OF books. To tho boob. lover fully
half the enjoyment 10 be derived from
volume depends upon its typography, paper
and binding. And this IL being recognized
more and more fully by our leading pub
lishera They are paying more and more
attention TO the mechanical make up OF their
publications You mark this, for instance,
10 the absence among recent books of the
Questionable proiusion of gilt stamping
and meaningless ornsmentation. You zee
u further in the decided tendency 10 avoid
uniformity, mere sameness OF size, shape,
and style os binding without any regard 70
the character Of the book.
The great thing now aimed at is sppro.
priateness. The paper, print, and binding
must in some degree ct least conform 70
the character OF the contents. They are
the dress OF the book, and ought 10 DO made
70 express what the book is, just an fully
- the dress OF q man or woman expresses
their essential characteristics. Seldom are
dressing alike. Almost 90 seldom are two
books. even Of tho same author, so similar
a. TO justify their being printed and bound
In precisely the same style.
As 1 said, publishers are beginning TO
recognize the importance OF this princl-
pie; though a. yet "there's but small
beginning made" The custom OF produo.
Ing "uniform seta" OF books is 90 strong,
has become 30 firmly fixed, that It seems
hard to break away from It altogether. Yet
II In Q mos: foolish, senseless, un 70 sthetc
custom. Its folly IL well illustrated by
the necessity put upon ~ artistic pub.
fishing house AZ Houghton, Miff) in 81 Co.,
To put each new volume for example, OF
Lowell and Of Holmes into style uniform
with that In which their first book appeared
years ago. IL seems altogether absurd
to publish the bright, chatty, esasys Of the
old autocrat In exactly the same style In
which his medical works, or his novels, or
yet his poems wero brought out. Yet all
the varied productions OF this versatile wri.
ter have been condemned by custom TO wear
tho same sober, dark green suit, and to
stand together In uniform octave ranks,
ridiculously dIgnifed, all their individual.
tty hidden, and their chafaoter diagu
beyond recognition. The wrong OF such q
sensoless method seems TO have been no
strongly felt at last that when his latest vol
ume OF poems "Before the Curfewu was
ready, the publishers broke away from ty-
rannicsl custom and gave the dainty coll
lection Of verse a dress as appropriate as It
II beautiful, adress that has some meaning.
They did the same also with Lowel's re-
cent coiieotion OF poetry " "Heartsease and
s, nut ..a,, t ,c,ns mis roi.icai Essays' nave
ior them. and In stand in a Hyaa,v or n,aou '',
| dis,inguishable sameness by The aide OF
| MY Study Windows" and U Among NV
| Booka"
ma,,,o, thssa o,.rn,o. o,,,, o., .,ou,
| ,nr, s,ron. an ~, naa,o us - W ~ sno" .,
houRh'on' niiiuln % 20 can scarcely pfeak
a~y % Aoa :" "s nvea nhIu,y iooK io' any
o.no'o W w ~ "r .nink ,ney arc ny al
Conn,ru Rv ,h,s "1''S S,, puo,nsnons , AZ .ne m
other Souaa has rnaaa aS hosn,'s', ,onn. .o ~
| they for that would not be true, Hut /
| mean that the average beauty OF tbo,r pub
licstlonA an q whole IL superior to that OF
| any other house.
/
Perbans n wopid IN ho,a IN n,ovo .,,or
| ,h,. ...ar,,n, o. p,,,.,,. ~ o,o
n, n,..an,,a. M uuaa suns avoi"se
oi exceilence stands very high too, and 30
does Harper q Brothers., ana Appleton d
Co.'s, and Scribner's Sons, while for that
| matter some OF our Western publishing
houses, like y. &. Griggs & %. and A. q.
| McClurg Oo., OF Chicago, arc not far, ~ al
al, behind the bost In the Nsst Mscmil
| ians ~ Csss8lls do beautiful work, but
nearly all OF 1t is done In England.
-----
The fact is that each ono of tho loadInp q
| publishing houses has its own utvla nj
baantv and stanaard ., a,oo,yanao . g, ..
notsa asnac,a,lv sor rho .nnn,,o. ,ua uno :, =,
no'ou ospeciai!y ior .ne suPeiior paper IL
| uses, another for the beauty OF Its bindings
| anu sun snotnef Tor the strength and dura-
pliity OF its work rather toan for Its fine
appearance. reis probably no one house
'nst eAoein IN al these respects nj once.
Quite recently John b. Alden, OF New
In spite of the combined and pers,stont
antagonism of all the other pub,isbara ana
booksellers, Though no sold bis nooks tor
about half the price of otbera be aluavs
bound them fully an substan,iaI,y aS tho
dearest, and more durabIy than most hers
But then he ussd to take psper that w as
not as rich looking, and his press work was
often inferior, while narrow margins and
crowded type made his pages displessino
to the eye. His enemies made tbe most III
this. Many people preferred To nav again
AZ much for book with good papsr, wide
margins, large open type and handsome
binding, than they would pay for tho same
book made up In loss handsome sty Is. The
other publishersdeciared that hecould never
make books such 40 they made unless he
also charged their prices. Suddenly. how.
ever, he came out with his beautifrIt set Of
Irving, his illustrated Geikie's WHoly Lame
and the Bible" far better and finer than
the English edition, and all of tbem ot,ared
sslu tnat these were only special efforts, a
rea,,Iar i,"e 80 10. anu not IN the
has not onIu s,oanS Puooauohs, but ne