[ 39S ]
CLASS XVII.
REPORT ON PAPER AND STATIONERY, PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING.
[The figures after the Names (between parentheses) refer to the Exhibitors’ Numbers and to the Pages iu theOfficial Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue.]
Jury.
Sylvain Van de "NYever, Chairman , Belgium ; Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiaryfrom H. M. the King of the Belgians.
Thomas De La Rue, Deputy Chairman } 84 Westbourne Terrace, Hyde Park: Ornamental StationeryManufacturer.
Charles Whittis-giiam, Reporter , Chiswick, and Took’s Court , Chancery Lane ; Printer.
A. Fiumin Didot, Joint Reporter , France ; Member of Central Jury, &c.*
Professor Hulse, Zollverein ; Director of the Royal Polytechnicai Academy at Dresden .
Viscount Mahon , F.ii.S., 41 Grosvenor Place.
Henry Stevens, Barnet, Vermont, United States; residing at Morley’s Hotel, London .
Charles Venables, Plomer Ilill House, High Wycombe ; retired Paper Manufacturer.
The articles which the Jury had to examine were classifiediu the following manner :—
A. Paper in the Haw State as it leaves the mill.
B. Articles of Stationery.
C. Pasteboards, Cards, &c.
D. Paper and Scaleboard Boxes (cartonnerie).
E. Printing {not including Fine Art Printing ).
F. Bookbinding.
The Jury met on the 17th of May, and continued theirlabours till the 28th of July, wheu their awards werefinally settled and transmitted to the proper authorities.
They did not think it necessary to divide themselvesinto sub-committees; but in adjudicating upon the speci-mens of printing intended for the use of the blind, theyrequested the assistance of George Sumner, Esq., of theUnited States , and William Hughes, Esq., of Henshaw’sBlind Asylum, Manchester, to which request these gentle-men kindly acceded.
The first duty of the Jury was to refer to the “ Decisions !regarding Juries/’ and afterwards to the “ Instructionsfrom the Council of Chairmen,” in which, among otherconditions, it is stated that “ a classified list of the subjectsunder the province of each Jury is prepared, and formsthe limitation of each class;” and that “those articles willbe rewarded which fulfil in the highest degree the con-ditions specified in the Sectional List,” namely:—
“Increased usefulness, improved form, superiorquality, or superior skill in workmanship, new use ofknown materials, use of new materials, new com-bination of materials, beauty of design in form orcolour, or both with reference to utility, the cheap-ness with reference to production, and that the Reportshould describe the state of industry as shown in thisExhibition.”
The Jury, in accordance with the foregoing instructions,proceeded to the examination of the different articles.The classified list of subjects was found to be very de-fective, the classification only extending to English lExhibitors, and many articles were found to be misplacedin the classes to which they had been assigned. TheJury had thus to refer several articles to their properclasses, and to decide that maps did not come under theirconsideration, though several had, in the Official Catalogue,been inserted in Class XVII.; that the lithographic colour
* M. Didot, a Greek scholar, and an eminent typogra-pher, engraver and typefounder, printer to the Institute ofFrance , and paper-manufacturer, having been appointedmember of the Jury, his firm (of which he is the headpartner) was excluded from competition. The Jury cannot,however, abstain from expressing their high appreciationof the important services, zeal, impartiality, and talent dis- :played by M. Didot, both as Joint Reporter and Juryman. 1
press, as well as all other machinery, came under thejurisdiction of Class VI., the Jury offering at the sametime to give their assistance and opinions individually orcollectively, should any such assistance or opinions bedesired; that they could take cognizance neither of literarymerit, as had been required of them, nor of different phi-lological systems of printing, as phonetic printing, pho-notypy, phonography, See. Sec. ; and lastly, that severalspecimens of caligraphy and penmanship had erroneouslybeen sent to them.
With regard to the Foreign Department the Cataloguewas still more imperfect; and the Jury had to search outthe articles which appertained to their Class. It is greatlyto be feared that, notwithstanding all the care taken bythe Jury, there may be articles which have escaped theirobservation.
It will be observed that the Jury, in strict conformitywith the principles laid down by the Royal Commission,have only recommended one Council Medal, and that fortypography; not that they did not recognize the excellenceand beauty of many of the specimens exhibited, and theskill and perfection which, in many points, the art ofprinting displayed, but because there did not appear to beany production so clearly bearing the character of noveltyof invention or new application of a known principle as tojustify such a recommendation, witli the exception of theproducts of the Imperial Court and Government PrintingOffice of Vienna , which presented both novelty of inventionand a number of new combinations in the art of typo-grapliy.
No prize was awarded to publishers, as such, notwith-standing the merit of their publications.
Until recently, bookselling had not been represented atthe Exhibitions of Industry : the instructions given to theJury of the Great Industrial Exhibition of all Nations didnot assign to it any distinct position; aud, therefore, inthe different countries the booksellers have refrained fromsending their publications, not deeming that their trade,connected more or less closely as it is with the sciencesand with letters, could be looked upon as a branch ofindustry.
Several booksellers of France, Germany, and Belgium ,have, however, thought that the creation of a book beingthe result of a combination of different industrial branches—such as wood-engraving, metal-engraving, colouring,the choice of types, aud of the various kiuds of paper, &c.,—the bookseller ought to be looked upon as the partialcreator of these industrial products, the first idea of whichhe had in many instances conceived.
In awarding the Prize Medal, the Jury have, in eachbranch, observed the general principle of acknowledgingthe various kinds of excellence to be met with in eacharticle under consideration, without entering into thequestion of relative merit.