Class XVII.]
401
the Jury must commemorate the high merit of the Cla-rendon Press in the one, and of the Pitt Press in theother. During a long series of years Oxford has beenremarkable for the ■well-sustained beauty of its Greekand Latin publications, as well as of those in the English tongue.
Mr. Parker (120, p. 544), the bookseller of the Uni-versity of Oxford , has exhibited as a publisher, severalworks on mediaeval architecture, remarkable for their cor-rectness, the beautiful execution of the wood engravings,and the goodness of the paper.
The Jury have strongly regretted, and this regret hasbeen recorded on their minutes, that almost the whole ofthe printers of England have refrained from exhibiting thebeautiful productions of their presses, owing to the in-structions given to the Local Commissioners, which statedthat printed books were inadmissible. However, some finespecimens of good printing seem to have crept in by merechance, such 'as Messrs. Bradbury and Evans’s beau-tiful work (136, p. 545), of Mr. Marryat, “ Collectionstowards a History of Pottery and Porcelain,” neatly exe-cuted ; Mr. Pickering’s “Victoria Book of CommonPrayer,” (140, p. 545) in large Old English type, theRubrics in red. This book has been carefully collatedwith the sealed book in the Tower of London . It is onsuper-royal paper, made by Mr. T. H. Saunders, ofDartford, Kent (3G, p. 539) : it is hand-made, hardtub-sized, from fine strong rags, without any artificialcolour; the moulds were made expressly, the wires finerand closer placed, to imitate the old moulds. Thisis a Supplemental Volume to Pickering’s Series of theCommon Prayer, which shows all the changes madein the Ritual from the Reformation to the Savoy Con-ference. “ The Booke of Common Prayer, noted byJohn Merbecke .” This is a verbatim reprint, showingwhat parts of the service were chanted in the reign ofEdward VI. ; the notes are black on red ledger lines;the paper the same quality and make as the Victoria
Prayer-Book, but in water-leaf, that is, without size.Also the first six books of Euclid, with the diagrams andsymbols printed in colours, which are used instead ofletters, for the greater ease of learners : all these are fromthe press of Mr. Whittingham. Mr. Bagster’s (87,p. 543) well-printed and useful “ Polyglot Bibles;” Mr.Mackenzie’s (of Glasgow ’) (94, pp. 543, 544) good spe-cimens of Church Text, illuminated with red capitals;Messrs. Reed and Pardon ’s neatly executed specimen oftheir founts ; Mr. Smith’s specimens of Hercules Ellis’sPoetry; Major Bell’s (203, p. 552) well got-up Tablesof Universal History, &c. 8cc. Two other works mustbe mentioned, as being connected with the Great Ex-hibition —Mr. Bkettell’s (169, p. 547) Hymn for allNations, by Mr. Tupper, translated into thirty lan-guages, and Mr. Owen’s (180, p. 549) reprint of thespeech of H. R. H. Prince Albert , at the Mansion HouseBanquet, also translated into several European and Ori-ental languages.
The same principle which prevented the English printers from exhibiting their works has deprived thepublishers of the opportunity of taking, at the GreatExhibition of all Nations, that high position to whichtheir beautiful and carefully edited works would havejustly entitled them. The names of Longman, Murray,Moxou, Bohn, Pickering, and of a great many others, arefor ever inseparable from the history of English litera-ture ; and thousands would again have seen with satis-faction, and shown with pride to foreigners, the nu-merous, cheap, neatly printed, and beautifully illustratedproductions of Mr. Charles Knight, who in ministeringto the intellectual wants and pleasures of the people, hasgiven in the right direction an impetus which is still feltin all branches of art and manufacture connected withthis Class.
The following statistical Tables by Mr. EdwardEdwards, Secretary of the London Society of Com-positors, cannot but prove interesting:—
Table showing the Rath of Wages per Week, and Number of Journeymen and Apprentices in 79 Towns in the
Rate of Wages.
1 Number of
Apprentices.
Kate of Wages.
Number ofApprentices.
Shillings.
Shillings.
Aylesbury -
-
-
-
24
9
9
Leigh — - - -
_
24
2
2
Danbury —
-
-
-
24
9
5
Leicester - — —
-
24
30
30
Bath - -
-
-
—
25
64
49
Lewes - - - -
—
29
18
1 20
Bedford — -
—
-
—
21 to 24
12
20
-
24 to 25
13
17
Berwick-on-Tweed
-
—
18 to 20
10
15
Manchester - — -
—
30
300
80
Bradford —
-
-
-
24 to 26
18
26
-
18 to 24
11
7
Brecon - —
-
-
—
23
5
4
-
27
55
60
Brighton -
-
-
-
29
30
50
21 to 24
12
10
Bristol - -
-
—
-
24 to 25
20
100
Northampton — -
—
24
11
22
Bolton - -
—
-
-
27
12
22
Oxford — - - -
_
30 to 33
58
46
Blackburn —
-
-
-
24
7
12
Preston - - - -
_
27
36
28
Canterbury -
-
-
-
20 to 24
10
IS
Portsmouth and Portsea
—
21 to 28
20
20
Chichester —
-
-
-
21 to 30
3
2
24
6
8
-
-
—
21 to 24
116
11
Scarborough - — —
21
11
6
Chester - —
-
-
—
27
31
17
Sheffield - - - -
_
28
62
32
-
-
-
24
24
33
Southampton - -
-
20 to 25
21
22
Cambridge —
-
—
—
27 to 40
67
50
_
21 to 24
15
8
-
-
-
21
23
35
Stafford — - — —
_
24
11
7
Darlington —
-
-
-
18 to 24
11
24 i
Shrewsbury - — -
-
24
22
23
—
-
—
22 to 24
20
11
Stamford - - -
-
27
22
13
Dover — -
—
-
-
21
7
14 !
Uiverstone - - -
_
21
6
14
Exeter - —
—
-
—
18 to 19
30
14
Warwick and Leamington
21 to 25
29
12
Hereford —
-
-
21 to 24
17
50
Wakefield - - -
_
24
14
24
Halifax -- —
-
-
-
24
24
12
_
24
31
19
Hertford -
-
-
—
28
10
18 i
Warrington - - —
-
24
4
-
-
-
24
10
7 i
27
8
6
-
-
-
12 to 20
10
16
-
24
25
22
Kendal — —
-
-
—
24
12
58
-
*>7
11
7
—
—
-
33 to 48
3,000
1,500
_
21
4
15
30
280
500
York -----
_ ^
21 to 26
40
30
-
-
—
26
118
100
Lancaster -
-
-
-
24
10
10 :
1
4,937
3,4 29