3 JUNE 1854, Page 28

KNIGHT'S OLD PRINTER AND MODERN PRESS. * ONE half of this

volume is the result of half a life's research, re- flection, experience, and struggle. The "Old Printer" is the re- vised biography of Caxton, originally published in the Weekly Volume. The "Modern Press" is an historical sketch of the num- bers, prices, and circulation of books, from the invention of print- ing to the present time ; in fact, the story of cheapening and cheap literature. In this survey, Mr. Knight may possibly overrate the literary character and importance of the Useful Knowledge Society; and, as we shall show presently, there are omissions in his sketch. The whole, however, is a remarkable contribution to lite- rary history ; exhibiting great research and great practical know- ledge, full of curious facts and sound remarks as well as of their useful application. After a brief notice of the earliest of printed books, the various editions of the Bible, and the enterprise of the Alduses, Stephenses, and Plantins, in issuing cheap volumes of the Classics, Mr. Knight rapidly traces the story of increasing demand and diminishing cost, till he reaches Bell's edition of the Poets, commenced be- tween seventy and eighty years ago : from this he passes to the Circulating Library, and then to the Society for Promoting Useful Knowledge. There was much doing, however, between Bell and the Society. Cooke published a more popular selection of the Poets than Bell's ; to which he added Novelists, and such miscella- neous works as the " Spectator "; while by means of two editions, a fine paper and a common paper, he supplied standard books at a really cheap rate. Walker sent forth his "Classics," comprising some of the best works in English belles lettres, in a large Elzevir form ; and he had several respectable followers or imitators. When allowance is made for the difference of taste, the greater cheapness of paper and of wages now, with the introduction of steam and roller- printing, it is a question whether our present cheapness has gone very much beyond Walker's Classics, regard being had to the whole of the circumstances. Editions of popular plays, under various titles, were quite as cheap as now, the same regard being had to cir- cumstances; for cheapness beyond the actual cost and the usual rate of profit cannot go on for long. Before either Constable or the So- ciety had taken any practical steps towards cheap literature Lim- bird in the Mirror, and in several standard or popular works, had appealed to the masses, and applied wood-cuts to assist the at- traction of cheap letterpress. What the -Useful Knowledge Society and Constable really did in the way of novelty, was to introduce copyright Woks -into cheap literature. Constable's books, in- deed, were generally slight, sometimes perhaps trashy ; and indeed much of our present boasting is reducible to books that cannot be got rid of at a higher figure. The Society's copyrights were original ; often ponderous and heavy, with occasionally a sort of dull prosiness about them that militated against a popular success. A. greater stimulus was given about the same time by the accident of Cooper's earliest and raciest novels being without copyright ; cheap editions of which indicated that there was a large public ready to buy new books whose first or fashionable at- traction was past, if they were brought within their means. Bent- ley and Colburn acted upon this idea in their libraries of fiction ; the misfortunes of Scqtt and the partial expiration of Byron's copyrights worked together in the same direction; but the ne plus ultra of copyright cheapness, or at least of low price, was not at- tained till Messrs. Simms and M'Intyre began to publish copyright novels in their Parlour Library at a shilling. The truest cheap- ness, we believe, will be found in Longman's Traveller's Library or works of the same form, and in some of Murray's and Moxon's publications. Whether much sound or solid information can be imparted by the bulk of the cheap books that are now circulated by millions, or whether they can contribute to form a literary taste, or that still lower thing called a "taste for reading," is very doubt- ful. Information or critical perception cannot be acquired by running through " amusing " books, or inflated, exciting, flashy novels, at a speed almost as rapid as the railway carriage in which the reader sits. It is possible that the gain upon this class of books profits the publisher as little as the reader. Hear the opinion of Mr. Knight upon the matter. 'In addition to the collections just enumerated, we have the new Libra- ries, whether known as Cheap Senes, Parlour Library, Pocket Library, Rail- way Library, or Readable Books. These are, for the most part, devoted to novels, old and new, and to American reprints. In this form Uncle Tom's Cabin' rushed into a circulation which no book, with the exception of the Bible and Prayer-hook, and perhaps some spelling-book, ever before at- tained. Here Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton is to reach a popularity which no novelist ever before reached; and to be paid the extravagant sum of 20,000/. for the exclusive sale of his works for the next ten years,' as we are assured in the Times. We hear of enormous profits made, and fortunes realized, by these books. They meet the eye on every railway stall and in every stationer's window, glittering in green and crimson. But we also sometimes hear of large stocks of unsaleable ventures, and of consequent evil fortune, in spite of one or two profitable undertakings. We have great confidence in the largest sales of the cheapest edition of an attractive book • The Old Printer and the Modern Press. By Charles Knight. Published by ilurray. by an author of reputation ; but we have no confidence in the large indivi- dual sale of a great number of such distinct books, each jostling the other in the race for popularity. We believe that the sale of many such works has been much exaggerated. We hear that the margin of profit, as commercial men say, is very narrow, and leaves little surplus to cover risk. Of one thing we are clear. Whatever sum may be paid for a great name the na- tural sale of books of this class can afford very little for the payment of copy- right in ordinary cases. The paper, machine-work, and binding, we are in- formed, of one of the shilling volumes, will coat, for an impression of 10,000, about 2204, and the trade expenses and advertising will raise that cost to 250/. This is 6d. per copy. They are sold wholesale at 88. for 13 copies' • which leaves a surplus of about 60/. But the setting up the types and the stereotyping will cost about 401. There is 20/. then left for the publisher upon 10,000. If he sells 20,000 there is 80/. Where is the fund for the payment of authorship ? Is it to be assumed that a sale of 40,000 or 50,000 copies may at i present be attained for such works under ordinary condi- tions? If not, s the cheapest supply of reading for these kingdoms to be kept up by piracies from America or republications of expired copyrights ? We doubt if this trade generally is in a healthy position : at any rate, we fear that we must scarcely look to this class of books for making 'cheap li- terature' what it might be made by judicious management—an instrument of great public good."

That this cheap reading is better than the indecent or immoral stuff which still circulates though in a less degree than formerly, not at a lower price but in the cheaper-looking mode of numbers, cannot be disputed. We conceive it to be very doubtful whether the rage for Cheap copyrights is of much benefit. The best class of works will not be printed in that way, for the reason just assigned by Mr. Knight. We believe that cheap reprints of expired copy- rights which must have stood the test of a generation, furnished and still furnish more wholesome food to the popular mind than indifferent translations of foreign romances, or reprints of third- rate English and American fictions.

The chasm left between Bell in 1777 and the Useful Knowledge Society in 1826 is an omission in a narrative of the progress of cheap publication, even on the broad scale on which Mr. -Knight treats it; and (as is but natural) he ascribes, as we have said, more merit to the Society than it is strictly entitled to. These, however, are very small blemishes in a book displaying so exten- sive a knowledge of minute and curious facts largely presented, such a thorough acquaintance with the history of publication, and so much sensible and original thought on all which relates to the literature as well as to the business of cheap.books. The durable and costly materials of many manuscripts, coupled with the labour and artistical skill bestowed upon them, raised them above the caprices of fashion into the class of art. It is probable that time rather increased than diminished the -value of most manu- scripts. With the invention of printing, or at least after Aldus had discarded the folio and quarto for the handier forms, cheap books were attainable by the poor scholar as second-hand books. Death, extravagance, fashion, sent stores of learning to the stalls ; and though the process might be slow, it was quicker than we imagine. By the seventeenth century books were turned to even viler uses. The " trunkmaker " or " wrapping-paper " was a com- mon jest against bad writers, and the Augustan age witnessed more varied uses. Cibber, in his depression, thus apostrophizes the manuscripts he is about to burn- " Ye shall not beg, like gratis-given Bland, Sent with apses, and vagrant through the land; Nor sail with Ward, to ape and monkey climes, Where vile Mundungus trucks for viler rhymes : Not sulphur-tipt emblaze an alehouse fire ; Not wrap up oranges to pelt your sire i" And this reduction or degradation, or whatever we may call it, must of necessity be the case, from the vast number of failures in authorship. The surviving authors of Charles the Second'a time can almost be reckoned on the lingers, and there was then hardly a general reading public at all ; yet Mr. Knight ' tells us that new books averaged nearly one hundred a year. "The earliest Catalogue of Books published in this country etootain' a a list of 'all the books printed in England since the dreadful -fire, 1.';, to the end of Trinity term, 1680.' The statistical results of this catalogue of the productions of the press for fourteen years have been ascertained by us. The whole number of books printed was 3550; of which 947 were divinity, 420 law, and 153physic ; 397 were school-books, and 253 on subjects of geo- graphy and navigation, including maps. About one-half of these books were single sermons and tracts. Deducting the reprints, pamphlet* single sermons, and maps, we have estimated that, upon an average, 300 new books were produced in each year."

We close with a continuation of the same subject during the first half of the last century. Contrary to what would have been supposed, there were fewer new books published than in Charles the Second's reign.

"The Complete Catalogue of Modern Books, published from the begin- ning of the Century to 1756,' contains 5280 new works. In this catalogue 'all pamphlets and other tracts' are excluded. We can scarcely, therefore, compare this period, as to the number of books published, with that of ION- The average number of the first fifty-seven years of the eighteenth century was 93 new works each year. At the beginning of the century, the price of a folio or quarts volume ranged from las. to 12s.; an octavo from 5s. to fig. ; and a duodecimo from 28. 6d. to 3.s. We have the original ' Tatter ' before us, with its curious advertisements of books, sales by the candle, cor- dial elixirs, lotteries, and bohea tea at 248. a pound. Whitelocke's 'Me- morials,' folio, is advertised at 128.; Rowe's edition of Shakspere, 8vo., is 58. per volume ; The Peerage of England,' 8vo. Cw. ; Shakspere's Poems, 12mo., lc 6d.; The Monthly' Amusement,' each number containing a complete novel, is ls. ; Sermons are 2d. each. We learn from other sources, that the first edition of 'The Blinded' was a sixpenny pamphlet ; whilst The Governor of Cyprus, a Novel,' and 'The Wanton Fryer, a Novel,' were' each 12s."