12

ADVERTISEMENT.

Juries,* is the same size pages, and could be bound withit. In tliis magnificently llustrated work tln-re are severalthousand woodcuts engraved in the first st) le of the art.,representing all of the nicst striking and beautiful objectsshown at the exhibition. It will be, with the ‘ Eist ofAwards granted by Juries,’ the only complete, valuable,and enduring record of the ‘Great Exhibition of 1851 /I doubt not but there are several score of exhibitors inthe United States that will get this work. The articlesin the United States ’ lepartment that are illustrated byengravings are the American Chair Company’s chairs,Chilson’s furnaces, Cornelius and Co.’s chandeliers, l)en-nington's floatingchurcj, Philadelphia , P ricsson’s nauticalinstruments, Goodyear’s India-rubber goods, the Maryland cabinet of woods and other products, and Watson’s gazellecarriages.

“ There were few of those splendid works of art from theUnited States that shone so conspicuously in the depart-ments of many of the o.d nations of Europe . Powers’s‘Greek slave’ not long ago (1850) was engraved in theLondon Art Journal, with a most fair, candid, and everyway complimentary eritism. I will mention that Part V.of the ‘ Illustrated Oflicial Catalogue’ is done up as aseparate part, and sold at 15s sterling, (some four dollars)and that contains the United States part of the exhi-bitors, with those of two or three other foreign countries.In the ‘ Illustrated Oflicial Catalogue,’ all, or nearly all,the articles are described much more in exlenso than in thebrief one-line paragraph of the ‘ Shilling (50 cent) Cata-logue/ These ‘ Oflicial Catalogues’ are the only onespublished that are deserving the name of catalogues, theone called the ‘Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue’ beinga mere list of a few prominent contributors, with engrav-ings, without one-twentieth part of the contributors beingmentioned ******* * * No person, now,

who reads this, can say he does not know ‘ where to findhimself’ in the printed records of the Great Exhibition .

I learn that a lot of the Oflicial Catalogues (small), theIllustrated Catalogue in three volumes, and Part V. of theIllustrated Catalogue (separate,) have been sent over tothe United States . Let those who have or have not beensuccessful as contributors, that wish a permanent record ofthe Great Exhibition of 1851, send to his bookseller andget a copy of any orall of these works. As time tlies awaytheir value will increase with years.”

Arbroath Guide.

The statistics furnished by Messrs. Sricun and Clowes,the enterprising contractors for the Catalogues, and, next,to numberless other works connected with the Exhibition,show the gigantic and formidable nature of this part aloneof the undertaking. These statistics present, ex facie ,somewhat of a barren, rcpellant appearance, being givenin long columns of uninviting figures ; but it is the verycarefulness and minuteness of detail thus manifested thatgive to Messrs. Spicer and Clowes’ statistics an addedcharm. before proceeding to notice the actual sales of,and the sums realised for, the Catalogues, Oflicial andIllustrated, Iland-books, Synopsis, &c., it should notprove unprofitable to say something of the preparatory

EXTRACT FROM THE FIRST REP

Catalogues. —It was obviously necessary that a completeand accurate Catalogue should he made of the articlesexhibited, not only for the use of visitors, and of the Com-missioners, Jurors, and othersduriug the continuanceof theExhibition, but also as an enduring record, in the mostperfect shape, of the Exhibition itself. 'The Commissionersconsidered that these advantages would behest secured bysubmitting to public competition the exclusive privilegeof preparing and selling the Official Catalogues. Of thesethe cheaper one was, in accordance with the conditions oftender laid down by the Commissioners, to be sold to thepublic at the price of one shilling, and to contain not lessthan 320 pages of foolscap quarto (printed in doublecolumns). Out of the above sum a royalty of twopenceper copy was to he paid to the Commissioners.

In addition to the Shilling Catalogue.au IllustratedCatalogue (also official), extending to two or more volumes,

steps necessary to be taken before these publications werelit to be placed in the hands of the visitors to the CrystalPalace . And first as to the trades necessary for the pro-duction of the Catalogues: these Mere, type-founders,printers’ joiners, iron-founders, paper-makers, wholesalestationers, letter-press printers, printing-ink makers, com-position roller-makers, engravers on wood, lithographicprinters, hot-pressers, and bookbinders—in all twelve.Then as to the quantity and value of new type manu-factured, and the quantity of type actually used for thepublications. -The technical names given by printers tothe different kinds of type required we consider it uselessto state, as being unintelligible to a general reader. Thequantity of type necessary sorely taxes credibility ; huttlie facts are incontrovertible. In addition to the usualresources of Messrs. Clowes’ establishment—the extent ofwhich can be judged of from their employing from 500 toGOO workmen—the supply of new type was 37 tons; thecost of which, and other necessary material, amounted toabove G, ()()()/. Adding the t\pe required for the Report ofthe Commissioners (the work from which we gather theseinteresting facts), and for the Jury Reports, a weightamounting to nearly forty-eight tons was set apart for theservice of the Exhibition of 1851. For eaeli of the threesmall Official Catalogues—in the English, French , andGerman languages—from three to four millions of typeswere required ; for the ‘‘ Priced Lists,” upwards of fourmillions: and for the “ Illustrated Catalogue,” no less thanseventeen millions. As illustrative of the amount of type inuse in the several publications, the combined quantity, it maybe observed, should he equal to the printed surface of 11Gsingle 'fwics newspapers. Next, as to thepaper required forthe Official Catalogues, ami Reports of the Juries and Com-missioners. For the small Official Catalogues 24,173reams, or 507,<>31 lbs. weight were required ; upon which,and 357 reams of coloured paper for covers to these cata-logues, the paper duty, at the rate of Ijf/. per pound,amounted to 3,2G0/. 12s. V'd. For the Illustrated Cata-logue were required 100,000 lbs. weight of super-royal —the duty paid upon which was 025/. The entire weightof paper used for the Catalogues and Reports immediatelymentioned was 758,008 lbs., the duty on which was, inround numbers, nearly 4,740/. Ot the small OfficialEnglish, French , and German Catalogues, 305,000 wereprinted; of the Synopsis of the Contents of the Ruilding,80,500 ; of the Popular Guide, 20,000; of the IllustratedCatalogue, 8,250; of the Reports by the Juries, in twodifferent types, 20,550 ; and of the various smaller pub-lications, such as Hunt’s Handbook, Keys to the Cata-logues, Priced Lists, &c., somewhere about 30,000. Thecost in the different departments, for the price of com-positors’ labour, engraving, lithography, hot-pressing,binding—is also noticed by Messrs. Clowes. As to thesale of the different volumes—Plans, Keys, Hand-books,Guides, Catalogues—the number sold, it may be briellystated, wuis 473,731, realising 19,014/. 8s. 4</.—a sumwhich, we have grave doubts, will prove anything hut anadequate return to the spirited Contractors for theirimmense outlay.

iRT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION,was to be produced, the price and manner of printing ofwhich was left to the discretion of the contractors. Anoption of preparing more editions than the two abovementioned was also given.

The Commissioners adjudged the right of printing andsale of these Catalogues to the joint tender of Messrs.Spicer brothers and Messrs. Clowes and Sons, who offeredthe sum of £3,200 for the privilege (besides the royaltypayable on the sale of the small Catalogue). The diffi-culties necessarily attendant upon the execution of theengagements entered into by the Catalogue contractors(owing not only to the extensive nature of the undertakingitself, hut also to the changes consequent upon the con-tinual arrival of additional articles from foreign countriesfor a long period after the opening of the Exhibition)were surmounted by them in a very satisfactory manner,and the volumes that accompany this Report will serve to