SYLVA TELLURIAK6. 



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AN OLD-TIMER fj 



have had in our pknt this last 

 a rare book that came to us for reprc 

 duction by the offset process, a book that had 

 to carry a caution signal on its way all through 

 the plant. This book was printed in 1838, and 

 its leaves were so tender, or perhaps brittle 

 would be the better word, that we almost 

 feared to touch it. We could not unbind it, to 

 make the camera work easier, so extreme care 

 was essential at that point. The paper was both 

 faded and tarnished, and from the irregularity 

 of the edges it must have been made in the days 

 when sheeting of paper had not yet been 

 invented. 



The composition was in twelve point Scotch 

 Roman, cast in a day when type foundries had 

 not reached the peak of perfection, but a most 

 readable fece and a well'set page. The mar' 

 gins were generous, and the color of printing 

 throughout the book was quite uniform. There 

 is almost a suspicion that the printer used sev' 

 cral kinds of paper in the volume, but we would 

 not hold that against him. Perhaps even in 

 those days they were encountering difficulty in 

 obtaining paper. 



The title page informs us that the book is a 

 "New Genera and Species of Trees and Shrubs 

 of North America, and Other Regions of the 

 Earth, omitted or mistaken by the Botanical 

 Authors and Compilers, or not properly classi' 

 fied, now reduced by their natural affinities to 

 the proper natural orders and tribes." 



We gather that this is a particularly clean 

 book, for in his Introduction the author states 

 that "I cannot stoop to follow the erroneous 

 sexual system, nor the imperfect serial method 

 of any modem Author. " Good for him, we say. 



We are pleased that on its crowded title 

 page was found room for a line in small italic 

 type, enclosed in parentheses : ^\Trees and 

 Shrubs are the OmamenU of the Earthy \ We 

 hope our reprinting of this book will add to 

 that adorning 



from "On the Surface" 



organ 



Mtjpray Printing Company, Cambridg 

 Mass., January, 1943. 



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