THE CATALOGUE’S ACCOUNT OF ITSELF

any celebrated character. The office of my compiler was opened inthe Building in Ilvde Park, on the 21st of January, 1851, with a staffcomposed of the compiler-in-chief, and three ailes-de-pbune. Aftera lapse of a few weeks, this number was increased by one, and re-mained then fixed until the middle of April, when it was furtherincreased. Six individuals then worked on with occasional aid untilthe end of May; when five or less, were found to be sufficient, and inthe beginning of July, all compilation duty ceased.

The returns of exhibitors from divers parts began to meet each otherin the compiler’s office towards the end of January. As they came,they were sorted into sections and arranged alphabetically. Thenthey were re-examined to ascertain how many had neglected to bringduplicates ; and duplicates were made in the office to supply all suchdeficiencies. For a third time, the returns were then examined, inorder to compare them with a list of the proposed exhibitors; and not afew supernumerary papers, sent on speculation, were in this way de-tected and cast out. Then followed the grammatical revision; andfinally, the packet in each class had its contents numbered, and thenumbers registered, before it passed out of the compiler’s office, andinto the ofiice of the printer.

The first parcel reached the printer’s on the 31st of January, and onthe 31st of Starch, six thousand and ten returns (from exhibitors inGreat Britain and Irelaud) had been sent to be set up in type A fterthis time the printer was supplied at a more leisurely pace ; and onthe 22nd of April, the number of forms set up bad advanced to sixthousand two hundred and forty-one. The Colonial and Foreignreturns were proceeded with simultaneously. Returns from the colo-nies were sent to press between the f>th of March and 2lst of April;foreign returns between February 3rd and April 23rd, on which daythe last fragment of my original manuscript was laid at the printer'sdoor. The briskest of the foreign states, if we must judge bv itspromptitude in sending a return, was Tunis. The second parcel offoreign returns came from Liibeck, and the third from Switzerland.All tne matter about which I have been speaking was first printed forthe Illu.strated Edition of the public's humble servant, and kept setup in a fragmentary manner, until that work was revised for publication.Proof impressions, taken from these fragments, were sent to the gentle-man charged with the scientific revision of the work, Mr. Robert Ellis,who allotted the various portions to the scientific annotators. For afew remarks upon those annotators, I must refer once more to the infor-mation given by my Illustrated self.

Of course, among the returned forms there would not only be gram-matical confusion to correct, but a large number of scientific blunders,Things would be falsely named ; foreign scientific words would b?inaccurately rendered, familiar objects of trade would lie popularlyexpressed, and throughout the whole range of the Exhibition, a Cata-logue supplied by thousands of people differently educated, wouldhave no precision, uniformity or coherence. There was a Germanonce, named Fehersfein (flint), who went to French Canada. TheFrenchmen there could make nothing of his outlandish name, bo theytranslated it, and called him Gun-flint. The English occupied, after atime, that part of Canada, and as Gun-flint remained among them, hewas again translated into Peter Gun. So you would have had in yourCatalogue here, Feuerstein ; there, Peter Gun; and never could haveknown them both to represent one and the same name. To obtainuniformity, therefore, the plan was adopted which I now quote.

“A number of scientific gentlemen gave their consent to undertakethe revision and correction of proofs of the returned forms in theirpeculiar departments, with a view to remove from them those errorswhich might present themselves, and to supply what might appearreouisite to give prominence to their really important features. Inaddition to this, it appeared advisable, as critical okservations werenecessarily inadmissible, to relieve the tedium of mere description, andto assist in pointing out the leading features of interest in the objectsdescribed, or in direct relation with them, by appending, as the subjectsof the proof suggested, such brief annotations as might appear bestcalculate to effect these objects.

“ As a certain degree of liarmony of procedure was considered abso-lutely necessary,in order to give a consistent character to such correc-tions and annotations, supplied as they would )>e from a variety ofsources, a few suggestions of certain general principles were adopted,and, as far as possible, acted upon. It is not necessary to reproducethe whole of tnese suggestions in their original form; but since it isimportant that exhibitors should lie informed of the principles which,to a great extent, guided and determined the corrections and annota-tions which are found in this work, they nre here subjoined.” Atten-tion was particularly directed to the suggestion, under the head “anno-tations,” by which critical notices were strictly excluded from theannotations appended to the descriptions.

In sending about slip*, many of them consisting of three or four linescut out of other proofs, of course there arose danger of inextricableconfusion when the little slips, or snips, should all couio back again, jand have to be re-arranged. I

A simple method of ascertaining not merely the place in theCatalogue, but its entire history, its destination, annotator, aud return,was, however, contrived, and the history of every proof has thus beenaccurately recorded. The information thus obtained was so accurateand precise, that on the temporary delay of very small proofs, theiroriginal destination was instantly discovered, together with the date oftransmission, and the name of the annotator to whom they had beensent. Much punctuality characterised the return of the dismemberedportions of this large volume. Had not such been the case, the originalplau of scientific and technical revision could not have been persist ed in.

But, while all this work was going on, 1 was being taught to speak inFrench and German, by gentlemen engaged especially for that purpose.

Furthermore, and finally, the slips of the large Catalogue, revised,annotated, and re-revised, were placed before the Compiler, that hemight condense each description into an average of about three lines,for the shilling, or *• Official Catalogue.” The reduction of the wholeof the proofs of the British Exhibitors only occupied the Compiler,almost without any intermission, from the 2'lth of March to the 24th ofApril—just a month. The Foreign and Colonial portion was com-menced on the 10th and finished on the 28th of April, so that the roughproof of the Catalogue wosonlycomnletedtwodays before the openingof the Exhibition; fifty-two persons having been employed in the com-piling and the annotating of these two English Catalogues. "

It was not until all, or nearly all, the fragments wore in the printer’shands that the final numbering and arrangement could take place;so that, at the last moment, all my inside was twisted up and down.Classification this was called. The Classification began at the printer’sjust before the arrival of the last corrected slips ; and they came, as Itold you, only two days before the Exhibition would be open, and theCatalogue would bo demanded by the public. Woe be to the printerwho should go to bed at such a crisis ! The ‘‘ Official Catalogue” wasclassified, made up, and printed, and hound in four days. The firstperfect impression was only produced at ten o’clock at night upon theeve of the eventful opening. Ten thousand Catalogues, properly bound,were punctually delivered at the Building, on the morning of the 1st ofMay. The two copies presented to Her Majesty and to the lYince. thatmorning, elegantly bound in morocco, lined with silk, and with theiredges gilt, had been liound, lined, and gilded in six hours. Now, per*haps, you do begin to wonder that you had a Catalogue at all upon th®1st of May, and are no longer surprised that, in that first edition, ther®were included descriptions of articles which the describes had neglectedafterwards to send, or that the articles which had arrived, of unexpectedbulk, or btherwi.se exceptionally, could not be placed properly in tb®Building, according to the exact numerical order that had been estab-lished in the Catalogue Most of the errors of my first edition ar®corrected in my second. Now I mean to tell you a few more tilingabout myself, well calculated to excite your admiration.

My “ Official” self makes three hundred and twenty pages, or twentysheets of double foolscap folded into eight. Two hundred and fiftythousand copies of this have been printed ; one hundred and five to 11 *of paper having lieen consumed therein; and, upon this paper, th 0duty paid is one thousand four hundred and seventy pounds. U 1 ®publications connected with the Catalogues, and the number of pa® 1 '* 3in each, are as follows

English, French, and German Catalogues .... ihW

Descriptive and Illustrated ditto.2,000

English and French Synopsis. 19®

Hunt’s Handbooks. 1>000

Penny and Twopenny English nnd French Plans and l

Guides.J

Priced lusts.

Advertisements 1^

Jury Reports. ^

Pages

The new type of these publications is retained, set up for eonsuse aud correction, and the weight of metal, thus employed is 01thousand pounds. * _

Up and down the courts of the Exhibition, I have been in the jpany of a good many people who have audibly voted me a hot 0 -. t ,trust that 1 shall not again have to complain of this. 1 contain ^composition of some fifteen thousand authors ; most of them aUfor tne first time, who have had their excrescences pruned, a»‘ t } l0r>diction occasionally mended. Now, the first production of uif only three lines long, is usually esteemed by himself as a ^ ^gsPrince Rupert’s drop, which is destroyed entirely if a a re

upon it but a single scratch. Some thousand authors, theredissatisfied with the attempts made to render me available lo r ruse. „ i tfllC e, I

I say no more; having thus far indulged you with "^.^you quit 0wrap myself in dignified reserve, conscious that I have tolu yenough to secure for myself your respect henceforward.