E. C., the extensive envelope makers, display the various descriptions of rags used in the manufacture of paper and the gradations from such material as paper, cards, and printed books. A similar exhibition is made by the executors of the late Mr. T. H. Saunders, E. C., of Upper Thames street, with the addition of a collection of papermakers' chemicals and minerals, and also a reel of paper 2 3-4 miles in length, and a sheet of parchment paper which sustains the weight of 5 cwt., and is stated to be capable of bearing nearly double that strain. For some purposes such extraordinary tenacity will be appreciated, and as a simple exhibit it attracts great attention considering the prosaic character of the article. One of the few novelties is Irish Linen paper made specially for Messrs. Marcus Ward & Co., of Chandos street, W. C., from the cuttings made in Irish linen factories. The paper itself is excellent, and is made attractive for sale by being packed in ornamented boxes and banded therein with labels to imitate the manner in which rolls of Irish linen are prepared for sale. Among the well-to-do classes this paper will be appreciated. The gem of Class XII., is, however, in respect to novelty and utility, the Paper Curtains manufactured and exhibited by Messrs. Pavy, Pretts & Co. of Chilham, Surrey. If prejudice is not too rampant, these curtains will in certain classes eventually cause as great a revolution as did paperhangings in the decoration of walls. The material is very cheap, cannot easily be torn, is slightly elastic, and resists the action of heat and a considerable amount of dampness. It is made of a strange mixture, including buffalo skins, the intestines of animals, and the fibres of various nettles, grasses, bark, hemp, flax and cotton, the whole being disintegrated, purified, bleached, rolled, pressed and finally printed with patterns in imitation of brocaded silk, chintzes and cretonnes. Within the limits of a single paper it is impossible to do justice to this section of the Exhibition, or even to the machinery or processes in connection therewith. Further remarks are therefore reserved for a future number, though it may be well to mention that the machinery is of a very superior character throughout, and as a National display the English may be proud of it, but taken in an International view it is a mistake. The wonderful Walter printing machine is here and attracts considerable attention, as also Kerslerbein's patent composing and distributing machines, some of which are used in the London Times office. There does not, however, appear to be any striking novelty in respect to the two lastnamed exhibits, which for speed are infinitely inferior to Mackie's machines, which were exhibited last year. Of trade catalogues there have been none issued during the last few weeks, but Messrs. Alfred Reeves & Co., of the Falcon Steam Works, Finsbury street, E. C., have prepared for the wholesale trade a new priced specimen book of enamelled wrappers for note paper packets. Regarding Books and Publishers. PEMBROKE, ONT., May 30, 1872. F. Levpoldt, Esq., Weekly Trade Circular Office, New York. DEAR SIR: I have about made up my mind to try a year's edition of the LITERARY BULLETIN, if by any possibility it can be made available for my market here, and would be much obliged if you would send me a specimen copy or two, so that I can see in what shape it is issued, what space is allowed, and what kind of matter is usually inserted with imprint. With regard to the Educational No. I could not use it here to any great advantage, but might be tempted to have an edition of about 200 or so if I could get our Canadian authorized publications inserted also. Will you please, if not too much trouble, write me, giving any information which would be of use in considering this question. If I do try it, and find it to "pay," of course I shall continue it. Whilst writing you, I desire to express my regret that your publication of an annual catalogue should have been so unsuccessful as to necessitate its discontinuance; such publications are invaluable to the trade, and no bookseller can successfully prosecute his business without the constant aid of such things. A trade library of catalogues, etc., of such a nature as the one in question, is, in my opinion, indispensable to any one who has constant enquiries to answer about books, and for my part, I would gladly give twice the sum for a condensed or concentrated classified list, to be issued, say quarterly, than to have all the separate catalogues of the publishers, as it is sometimes very difficult to find who publishes so and so, and to whose catalogue to refer for any particular class of books. Your WEEKLY TRADE CIRCULAR I regard as invaluable to the trade, and by me its weekly visit is highly appreciated, and I rarely get a number without at once sending an order to my Toronto agents, if not direct to the publishers, for something announced therein, and generally have my orders in ahead of the receipt of the goods by them, and sometimes simultaneously with their own first information concerning the publication of the particular book. If publishers could be assured of such being the case pretty generally among your subscribers, perhaps more of them might be induced to advertise and push their business through its pages. I was much disappointed recently respecting Butler's "Land of the Veda," published by Carlton & Lanahan. A customer had been enquiring for it, and I was still informing him that though I had heard of its being in press, it was not yet announced either as such or when it would be-I, depending for my information upon your Circular-when, lo and behold! a notice appeared in the Christian Guardian of Toronto, that the Wesleyan Book Room had received its first supply of the book, but that such was the demand for it that they had at once sold out, and would not be in a position to supply further orders until another edition was ready. Well, what is the natural inference drawn by my customers? Why that he, an outsider, knows just as much about these things as a member of the trade, and that if he wants a book in future, if it is not on the shelves at the time, he must send away from home for it or the edition will be exhausted before he will know of its being out at all. Such things ought not to occur. The publisher ought more generally to make your Circular the medium of communication with the trade, and then we might have something upon which we could depend. We ought to be kept well posted in what has been, is being, and is to be published, and unless publishers do unite upon one medium it is next to impossible that they can all reach, or any of them reach, every member of the trade, and that we can be properly informed of these matters. I should be glad if by any means a pressure could be brought to bear upon them which would induce them more generally to comply. Butler's Land of the Veda was published after the appearance of the last issue of the Monthly Trade Circular (Nov. 25, 1871). All books published in 1871, after that number, have been recorded in the Annual Catalogue, which also includes the above. I enclose you an extract from the "Canada Bookseller," which my assistant wishes you to read, mark, learn, and take up, if possible, in your Circular, as it was not taken up whilst the Bookseller was in existence: no doubt such a column would be very interesting. I have here jotted down hastily a thought or two which may be of use to you. Excuse the style. Wishing you success, I remain, yours truly, S. E. MITCHELL. The Playing Card Monopoly. Editor Weekly Trade Circular: by the public who are the consumers. If the tariff were reduced to a more equitable rate, the price of the domestic cards would undoubtedly have to fall in proportion, and though this would admit foreign competition upon the lower grades, the American manufacturers could still command the market for the higher grades of cards upon which the principal profit is made. This general reduction in price would certainly stimulate consumption; more cards would be manufactured, the internal revenue receipts would be increased, additional cards would be imported under the reduced tariff, and altogether the receipts of the Government would be more than doubled, and the public could purchase their cards at a greatly reduced figure. As the matter stands at present, the prohibition tariff benefits nobody but the manufacturer, whereas it greatly injures the importer and becomes a severe tax upon the consumer. It is certainly a great injustice that four persons cannot sit down to a game of whist without being taxed to support a monopoly. I trust I have not encroached too much upon your space, but this is a matter that needs discussion, for it is really too bad that the entire American public should be taxed for the benefit of two manufacturing firms. FAIR PLAY. ADVANCE BOOK-NOTES. SIR: As one of the numerous readers of the TRADE CIRCULAR, I take the liberty to address you, trusting that you will find the complaint I have to make of sufficient importance to merit your consideration. I would call your attention to the monopoly enjoyed at present by the manufacturers of playing-cards. There were formerly in this country four card manufacturers, and under a moderately high tariff, they were all able to do a moderately good business, and have proper returns upon the capital they invested. They were not satisfied, however, for the tariff was not so high but that foreign goods could be brought in and "rob them of a portion of their profits.' Three of these firms, Samuel Hart, Philadelphia, Lawrence Cohen & Co., and John J. Levy & Co., of this city, therefore combined to- [This department is intended to include descriptive gether and formed what is now known as the "New notices, from advance sheets, of all books of popular York Consolidated Card Company.' This com sale. Booksellers will thus be enabled to order knowbination virtually controls the market, and A. ingly and confidently on books likely to sell well in Dougherty of this city is the only competition they their localities, and to obtain such information as to have to contend against. Through the influence the character of new publications as will “post” them of these manufacturers there has been enacted a for calling the attention of particular customers to tariff, which amounts simply to prohibition. For-books likely to suit their taste. Advance sheets for use merly there existed a sliding scale, by which the in this department should be forwarded by publish duties were levied in proportion to the price of the ers at earliest convenient date.-ED.] article; but all this has been changed, and now a specific duty of twenty-five cents, gold, per package, or $36, gold, per gross, is levied upon all cards of foreign manufacture, irrespective of what their values may be. Consequently cards which may be bought in any European market for five or six dollars per gross, cannot be sold here at all; but they are really much better than the commonest American cards which formerly sold at $18 per gross, and which now sell at $22 per gross. If the American manufacturers who enjoy such a high rate of protection would give the public a good cheap card in return for the favors they receive, the objections to the present monopoly might be less. But they take all and give the public nothing, for instead of lowering their prices when foreign competition was shut out, they increased them directly about twenty-five per cent. and have lowered their rate of discount to the trade from thirty-three per cent. to twenty per cent. The consequence of this is that cards which could once be bought for $25 dollars per gross, cannot be had now for less than from $44 to $49 per gross, certainly an exorbitant price, for they could be manufactured at a much lower price. Now that Congress is remodelling the tariff, it would be no more than fair that the duty on cards should be reduced to that charged on other paper goods. This would doubtless be satisfactory to all interests, and though the manufacturers would complain, the duties so established would leave them a sufficient margin for a legal profit. These manufacturers turn out annually about 50,000 gross, upon which the Government levies an internal revenue duty of five cents per pack. The profit of the Government from this branch of business is only about $360,000 which is not paid at all by the manufacturers but Thalheimer, one of the most successful teachers of A Manual of Ancient History, by M. E one of the most successful schools in the country, the Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn, will soon be published by Wilson, Hinkle & Co. in a embellished with many excellent cuts of ancient royal octavo of 376 pages, printed in clear type, coins and places of note, and furnished with numerous new double-page maps, finely executed and earliest times to the fall of the Western Empire, colored. The work embraces the period from the and presents, in brief outline, the results of the Rawlinson, and others-being the first American labors of Niebuhr, Bunsen, Arnold, Mommsen, school-book written in the new light of the hieroglyphic and cuneiform literatures. The line between fact and fable is clearly drawn, and: he utthe fewest possible words; the result is such a most amount of unquestioned truth packed into text-book as will furnish the student with a systematic framework which his after reading may ing. Appended to the work is a list of books fill out in a symmetrical body of historical learn which may be read in a complete "course," including the standard histories, stories, poems, and dramas; besides a catalogue of notable engravings illustrative of the subject. There are also questions for review, and a pronouncing vocabulary of names, with an index. So remarkably complete and excellent a school history is something to be very thankful for, and we trust it may meet the wide success which it deserves. Get Thee Behind Me, Satan! is the startling title of Olive Logan's new book, soon to be published by Adams, Victor & Co. in a 12m0 of about 300 pages. Its subject is the woman question, which is discussed in all its bearings, and in that vigorous fashion which is associated with that lady's tongue and pen. Marriage, divorce, free love, the servant girl question, employment for women, dress, maternity, etc., are treated of without fear or favor, and with a great deal of live common sense. She is startling in almost every page, and has no hesitancy in telling the truths she thinks-not a bit of it. Miss Logan draws upon a considerable experience at home and abroad for her facts and incidents, and has other qualities toward success, and her book is pretty sure to take. A Good Investment, by William Flagg, the interesting story which has been running through Harper's Magazine, will shortly be issued as No. 377 of Harper's Select Novels. The scene is laid in upper Ohio, and is connected with the close of the war and the then disordered state of society. The heroine is a Southern girl of violent rebel notions, who is cared for on a Northern farm and brought over by kindness and love to right opinions. The hero is a half barbarous bush-whacker, who passes through various experiences in his upward education, falls in love with the heroine, but finally marries a gentler maid of his own station. There are many exciting episodes in the way of horse-thieving, sheriff pursuits, etc., and the narrative, written in clear style, holds the attention well throughout. The Student's Greek Grammar, that of Dr. George Curtius, Professor in the University of Leipzig, will shortly be published by Harper & Bros., in 12mo, pp. 369. It is translated with the revision of the author, and edited by Dr. Wm. Smith. As the author says: "Few sciences have, within the last half century, been so completely reformed as the science of language," yet in many of our educational institutions old and exploded methods are yet in vogue. This book aims to connect "the practice of the school with the spirit of science." It is thoroughly scientific, complete in detail, and well represents advanced German scholarship. As a book of reference, also, it is equally valuable as for use in advanced schools. Is It True? is the title under which Miss Muloch has made a fresh collection of fairy tales for the children. They have been written by several writers from the folk-lore of different countries, and so are fresh as well as entertaining, though with the proper family resemblances to prove them of true fairy blood. Miss Muloch has edited them all, and the book is a credit to her, and will be a delight to the little folks. Harper & Bros. publish it shortly in the popular series of "Books for Girls," though the boys will consider that they have equal claims to it. GOOD SATCHEL BOOKS. (From the Boston Transcript.) THE summer travelling season is close upon us, and people must immediately equip themselves for railway and steamer, for mountain or seaside, for the wilderness, or the solitude of an inland farmhouse. Among the equipage to be provided, hardly any part is more important or difficult of selection than the reading. What books shall we take? Fortunately there is great variety of fresh reading of all kinds to cull from, to suit all demands of taste and all degrees of culture. Let us name some of the freshest and best in several departments. TRAVEL. Of making many books of travel" there is no end, and much study of the great bulk of them "is weariness to the flesh "-which probably refers to the flesh on the jawbone, wearied by yawning. But no yawns found their way into H. H.'s delightful "Bits of Travel," or Warner's " Saunterings," or King's "Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada." These books are quite unlike, but agree wonderfully in being fresh, humorous, never dull. Parkman's "Oregon Trail," which describes the Rocky Mountain region and the Pacific coast of a generation ago: Dr. Prime's narrative of a year's clock-work, and so shrewdly planned as to avoid all the distrip "Around the World," which was made with system of comforts and enjoy all the comforts of every land; Dr Hayes's "Land of Desolation," which pictures Arctic life and travel with graphic pen and pencil; Miss Trafton's bright, humorous record of "An American Girl Abroad:" Palmer's minute and fascinating description of "The Desert of the Exodus"-all these are very well worth reading, and are so interesting that one can read them with as hearty enjoyment as if it were a duty. POETRY must be taken in fair proportion, not metaphysical nor too physical; but such as freshens the mind and suns the heartsuch as Mrs. Whitney's "Pansies," which are so suggestive, so cheerful, so poetical, that one is puzzled to understand how she condensed so many and so attractive virtues into them; George MacDonald's "Within and Without," which is sufficiently described and praised by the fact that it is MacDonald's; "Mirèio," the charming love story in verse just translated from the French of Mistral; Morris's "Earthly Paradise," which is as delightful as it is long, and that is triple praise: Mrs. Thaxter's "Poems," full of the music, the tragedy, the beauty, and the manifold suggestions of the ocean; Bayard Taylor's "Masque of the Gods," which demands thoughtful reading, and very richly rewards it; Mrs. Turner's "Out-of-Door Rhymes," some of which are so good they weave themselves into the reader's memory as many poems of greater pretensions cannot; "Olrig Grange," a novel in verse, exceedingly keen, satirical, and readable; and Longfellow's "Three Books of Song," just ready, and full of "things new and old," but all charming with the grace which Longfellow imparts to whatever he writes. If Browning's "Fifine at the Fair "is to be had, include that also, to read when you are in a mood to attack conundrums. ESSAYS not too profound or philosophical, but with thought enough for ballast and wit enough for sail. Taine's books are admirable-on English Literature, Art in Italy, Greece and the Netherlands, and his striking "Notes on England." One could spend several summer days on these with great profit and delight. Very good, too, are Haweis's essays on "Music book to put one on a better footing with birds and trees, and and Morals," "Smiles's Character," and "Wake Robin," a to inspire new love and appreciation of nature. Mr. Fields's "Yesterdays with Authors," which lets one into the heart of son's "Atlantic Essays" and "Out-Door Papers," two volumes Dickens, Thackeray, Hawthorne, and Miss Mitford; Higginof the most elegant, scholarly, yet popular essays in the English language; and Howells's prose works, "Venetian Life," "Italian Journeys," "Suburban Sketches" and "Their Wedding Journey," which are singularly adapted for summer reading by their abundant and delicious humor. BIOGRAPHY must not be omitted, especially when we have so good a list"The Memoir of Robert Chambers," which describes the remarkable and most honorable career of the Chambers brothers; Holland's "Recollections of Past Life," full of the garnered reminiscences of two generations spent among the notable people of both hemispheres; the exquisitely beautiful "Life and Letters of Miss Sedgwick," which is the record of one of the finest characters in literary history; the voluminous lives of Wesley and Brougham, deeply interesting, though in very different ways; "Forster's Life of Dickens, fascinating in spite of its faults; the "Domestic Life of Jefferson," which reveals the Virginia statesman in a new and engaging light. NOVELS, perhaps, should have been mentioned first, for unquestionably they rank first in attraction during the summer months. The supply is even greater than the demand, and omitting the lower nine-tenths as not worth reading or writing, there is still left an ample list to select from. Lever's last story," "Lord Kilgobbin," is worthy to head the catalogue, though not the best of Lever's novels; and we may safely include Robinson's latest, "A Bridge of Glass;" "Maud Mohan;" "Cecil's Tryst :" "Poor Miss Finch," Wilkie Collins's latest; " Patty" Miss Muloch's novels, one and all; "The Pastor of the Desert," by Eugene Pelletan, which is almost too true and too religious to be called a novel, but is just as interesting for all that; "The Rose Garden," a beautiful, fresh English story; "The Plebiscite," by Erckmann-Chatrian, and any others of their stories yet translated into English; "Two Family Mothers," by Madame Schwartz, and the other Schwartz novels; and, without specifying, the volumes included in Osgood's Library of Novels. If this is not enough, one can draw on the three or four hundred books in Harper's Select novels-and Dickens, Thackeray, Scott, George Eliot, and Mrs. Stowe are always in order. are exceedingly eloquent and engaging: Darwin's "Origin of Species" and "Descent of Man are crowded with curious facts, subjected to a profound generalization, guided by a most candid spirit; Huxley's "Lay Sermons, Addresses and Reviews," "Man's Place in Nature," and "On the Origin of Species," are the work of a strong, clear-headed, truth-loving man; Lubbock's "Origin of Civilization" and " Pre-Historic Times;" Proctor's "Other Worlds Than Ours," and "Light Science for Leisure Hours;" and Figuier's "World Before the Deluge," "Vegetable World," Ocean World," "Insect World," "Primitive Man"-these and other works in the same line afford reading that combines instruction and interest in admirable proportions. All these lists could be greatly extended, and others might properly be added, but this will surely do for once. PHOTO-RELIEF. FRITZ. WE present in this issue a specimen of the improved Woodbury process of relief printing, produced by the Photo-Relief Printing Co., Philadelphia. Ás most of our readers unquestionably are much interested in this subject, we reprint from the Philadelphia Enquirer the following account of printing from Woodbury type, which gives quite a clear idea of the operation. Pursuant to an invitation issued by the American Photo-Relief Printing Company, a large company of gentlemen, consisting of editors, publishers, artists, and men of science, availed themselves of the opportunity to visit the company's works, situated at No. 1002 Arch street, to hear described and witness the operation of photo-relief printing, more commonly known as Woodbury type. Walter B. Woodbury, Esq., of London, the inventor, who is on a short visit to this country, was presented to the gentlemen by Edward L. Wilson, Esq., editor of the Philadelphia Photographer. After examining a fine collection of prints and works illustrated by this process of reproducing engravings, paintings, and other works of art, the company were entertained by Mr. Woodbury with a lucid description of the operation required to produce the fine results there exhibited, while Mr. John Carbutt, the superintendent, with his assistants, illustrated the making of the printing matrix or mould, as it is termed, and the printing from the same on paper and glass. The process, as we heard it described, is as follows: A thin sheet of gelatine, containing bichromate of potash, is placed under a photograph negative, and exposed to solar light, the effect upon the gelatine being to render it insoluble to the depth to which the light has been allowed to penetrate by the varying opacity presented by the negative. The impressed film is then placed in warm water, and the parts upon which the light has not acted, soon dissolve away, leaving a picture in which the shadows form the relief and the lights or half tones the depressions. This relief, as it is now called, when dry, is placed upon a true-surfaced steel plate, and a piece of metal of about a quarter inch in thickness, composed of lead and antimony, is placed over it, and the whole placed in the hydraulic press and subjected to a pressure of three to five tons to the square inch, which causes the gelatine relief to impress all its detail into the metal plate, forming the type or mould, from which prints are produced purely mechanically. The printing is quite a novelty, differing entirely from every other form of printing with which we are acquainted. One printer works six presses placed over circular and rotating tables. He takes a bottle of fluid gelatine mixed with coloring matter, India ink mostly forming the color, and pours on the face of the mould in a small pool, places over it a piece of fine, smooth paper, closes down the top of the press, and so goes on till the six presses are filled. By this time the ink has set in the first one filled, taking hold of one corner, the paper brings with it the gelatine ink, having all the detail light and shade contained in the original negative. The prints only require when dry to be placed in a solution of alum, which makes the gelatine image insoluble, and are then ready for mounting as ordinary photographs are done. One The company have already executed several large and important orders, among them a large edition of prints for M. Baird & Co., of their locomotives; also, illustrations of the Echini, or Sea Urchin, for Professor Alex. Agassiz, and several of our publishers have made large use of the process since the company commenced operations. very valuable and interesting part of this process we must not forget to notice, that of printing on glass, for window decorations and the magic lantern. It is especially valuable for the latter. Some views of Niagara and other scenes exhibited were perfectly exquisite in the delicacy of tone, detail, and sterescopic effect. Milton Bradley & Co.'s New Games. WITHIN a few years Milton Bradley & Co. of Springfield, Mass., have been steadily building up an extensive business in a line of goods that have naturally come into the stock of almost every bookseller in the country. Commencing at a time when people were beginning to give increased attention to innocent home amusements and occupations for the young folks, and having in the firm a peculiar genius for such things, it is not wonderful that their publications and manufactures have become so popular with the public; and having been in the retail trade they also have a good understanding of the qualities necessary to make goods convenient and profitable to the seller. For many years Bradley's croquet has taken the lead among expert players in consequence of the valuable improvements secured by patent and to be found in no other sets. The most popular improvement, and one considered, wherever known, as almost indispensable to successful playing and convenience, is the socket bridge-by which the bridge is held firmly in an upright position, even in sandy soil, and may be conveniently removed and reset for mowing or other purposes. Magic Hoops is the name applied to a new game recently invented and patented by a prominent merchant, and manufactured solely by this firm. This game is specially adapted for a companion to croquet, as the rules are simple, and it may be enjoyed on any narrow walk by the side of a croquet ground, by such of a party as are not engaged in croquet, or it may be played with equal pleasure in the parlor or hall. Alphabet blocks are a necessity in every family and have become a part of nearly every bookseller's stock. Messrs. M. B. & Co. have combined alphabets and other devices with the Kindergarten forms of building blocks in such manner as to produce what they term "the Kindergarten alphabet and building blocks," which have, during the short time they have been in the market, gained a popularity that must be most satisfactory to the manufacturer. As very many of the publications of this firm have a direct educational tendency, and all have a good degree of merit, they must commend themselves to the trade wherever known. CAPTAIN BURTON has sailed to Iceland, upon which country, its language and history, he is about to produce an important work. He will be accompanied by the Earl of Dunraven, who is also well known in literature. |