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ADYKI’iTISElI E,\ T.
be without. It is somewhat remarkable, as evincing thejudgment that presided over the objects selected for illus-tration, that the bulk of them have been the recipients ofprize medals. We have only one other observation tomake, and we feel called upon, in justice to the contractors,to offer it for the consideration of the executive committee.During the time this large series of publications was inprogress, the greater portion of the ordinary business ofthe contractors was suspended—the Catalogue itself wasput in type at least three or four times over; thus addinganother very serious item to the expenses incurred. Wethink when so many of those who have rendered goodservice to the Exhibition arc being rewarded, it would bea graceful and appropriate act of liberality, on the partof the executive, to waive the claim for royalty, whichthe terms of the contract implied, even if they do not con-sider the contractors entitled to any further remuneration.”
Athenseum.
“ A few weeks more, and of the visible glories of theGreat Exhibition but a visible wreck will remain. Me-mory, as we have said, may reproduce—and will—manya picturesque section and selected object; but less uncer-tain records are required to inform us of the actual value,industrial anil scientific, of those contributions from everyquarter of the world which we have seen assembled inIlyde Park.
“ In the ‘Official Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue'we have such a record. The work is without a precedentin the annals of literature; aud when we regard the cir-cumstances of difficulty that surrounded the task of itsexecution, the praise bestowed on those who undertookit can scarcely be too great. The contractors, in thatenlarged spirit which appears to have entered into allthat belongs to the Exhibition, engaged men of reputationand authority in every department of science and manu-facture to contribute such descriptive notes as shouldrender the work eminently instructive. It, thus, containsa body of annotations which express the condition ofhuman knowledge and the state of the world’s industry in1851 :—and is a document of the utmost importance, as asummary report of this vast international ‘ stock-taking,’which no great library—nor any gentlemen’s library, ofthose who aim at the collection of literary standards—canhereafter be without. It is not the work of a day, amonth, or a year: it is for all time. Centuries hence itwill be referred to as authority on the condition to whichman had arrived at the period of its publication. It is atonce a great Trades-Directory informing us where we areto seek for any particular kind of manufacture—a NaturalHistory, recording the localities of almost every varietyof native production—and a cyclopatdia, describing howfar science has ministered to the necessities of humanity,by what efforts the crude products of the earth have beenconverted into articles of utility or made the medium ofthat refined expression which belongs to the province ofcreative art.
“Let it not be thought that because the Exhibition isover it has fulfilled its purposes. It stands to the worldin precisely the same relation as do the philosopher andhis works. The individual will die; but the thoughtswhich have been born of him, the truths which he hasdiscovered, live on, quickening and kindling other thoughtsand truths. The Exhibition has lived its allotted time,and died ; but this Catalogue is the sum of the thoughtsand truths to which it has given birth—and which formthe intellectual ground whereon the generations that we•ire not to see must build.”
“ It will be evident from what has been already statedthat a more important contribution to a commercial coun-try than the ‘Official Descriptive and Illustrated Cata-logue of the Great Exhibition’ could scarcely have beenoffered;—and this will be yet more strikingly shown whenwe come to the consideration of the manufacturing sec-tions and of the contributions of foreign states. Hegardlessof expense, this work has been completed by the aid of aband of no fewer than twenty-six annotators, selected, aswe have said, from eminent professors of science, andskilled manufacturers. In addition to these, and inde-
pendently of the editor’s staff of assistants, some ten othergentlemen were called on to furnish technical informationand lend the assistance of their knowledge so that allpossible means have been taken to render the ‘ OfficialDescriptive and Illustrated Catalogue’ worthy of thewonderful gathering of which it is the permanent re-cord.”
Observer.
“ It may be truly said that this is the most extraor-dinary work that has been ever brought forth in this orany other country, containing, as it does, a mass of infor-mation relative to the natural and artificial productionsto be found in every quarter of the globe, with descriptionsof the nature, use, and history of each. If the object ofsuch a publication had been merely to serve the purposesof an ordinary descriptive catalogue, it might justly beobserved that for such purposes it has come forth too late,seeing that the objects therein described have been alreadywithdrawn from our view ; but these volumes are designedto serve purposes at once more important and more endur-ing. They are designed to preserve and to fix in the publicmind a lusting record of the results to which the industry,the ingenuity, and the invention of the world had reachedin the year 1851, and to establish a starting point whencefuture ages may proceed onward in the march of im-provement.
, ^ “ The first volume opens with a list of the illustrations.This list, simple as it may appear to the eye of an ordinaryobserver, is suggestive of the extraordinary character ofthe work in which it appears. The space devoted to thissimple 1 list’ would suffice of itself to form a respectablysized volume; and hence may be inferred the enormousnumber of illustrations dispersed throughout the work,aud which, when examined, are found to be in the beautyand the perfection of their execution, as well as in thejudgment by which appropriate objects for illustrationwere selected, worthy of the occasion which these volumesare designed to commemorate.
“ In noticing this Catalogue, we purposely abstain fromattempting to particularise any of the innumerable andable descriptions of works of art or of fancy, or theadmirably-executed illustrations with which these volumesabound. Our reason for this abstinence will be appreciatedwhen we remind the reader of the almost countless sub-jects which are here described ; aud of the fact, that ofthese subjects some thousands are rendered the themes ofartistic illustrations, the execution of which reilect thehighest credit on the engraver. The publication of thisCatalogue was a necessity, which, if left unsupplied,would have incalculably marred the benefits derivablefrom the great occasion which has called it forth. Greatas was the good of calling all nations together to aid in adisplay such as that which has so long maintained anattraction as deserved as it was unparalleled, a still moresubstantial, though possibly a less brilliant result, will befound to consist in the valuable record which these vo-lumes contain. To have produced such a Catalogue atan earlier period is now shown to have been impossible.The very magnitude of its merits conduced to create thatimpossibility ; but even at this period, and at future times,however remote, it will be not less welcome, or lesswanted. It was not at the time when a gathering ofmillions during a period of excitement caused by thefeelings incidental to an occasion so unparalleled—it wasnot at such a time that such a record could have beenproductive of its destined good to the reader, however pe-cuniarily profitable a hurried work might have been tothe publisher; and, so far from regretting the delay, werejoice at it; for by that delay the intrinsic merits of thework were enhanced, and its value stamped with anenduring character, which will remain as the best andmost morally profitable result of the great industrial dis-play of which it is a worthy and most invaluable record.”
Weekly Dispatch.
“ In addition to the medals to be awarded by the Jurorsto those exhibitors the excellence of whose productionsmay entitle them to that highly-coveted distinction, it hasbeen decided to present each exhibitor with a medal com-