Essays in Librarianship and BibliographyGarnett, Richard
Science
Essays in Librarianship and Bibliography
Garnett, Richard
Bibliography -- Methodology; British Museum; Library science
But on September 4 he reports himself at the end of his troubles, so far
as concerns the supply of paper: "I could not omit the first opportunity
of acquainting your lordship that we have received a stock of paper at
last from Genoa, sufficient for finishing the first volume, _and have
provided a quantity also of our own manufacture, which is the better of
the two_, for carrying on the second volume at the same time, which I
have ordered to be committed immediately to the press, and hope that we
may be able still to publish both the volumes before Christmas."
The book did, in fact, appear about February, 1741. An examination of
the copies in the King's and Cracherode Libraries, British Museum,
confirms the statements in Middleton's letters. The work is printed on
two different qualities and descriptions of paper. By much the larger
part of the first volume, extending in the King's Library copy to p.
472, sig. Ooo, and in the Cracherode copy to p. 464 (misprinted 264),
sig. Nnn, but not including the dedication, preface, or list of
subscribers, is impressed on a very fine thick paper, without name,
date, or device, except two watermarks, frequently interchanged,
resembling respectively an escutcheon and a _fleur-de-lis_. The
remainder of the volume, and the whole of vol. 2, are executed upon a
good, but thinner and inferior, paper, with no clue to the date or place
of manufacture. The first leaf for which this new paper is employed is
greatly stained in both copies, apparently from contact with the Italian
paper, as the same is the case with the last leaf of the preliminary
matter. Some other leaves are slightly stained, especially near the end.
The leaves in finest condition are those of the dedication to Lord
Hervey and the preface, which were printed last, and with which especial
care would be taken. The portion of the first volume printed on the
English paper is not so considerable as Middleton seems to have at one
time expected, consisting, instead of two sections, of only a portion of
section 6, the last in the volume. It must be supposed that the paper
"in the Downs" proved sufficient to carry the impression on to the point
where the Italian paper fails. The difference between the thickness of
the two papers is such that although vol. 2 has only 36 pages less than
vol. 1, it weighs 11¼ oz. less, or about ⅛.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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