For comp. and electro (say 500 pages in the two vols.) about $400.00 For 8 boxes for plates, 75 cts. 6.00 For 250 copies presswork (2 vols.), 66 forms, $1.50 99.00 For Paper, 16 x 20/28, 20 reams, $16.80 336.00 For Binding 250 copies, 500 (2 vols.) 25c. Parchment back and corners 125.00 For Dies, say 10.00 ______ $976.00 Alterations from copy, 50 cts. an hour. (The estimate on No. 2 paper was $727.00.) We return "Riley." Both of these papers have the rough, or deckle, edge. We are anxious to make this book in the _best style_, and of American materials if possible. Respectfully yours, JOHN WILSON & SON. Three things in estimate No. 1 caught Field's fancy--yea, four; the paper was to be hand made, deckle edge, of American manufacture, but, above all, sixty cents a pound. As a contrast to the stiff bleached Manila of "Culture's Garland," dear at a cent a pound, this sixty cents a pound decided Field in favor of No. 1, though we had to economize on everything else to get the job done within the $1,100 we had in bank before we gave the order. The No. 2, having a softer surface, would have given us a better printed page, and its cost would have enabled us to embellish the edition with a steel-plate engraving of Field, as had been our intention, but the thought of using the most expensive American paper procurable for his "Little Books" outweighed every other consideration, and we forwarded the copy of the two volumes to John Wilson & Son, with orders to go ahead and push publication. It was well into the middle of the fall when I received the following note from the printers, showing that the work had been completed: University Press, CAMBRIDGE, MASS., October 19th, 1889. SLASON THOMPSON, ESQ. DEAR SIR: Herewith please find our bill for printing and binding _Profitable Tales_ and _Western Verse_. We shall send the two copies of each volume (unnumbered) to secure the copyright, and when the certificate is received, will send it to you. These copies are over and above the 250 copies sent to you. Regretting the delay incident to the bringing out of two such volumes, and hoping that the author and his friends may be gratified and pleased with their mechanical execution, we are, Respectfully yours, JOHN WILSON & SON. It is needless to say that both the author and his friends were gratified and pleased with the mechanical execution of the "Little Books," while Field's admirers have never wearied in their admiration of their contents. Every cent of the fund subscribed for these books went to pay for their printing; and as Field started for Europe before they were received from Cambridge, the task of numbering them, as well as the cost of forwarding them to subscribers, fell to my lot.