DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.73059#0050
Bartolo^si and his Works.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Collecting Prints for Illustrating Books.
IP <DrV" popular is the collecting of prints with the special object of
illustrating some favourite author. Thousands of works have
been and will continue to be thus illustrated, and the spare hours of a lifetime
are often devoted to this purpose. The plan pursued is first of all to obtain, if published,
a " large paper" edition ; or if that is not procurable, a copy of the ordinary edition of
the work is placed in the hands of an expert, generally a printseller, for inlaying ;
that is, each leaf is uniformly let into a larger sheet of plain paper, thus giving an
ample and handsome margin, and room for the insertion on blank sheets of paper of
similar size of larger prints than room would otherwise have been found for. Paper
slips or "guards" are bound up between the leaves to prevent undue swelling of the
volumes as their contents increase. Thus to remount a book from a small to a large
size is, on the face of it, an easy matter enough; but not so in practice. The leaves
must be inserted into the larger sheets in such a manner that they must be absolutely
even, and unless each is of a uniform thickness, the book when finished would not
close in a solid and compact manner. The usual charge for inlaying averages from
sixpence to a shilling per leaf, a charge which will cease to appear excessive when it is
known that the outer edges of the smaller leaves, and the inner edges of the larger paper
leaves or frames to receive them, have both to be pared down, so that each leaf may be of
one uniform thickness, which would not be the case were the paring process omitted. The
hunt for suitable prints will probably have been previously begun, and it may be here
remarked that the final binding into volumes is obviously better postponed until the col-
lection be completed. There are dozens of small print shops in London, principally in the
Western central district, whose owners spend a lifetime in purchasing mixed lots of prints
at sales, and afterwards classifying them for their customers, who are guided in purchasing
by their own fancy and knowledge, and the length of their purse. Plenty of illustrative
prints can be bought at prices ranging from twopence to a shilling or half a crown each,
and a few pounds judiciously laid out over a period of some years will often result in a
28 collection
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Collecting Prints for Illustrating Books.
IP <DrV" popular is the collecting of prints with the special object of
illustrating some favourite author. Thousands of works have
been and will continue to be thus illustrated, and the spare hours of a lifetime
are often devoted to this purpose. The plan pursued is first of all to obtain, if published,
a " large paper" edition ; or if that is not procurable, a copy of the ordinary edition of
the work is placed in the hands of an expert, generally a printseller, for inlaying ;
that is, each leaf is uniformly let into a larger sheet of plain paper, thus giving an
ample and handsome margin, and room for the insertion on blank sheets of paper of
similar size of larger prints than room would otherwise have been found for. Paper
slips or "guards" are bound up between the leaves to prevent undue swelling of the
volumes as their contents increase. Thus to remount a book from a small to a large
size is, on the face of it, an easy matter enough; but not so in practice. The leaves
must be inserted into the larger sheets in such a manner that they must be absolutely
even, and unless each is of a uniform thickness, the book when finished would not
close in a solid and compact manner. The usual charge for inlaying averages from
sixpence to a shilling per leaf, a charge which will cease to appear excessive when it is
known that the outer edges of the smaller leaves, and the inner edges of the larger paper
leaves or frames to receive them, have both to be pared down, so that each leaf may be of
one uniform thickness, which would not be the case were the paring process omitted. The
hunt for suitable prints will probably have been previously begun, and it may be here
remarked that the final binding into volumes is obviously better postponed until the col-
lection be completed. There are dozens of small print shops in London, principally in the
Western central district, whose owners spend a lifetime in purchasing mixed lots of prints
at sales, and afterwards classifying them for their customers, who are guided in purchasing
by their own fancy and knowledge, and the length of their purse. Plenty of illustrative
prints can be bought at prices ranging from twopence to a shilling or half a crown each,
and a few pounds judiciously laid out over a period of some years will often result in a
28 collection