COPYRIGHT ACT, OPPRESSIVE. 399 
entitled to that name, is a mere trifle, amounting 
only to the price of the paper of eleven copies, if 
the work is a successful one; but if the work does 
not sell, the tax becomes nothing, for the eleven 
copies have no value; and it is better for the author 
- that they should be deposited in the public libraries 
than converted into waste paper. Hence it follows, 
that the author of a work has his property secured 
to him by statute, without paying for the privilege.” * 
Against reasons so forcibly urged, and apparently 
so conclusive, little, it may be thought, can be said; 
and yet, if applied to the case of illustrative works 
on natural history, that is to say, with coloured 
plates, they are perfectly erroneous. This error 
originates from overlooking the simple fact, that 
ordinary printed books are perfected by ove manu- 
facturing process, while such as have coloured 
plates undergo two, the last of these, which con- 
stitutes the finishing, being generally much more 
expensive than the first process. To bring this 
fact at once home to the conviction of the rea- 
der, he has only to remember, that after the ex- 
pense is incurred of the setting up, in printers’ 
types, the pages of a book, there is little more 
expense in printing off two hundred and fifty copies, 
than in printing a single one ; the only additional cost 
is the paper, which, upon each copy, is a mere trifle. 
The book is then finished by one process, and 
comes perfect from the hands of the printer. But, 
if it is to be illustrated with coloured plates, as 
these plates occupy one third, or (what is very 
* Quarterly Review. 
