Mr. Evans on the Pretensions of the Bihllomantacs. 1 \f 



biirghe club; it was shutting out but 

 little necessary knowledge from the rest 

 of the community, when " Hortensius,''* 

 in the most spirited manner, " offered 

 to re-print thirty-one copies of Lord 

 Surrey's Virgil, with a margin of such 

 proportionale elegance as might compel 

 Michael Lc Noir to die of despair;" 

 they were harmlessly wasting their 

 money. It was of no import to the 

 public when Nivcrnois printed five co- 

 pies only of his catalogue, they could he 

 useful only to those who had an oppor- 

 lunity of perusing his stores; but here is 

 a treatise which professes to be useful to 

 a most important profession, and yet it 

 must be confined to 350 persons, and no 

 possibility exist of it being re-printed. 

 Mr. S. seems to be afraid there is not 

 intrinsic merit enough in his work, and, 

 therefore, he must make it sought after 

 as a curiosity: it is worth little in itself. 

 With regard to another important 

 feature of the Proposals, the destruction 

 of the cuts and ornaments, it appears 

 lidicuions, unjust, and completely un- 

 satisfactory. After 350 impressions have 

 been taken, " numerous engravings oa 

 wood, by the first artists," wiil be de- 

 stroyed, merely to prevent the possibi- 

 lity of the work being re-priuled, if the 

 public should desire it.f It is also un- 

 satisfactory, for it no way assuics His 

 philanthropic feeling that but 350 im- 

 pressions have been taken; for, notwith- 



* Vide Dibdin's Bibliomania, (p. 176,) 

 a work never to be lepriiited, iind of 

 whicli tlie beautiful cuts have been utterly 

 defaced. 



t Nothing can be more disgraceful than 

 this proceeding. Wood-cuts, it is well 

 knovm, will bear thousands of impressions 

 without injury, and yet tliey are to be 

 wantonly destroyed after so few havebeea 

 taken; how unjust to the artists, haw neg- 

 lectful of the public interest. It is a cu- 

 rious fact, that a work is now preparin-' 

 for publication by Mr. Otiley, wliiclicon- 

 tauis impressions from the beautiful blocks 

 of Albf'rt Durer, soniewh.it decayed, but 

 s'ill capable, after a lapse of centuries, to 

 produce impressions, in many respects 

 superior to those from modern cuts. The 

 rapid improvement in tiiis art of late years, 

 which for some time had been retrograde, 

 pioniises great advantages to literature: 

 for geometiical fi^'ures, diagrams, arms, 

 and anti(|iiarian vestiges, hi:.; indeed, 

 wherever there is a necessity for rpf(Meiic« 

 to the text of the work at the saiiu; time, 

 they are infinitely preferHl)h: to copper- 

 plate.'! in rej^ard toulility; and, in shrub- 

 bery and foliage, are at Icatt equal in point 

 of beaufyk 



statldiiij^ 



1816.] 



number of the former is pledged to be 

 450, and of the latter 100; and these 

 numbers will not, on any account, be 

 exceeded !"* " At the end of the vo- 

 hmle, defaced impressions of all the en- 

 gravings will be given; and at the com- 

 pletion of the work an announcement 

 \vill be issued to the subscribers, naming 

 a diiy when the blocks will be de- 

 stroyed ; thus giving Ihem the opportu- 

 nity of witnessing a total demolition of 

 them, so as to prevent the possibility of 

 the bi)ok ever being re-printed !" 



I think it would be dillicult to select 

 an instance better adapted to display 

 the injurious effects of the system than 

 these Hi'oposals. Here is a work that 

 " will comprize more practical infor- 

 ination for the improvement of prhiting 

 generally, than any hook on the art that 

 lias preceded it; fending lo prove, that 

 any printer who po.s.sesses a good press 

 and good types, may produce printing 

 equal to the finest that has been ex- 

 ecuted;" and yet the author thinks it 

 Accessary to limit the nimiber to 350 

 copies, and of those the greater number 

 will be purchased by persons who have 

 nothing (o do with the art the work is 

 designed to improve; for i( becomes a 

 matter of importance with many prin- 

 ters, whetlicr they can spare five or ten 

 guineas for a book, all the necessary in- 

 struction of which might be comprized 

 in a five-shilling volume. This limited 

 number of a work of practical in.sfruc- 

 tion must be printed, that the book may 

 be sought after as a rarity, and he placed 

 in a museum of curio.sitics, rather than 

 in a useful library. Mr. S. is going 

 €ve» beyond the members of the Rox- 



* What a strikint; contrast is percep- 

 tible in the different means made use of to 

 recommend works for sale. On the one 

 hand, "one bundled copies only will be 

 printed ;" on the other, " si.\ editions, each 

 consi.sfini; of several thousand impressions, 

 have been sold within a few months." 

 Each mode lakes ; but, as the design of all 

 llie productions of the press should be to 

 enlarKC the bounds of knowledge, to cul- 

 tivate the taste, to amend the manners, 

 and increase the morals of the species, I 

 must lean to the lar;;e circtdation as pre- 

 ferable reconimeiulation, and side with 

 the ciinaille, alia.s, the public. I cannot 

 help thinking, that, if a hook is worth any 

 tiling, it is worth general diffusion and 

 extensive circulation ; and, therefore, en- 

 tertain some suspicions there are .some 

 doctrines in these limited books very dan- 

 gcroiisto be communicated to the public, 

 aud lit only fur jieculiar classes of -society. 



