9

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTIVE AND ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE.

collective idiosyncracies, the var\ mg varieties, the clash- jing characteristics of 18,000 people of every class and of jevery nation, for such is the number of exhibitors, are :here epitomised, avranged, compressed, chronicled, and,in many hundreds of instances, given to the eye in faith- jful, elaborate, and costly engravings. ;

“And all this is achieved, so that the last pealing 'anthem on the evening of the lltli of October had but just |died away along the huge ribbed curve of the transparent ;transept, ere the gorgeous gilt-edged record, which is allthat shall remain permanently of one of the world's won-ders, is laid, in its gay livery of blue and gold, upon thetables of its subscribers. In the words of Charles Dickens ,applied to the smaller and cheaper issue, we have here‘ the composition of fifteen thousand authors; most of themauthors for the first time, who have had their excrescencespruned, and their diction occasionally mended. Now, :the first production of an author, if only three lines, is . tusually esteemed by himself as a sort of Prince Rupert’sdrop, which is destroyed entirely if a person makes upon .it but one single scratch. Some thousands of authors,therefore, must be dissatisfied with the attempts to makeit available for public use.’

“Thus far Boss’s pleasantry as regards the cheap shil-Hngsworth ; but the ‘ Illustrated and Descriptive’ essaysa yet holder experiment. While it retains the terseness ofdescription, it adds annotations of equal perspicuity, ability,and impartiality. These aids to a full comprehension ofthe Exhibition, from pens of the most qualified writers,set forth in succinct phrase the peculiarities, beauties, andcharacteristics of the various objects enumerated. Thisalone must insure the permanent value of the ‘OfficialCatalogue.’ ”

Daily News.

“The ‘Official Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue’has now been issued in the form of three not over-bulkyvolumes. In the front pages of the first volumes are con-tained a neat array of industrial charts, of comprehensiveindexes, and introductory matters, which, along with the‘raw materials’ and ‘machinery,’ form, on the whole, apretty solid mass of information. The whole of volumethe second deals as exclusively with all that is connectedwith the United Kingdom , as the third and last does withthe industrial contributions of the ‘foreign states.’ Fol-lowing so closely as does the present publication on theheels of so many nimble forerunners, it must necessarilyfollow, that much that it contains is not of a strikinglynovel character, aud to a certain extent, the present cata-logue has lent its powerful aid in diminishing its claims topriority. Mr. Robert Ellis, the diligent and able editor,has let us into all the secrets of the Catalogue’s gestation.Its type, he tells us, was actually ready, and so were mostpart of its illustrations, before the memorable 1st of May.One vast drawback, however, soon made itself manifest,inasmuch as that which, to the casual observer, mighthave seemed to contain all the necessary elements of orderand symmetry, was, at least for the true purposes of theCatalogue's registry, confusion worse confounded. Whilesome exhibitors had taken up positions which were clearlyuntenable, others neglected altogether to be at their posts.In this terrible dilemma, which it seems, lasted not days,hut months, the contractors, Messrs. Spicer and Clowes,wisely adopted the plan before mentioned, of using themain lext work of the costlier Catalogue for the shillingone, which thus acted as a feeler and test of substantivecorrectness. By degrees, as every one knows, successiveeditions were issued, in which lacuues were filled up, andinadvertancies properly corrected. And thus, by jointaddition and elimination, we are now furnished with themost trustworthy industrial chart that has ever beenissued. Besides these considerations, other notable influ-ences were at work to retard progress: there were notmerely self-laudatory encomiums to prune, unintelligibletechnicalities to lop off, and scientific jargon to pare down,the contractors had undertaken a higher, a more arduous,and more comprehensive task, that of being faithful ex-ponents of the most striking features and instructive les-sons derivable from the international gathering. Thetask, we are bound to add, they have executed in a lucidaud masterly manner, which warrants the assertion of the

catalogue’s having been carefully revised by scientifichands. It is pleasant for once to find science descendingfrom its lofty curule chair, and cheerfully lending its aidto the sister arts. Somehow', one fancies that this is theauspicious dawn of another era ; that the learned will nolonger muffle themselves sullenly in the sheets of theencyclopaedia; and one hails, as it were, the downfall ofexploded and abstruse problems. Be this as it may, andwithout drawing any further distinctions between thecommonly wise and the remotely sapient of this or anyother generation, it may be fairly said that an immensefund of varied knowledge and souud gratification may bederived, almost at random from these volumes, and thecountless facts disseminated throughout their 1,431 pages.

“Those versed iu chemistry, or endowed with a me-chanical comprehension, will naturally revert to the firstportion of the ‘Illustrated Catalogue,’ wherein we noticewith satisfaction, not only indicated, but also illustrated,those specimens of human skill and ingenuity to which oflate, especially, the public mind has been attracted, sincethe long-expected awards of successful competition. Inthis respect, the promoters of the ‘ Descriptive Catalogue ’seem almost to have been endowed with an intuitive, notto say a prophetic sense of individual merits. It must beacknowledged that, even looking at the succeeding volumesfrom the same point of view, they will be apt to conveyimpressions of greater interest. Many to whom the mostbrilliant mechanical achievements are neither more norless than singular contrivances, will have a tolerably accu-rate perception of purely ornamental achievements ; thesewill dwell once more, if only in the faint recollection ofthem, on the glories connected with the ‘ Milanese win-dow’ and the ‘Veiled statue,’ the ‘Prussian shield,’ andother illustrations, which, amid the universal pictorialdeluge, seem to have been withheld by their proprietorsfor exclusive insertion in the ‘Official Catalogue.’ Itmay here be stated that the embellishments to the letter-press have combined the lithographic process, steel en-graving, and wood engraving ; though the latter, as usual,preponderates. The archaic pencil of Mr. Tenniel hasgiven extra dignity to the cover as well as the frontis-piece, the latter of which is decidedly Maclisean in design.Let us turn over the tempting page. The arrayed list ofcontents and their exhibitors greet one, as it were, on thethreshold, and by their twin aid we can steer through thetroubled industrial sea. Thus people, anxious to discoverwhat species of heating apparatus has been rewarded by amedal, may search under either headings of ‘ stoves,’ or‘ Metternich / and will at once be directed to the ‘ Austrian Section, No. 413.’ Then, nearer home, may be foundunder either title of ‘Tapestry,’ or ‘ Sibthorpe ’ — thelatter, no relation we hope to an M.P. namesake—and soon it goes throughout works of more or less universalinterest.

“After dwelling in a sufficiently philosophical strainon the strangely varied host of individual characters con-tained in the list, and elbowing each other with alpha-betical respect and order, from His Royal Highness PrinceAlbert to Herr Zwickl, we next encounter a few brief buttelling accounts of the rise and progress of the Great Exhibition . Mr. Henry Cole throws into his introduc-tory notice of the first stages of the proceedings, somenovel traits which redeem its hackneyed character. Theconstruction of the building is narrated by Mr. DigbyWyatt in mingled facts, figures, aud sketches. Aud lastly,Mr. Robert Ellis imparts to us a sense of the alarmingdifficulties he had to surmount in gathering together thethousands and one little manuscript slips of paper out ofwhich one homogeneous work has arisen ; justly remark-ing at the same time that the fact has hitherto been un-exampled of bringing to successful issue a work of suchmonstrous complexity.

“ The plan adopted in the long run was to direct atten-tion at the opening paragraph of each section to the staplemanufactures of the particular country or district; re-serving, nevertheless, purely exceptional facts to be ap-pended to that which was often its sole illustration. Ifthe calm and venerable town of Frankfort exports thepowerful ingredient known as ‘ Creosote; ’ if Hesse sendsover that noxious weed ‘ chicory; ’ if the quiet city of