New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-01-16
THE WAR AND BOOKS
Increases of the Cost of Manu-
facture in England.

OF the aspects OF the present war
none is more interesting than the light
il has thrown on the extraordinary
ramifcations OF modern industry. Few
business men, even in their own special
trades, have been aware OF the number
of countries whose contributions are
necessary ingredients in the manufact-
ure of a particular article OF COM
merce. -.
The case of book making. the work Of
the publisher, is, in spite of the small
number Of products used IN the
process, somewhat typical. The hrst
necessary ingredient In the making OF
a book is paper This material Is now
made in the case of the cheaper sorts
from wood pulp, and OF the better
grades from a grass known as esparto.
Wood pulp is imported chiefly from
Norway and from the Baltic, and the
fear of mines and of capture has held
I'd many shipments. Consequently, the
prices of the cheaper papers rose con-
siderably at the beginning OF the war.
Esparto grass is imported from the
north of Africa. and the excuse gwen
by the papermakers for the increase
in the price of paper made of this ma
terial was that some of the ships
loaded with eargoes of esparto had
teen sunk in the bombardment OF Bona
by the Goeben and the Breslau.
The type used in the printing or
English books is cast almost entirely
in Britain, but at the present time new
tyne is very difficult 10 obtain, as it
is said that the metal is becoming
scarce owing 70 the demand for il for
81 III OIL
jectiles.
But perhaps the most curious effect
of the war in the domain of book pro-
duction is on the binding of books.
The lettering of the majority of good
class books is stamped. at any rate on
the back. in gold, and the tops are
often gilt" The gold thus employed
has to be absolutely pure, and though
there are substitutes. these are not
used on the best books, on account of
their tendency to tarnish. Moreover,
many Of these substitutes are not now
available, as they are made In Ger
many.
When the war broke out II was found
that practically the whole of the gold
leaf used for the lettering of books and
for the gliding of their edges came
mously. The publishers naturally at
once turned to ink as an alternative.
which. il not so rich looking, could be
made quite effective on cloth bound
books. They we're then petitioned by
the British "layers-on' Of gold-whose
trade is a skilled one-not to discon-
tinue the use of gold on books. An
effort was accordingly made to induce
the English goldbeaters TO supply the
coldleaf at somewhere near the Ger
man prices. But the goldleaf produced
bv the English manufacturer is too
thick for the purposes OF bookbinding,
and is consequently not only consider
ably more expensive, bat less suitable
for that delicate work. On going into
the question it was found that the rea-
son of the difference was that the
English goldbeaters could not or would
not beat more than 1000 leaves out q
given quantity Of gold at the same
time. whereas the German workmen
could and would beat 800; and there,
as far as our present information goes,
the matter stands. and publishers are
turning 10 other ways OF decorating the
covers of their books.-From The Bod
leian.