1899.] 
Section II.—Block Prints. 
51 
is applied in Nos. II, III and IV. In these books the impressions stand 
upright on pages 4, 6, 8, etc., but reversed on pages 5, 7, 9, etc. In 
reading any of these three books, one would begin by reading consecu¬ 
tively all the even-numbered pages (4, 6, 8, etc.), throughout the book. 
Next, one would turn the book right round, as indicated by the arrows, 
and thus bring the imprints, which hitherto had stood reversed, into an 
upright position; and now, commencing at what was the end of the 
book, one would read consecutively all the odd-numbered pages (etc., 
9, 7, 5) up to the original beginning of the book. The same system, 
again, in a third modified form, may best be seen in book No. II of 
the Seventh Set. Here the impressions do not stand upright and 
reversed on alternate pages, but in alternate columns, as shown in 
the diagram on page 55. Thus they stand upright in columns 1 
and 3, but reversed in columns 2 and 4. In reading one would 
commence with all the left-hand columns consecutively throughout 
the book; then one would proceed to turn the book right round, 
and now read all the impressions (of the former right-hand columns) 
from the back to the beginning of the book. In this way the reading 
of the entire book would be completed. To this principle of arrange¬ 
ment there are only a few exceptions, in which all the impressions are 
placed upright (or in the same direction) throughout the book, so that 
the book can be read right through, from page to page, without turning 
it right round. This is the case in books No. IV of the Second Set, 
Nos. IV, V and VI of the Fourth Set, No. II of the Fifth Set, No. II 
of the Sixth Set, and No. IV of the Seventh Set. 
There is, however, a certain number of books, in which the orderly 
arrangement of imprints, above explained, is 
not observed. In some of these books, indeed, 
no system of printing whatever can be discerned. The impressions 
appear to be placed promiscuously; the only apparent object being to 
crowd as many impressions into a page as it may, by any device, be made 
to hold. This may be seen from figs. V and VI of the subjoined woodcut 
No. 12. Two conspicuous examples of this kind of book are No. VI 
of the First Set, and No. Ill of the Sixth Set. With such an arrange¬ 
ment, obviously, no intelligent and orderly reading of the book is 
possible. Beside these there are some other books in which the absence 
of all orderly arrangement is not quite so conspicuous. In these the 
imprints are orderly placed on each page taken by itself; that is, 
on some pages they are all placed upright, on others, all are placed 
reversed; but these differing pages do not follow one another in any 
system. In any pair of pages one may meet with any of the four 
possible arrangements: upright-upright, upright-reversed, reversed- 
