1830 .] 
Proceedings of Societies* 
227 
Brande’s Journal, 89 
A running hand, '.vide, 15 
Not too small, 60 
. Difficult to write, 120 
Thus we see that the size of type varies from 89 letters in the square inch to oUO. 
No doubt there are hooks with larger type even than the above, but they are not 
common, and are generally intended for book fanciers rather than for common 
purchasers. Confining ourselves to the above sizes, there is evidently such a range 
in the size of the type as would make a book, -according to the type used, 64 times 
as large as it need he. This is taking into our account the small diamond type of 
Corrall, with which the snuff box edition of Shakespeare is printed. This type is, 
however, too small, and will suit few eyes— sometimes not even the youngest. But 
restricting ourselves to the type in which the pocket testament is printed, which 
is certainly legible, we shall have as the proportion 4i|, and even between the type 
of the present work ancl the largest of the above, there is a ratio of 2*. 
The whole of the above circumstances may be brought into view by compar- 
ing the quantity of matter in a book with its bulk. This is best done by computing 
the number of letters in a cubic inch. This number will be found to be for the 
following works as stated. 
Brewster and Rees’ Cyclopaedias, 90000 
New Octavo Edition of Johnson’s Dictionary, 250 000 
French Edition of Voltaire, 281 250 
These estimates are made from the size of the printed page, not from the bound 
work. The following estimates from the latter include the covers and margins. 
Brewster and Rees, 24 600 call l 
Voltaire’s Works, 95 800 4 
Johnson’s Dictionary, 123 000 5 
Pocket Bible, 208 000 84 
Pickering’s Tasso, 310 000 13 
Were Dr Rees’s bulky work prepared with the same degree of compression as the 
last in this list, his 39 vols of ty^pe would dwindle to 3 1 and if all the useless 
and erroneous matter were omitted, most probably to 2 — thus forming a really 
portable library, instead of a load for a cart. 
The French printers have set us an example worthy of imitation in the beauti- 
ful, yet compressed editions they have given of their classic writers. Voltaire in 
3 vols., Rousseau, Montesquieu, Boileau, Racine, and Moliere, each in one, are 
models of typographical excellence ; nor have we any thing to compare with them 
in English for the beauty of the paper and clearness of the type. They are even 
taking up our English works, and have already given us the most desirable edi- 
tions of Walter Scott’s prose works in 6 vols. octavo, and of Moore’s, Byron’s, 
and Scott’s Poetry, in one each. The cheap and compressed English editions pub- 
lished by Jones and Co. are far inferior to these ; nor is there any thing in Eng- 
lish worthy of being compared with them, except, perhaps, Lowdon’s Encyclopae- 
dias of Gardening, of Agriculture, and of Plants, and the above mentioned 8vo. 
edition of Johnson’s Dictionary, with the corresponding one of Ainsworth’s, which 
has recently appeared. These latter are two books which no one ought to be without. 
It were much to he desired that the new American edition of Johnson, now in 
course of publication in England, could be given to the public in the same form, 
and with the same compression as these ; which, if the original work were judici- 
ously weeded, might, we think, be effected, and the work kept within the limit of 
one volume. 
F. 
IX . — Proceedings of Societies. 
1. Asiatic Society. 
Wednesday , 27 th July. 
Sir Edward Ryan, Vice-President, in the chair. 
Mr Mansel, Dr. Sully, Mr. J. Prinsep, and the Reverend Mr. Everest, were 
elected Members. 
A vacancy in the Committee of Papers having occurred, the Reverend Principal 
Mill was elected a member of it. 
Letters were read from Dr. Stewart, Captain Jenkins, and Maharajah Bady- 
nath Roy, withdrawing from the Society. 
The following letters were also read : One from Major-General Hardwicke, for- 
warding a prospectus for the publication of a work on the Zoology of India. One 
