ADVERTISEMENT.

PREFACE TO THE OFFICIAL DESCRIPTIVE AND ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE.

Perhaps no statement connected with the appearance of jthis work is calculated to create more surprise than thatthe greater portion of it was actually in type prior to thefirst of May. Its condition at that period may be thusdescribed. The manuscript accounts of the articles of alarge number of the Exhibitors had been compiled, setup in type, and subsequently condensed, annotated, andrevised, and required but a little more attention to fitthem for publication. In addition, a large proportion ofthe illustrations were completed and fit for printing. Butat that moment, what was the condition of the ExhibitionBuilding itself? Only on the morning of the first ofMay were tickets affixed to a few articles in a fewClasses, and the position of many Exhibitors, even onthe British side, was not finally determined. This aroseout of the efforts made to obtain a strictly classifiedarrangement of articles on this side. Many articlesplaced in the hurry of preparation in the space allottedto one Class were improperly thus placed, and requiredto be removed to other Classes; and a large numberof explanations were found to have been received fromExhibitors who had ultimately not been able to send intheir goods in time. Whilst many Classes were arrangedrapidly, others remained, owing to peculiar difficulties, ina state of great incompletion, and incessant alterations ofthe numbers and positions of the Exhibitors were neces-sary before they could be considered perfect. Duringthis time, which is to be reckoned by weeks rather thandays, the number of additional manuscripts received fromExhibitors who had neglected sending them in until longafter the opening of the Exhibition, was immense, andthe adjustment of the additional matter thus created wasin itself a difficulty not to be easily subdued.

While an amount of order—surprising in its extent,though imperfect in the degree requisite for the publica-tion of a work so costly in its preparation as the present—reigned on the British side of the Building, the state ofthat devoted to other nations could scarcely be entitled tothat term until a month subsequent to the (lay of opening.Many foreign states had not sent in their catalogues, andthe arrangement of their productions was very imperfect.

The peculiar nature of the Catalogue, also, as a workproduced by many thousand authors, naturally broughtupon it, through the medium of the small Catalogue, thecorrections of a large number of those whose manuscriptsformed its foundation, in addition to those renderednecessary, in order to obtain some degree of uniformityin the literary composition.

The combination of the elements of disorder thuspresented has never before arisen to oppose the publica-tion of any work in this or other times; and its effectupon its preparation is only to be estimated by those whohave watched its progress, and are familiar with thecomplicated arrangements necessarily preceding the pro-duction of any printed book containing illustrations.The great extent of the Catalogue rendered the disturb-ance of any of its parts absolutely fatal to its publicationin a reasonable time, and even in a moderate condition ofaccuracy. In the midst of all these adverse circum-stances an attempt was made to publish it as speedily aspossible after the opening of the Exhibition; hut thisattempt was rendered fruitless in consequence of theceaseless accessions of additional matter, and of thealterations of position in that already set up.

Under these circumstances the Contractors, anxious toproduce so extensive a work in as perfect a condition aspossible, resolved, at considerable loss to themselves, todelay its appearance until every alteration of importancehad been made in the arrangement of the Building and jby Exhibitors themselves. In this state it is now pub-lished, and is intended to serve as a lasting memorial ofthe splendid collection of which it professes to be theexponent. When its magnitude is considered, and dueregard had to the great difficulties inseparable from theproduction of an illustrated hook of this kind, it mustbe acknowledged that the period occupied in its publi-

j cation has been comparatively brief and its preparationrapid.

The due appearance of the smaller Catalogue, on thefirst of May,—in itself, perhaps, one of the most remark-able instances of rapid typographical execution everaccomplished,—is also an indication of the substantivepre-existence of the present work before that date, sincethe smaller Catalogue is only a very condensed summaryof the present, and was derived from the material formingthe illustrated edition. The difficulties attending thepublication even of that work, may be gathered from thefact, that only three days before it appeared was theorder of succession and temporary arrangement of theExhibitors in the Building determined on ; and in thatshort interval, and before its publication, their arrange-ment in the Catalogue had much of it to be made.

For an account of the method adopted in the pre-paration of this Catalogue reference should he made toanother page. It is, however, due to those whose valuedassistance has added so much to the permanent interestwhich will attach to this work to state, that there areseveral portions which could not, by pressure of time, besubmitted to the benefit of their revision, and for such,and the general scientific accuracy of the work, the sub-scriber to this notice must be considered alone account-able. That the following pages are to be considered freefrom technical and scientific inaccuracies could scarcelybe expected; but much care and labour have been ex-pended to give them, as far as possible, this character.

The consideration just named may also render expedient,if not necessary, a simple statement of the part fulfilled bythe writer in connection with this work. The productionof the general plan of the book, its development, aftersanction by the Executive Committee, and literary con-struction out of the crude material obtained after compila-tion from the manuscripts of Exhibitors—this materialresulting from the official instructions given for the com-pilation of the Catalogue, and the term compilationincluding, in this case, merely the rough preparation ofExhibitor’s manuscripts for setting up in type, the result-ing matter being consequently in a very imperfect state—with the general literary and scientific superintendenceand management of the work—these have formed theoccupation of the writer in connection with it, and forthese he may he held responsible. As the result of thecombined labours of the scientific annotators and of thewriter, and after having received official sanction andrevision on the part of the Executive by the officerappointed, this Catalogue is now put forth. The constanteffort of the writer has been to prepare a work ofpermanent value and enduring interest. May it beshown in the issue that the labour bestowed upon it hasnot been in vain.

At the period when this work makes its appearance ina complete state, the Exhibition is about to close. Thefirst function of a Descriptive Catalogue can thereforescarcely he fulfilled ere the great spectacle it illustrateswill pass away. To those wonders of Art and Industrywhich man, taught by God , has been by Hint enabled toaccomplish, it will prove a guide but for a brief period.But its more permanently valuable offices then commence;and it may' he reasonably hoped that, as a record of themost varied and wonderful collection of objects everbeheld, and as a book of reference to the philosopher,merchant, and manufacturer, it will constantly proveboth interesting and instructive to the reader.

It is probable that, with the return of the Exhibitors andof the articles to the numerous localities abroad whence| they were derived, copies of this Catalogue will he sent,and taken also, and that these pages will be read in manylands long after the Exhibition shall have become matterof history. May they' be found, on examination, to con-tain nothing which is not in harmony with the spirit ofthe motto on the title-page ; and, while descriptive of thesuccessful labours of man, may it not have been forgottenthat the glory and praise are due to God alone.

EOBEET ELLIS.