The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-08-24
MAKING A BOOK.
Labor Involved in Writing, Set
ting Up and Printing 1t.

At dinner recently given in London to
Stanley, the African explorer, Mr.. Edward
Marston gave some very interesting infor-
nation on the subject of book writing and
book publishing He said:
'1t seems to me that some slight infor-
nation, not too statistical, respecting the
bringing into being of Mr.. Stanley's new
book may not be uninteresting. You will
all admit that Mr.. Stanley's recent passage
through Darkest Africa was grand feat.
Well, | am inclined to think that the way
he wrote his account OF that grand feat was
not much less remarkable. The work con-
tains, roughly speaking, thousand pages
of forty lines each. On January 18th of
this year, not line of it had been written.
Then it was that Mir. Stanley sat down at
the Villa Victoria in Cairo with a firm de-
termination that nothing earthly should
stop him till he had finished it. In fifty
days he completed his self-imposed task,
or rather the task which he says l i'm
posed upon him. This means that he not
merely wrote out, but he had to think out
twenty pages, say 5000 words day. Gen.
temen. If you wish to know what an
amount of endurance and perseverance that
means, l commend you to try the expert
ment yourselves. 1t is easy enough to write
twenty very long pages day, for one, two
or three days, but to keep on doing so for
fifty days consecutively, without any break
or relaxation Whatever, to speak OF, is
quite another matter. Now let me glance
at the manufacture of these volumes. In
view of the enormous amount OF public in
terest felt in this book | see no objection
for once TO depart from our usual reticence
in such matters, and to say that we
have orders Ill the house for, and on
Saturday morning we shall dispatch over
5000 copies besides 5000 of a colonial edi-
ton, and other issues. You know the
whole thing had to be rushed through the
press, and l assure you it has taxed the re-
sources of Messrs. Cloves vast establish
ment for many weeks. To produce this
book in the way 1t has been produced re-
Quired something more than mere routine
work. 1t required thoughtful guiding
spirit-one VINO would devote heart and
soul to the work, and we cannot feel too
grateful to Captain Cloves for the extra
ordinary devotion and personal attention
he has given to the accomplishment OF this
task. In the printing department the work
has found employment for many weeks for
sixty compositors, seventeen readers, twelve
reading boys, and about 200 machine
pressmen and warehousemen. The paper
consumed in printing the edition de
luxe, the colonial edition, the canyassing
edition, and the trade edition weighs 65R
tons. This paper, If it had been laid out in
single sheets, would have formed white
carpet for Mr.. Stanley to have walked upon
from the Congo to Zanzibar. or if laid sheet
upon sheet it would have formed tower
something like the Tour Eiffel. The type
and material used weighed "a tons, and
there were 100000 types used in each of
the above editions. Eighteen steam print
ing machines and ten hand presses con-
sumed * tons of printing ink. Then. as
to the binding, we had to get bound in
fortnight, in all, about 10000 volumes.
These have given employment to over
500 men and GOO women. About $500 yards
or nearly two and half miles Of binders
cloth were consumed on these editions.
NOx no nrnnnpad mi L
taneously in America and on the Continent
about ten other editions, | think | should
not be far out in stating that it would be
quite within the mark to multiply all the
figures | have mentioned by or s. TAX
ing the latter estimate, MIR. Stanley may
comfort himself with the reflection that
during the last four months his fifty days
la Dor of brain and pen has given employ
ment to an army of probably 1000 men and
at least as many women and girls, and
probably the aggregate weight of all the
editions which will be issued smulta-
neOusly Oh Saturday will exceed 800 tons"