"THE TEMPLE CLASSICS."
[To THE EDITOR OF THY " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In an otherwise favourable review of "The Temple Classics," appearing in the Spectator of February 11th, your critic emphasises the fact that the paper of the books is thin, and mentions it as " the only fault of these little books." Will you permit us to say it is impossible to preserve the slender proportions characterising "The Temple Classics," and use a thicker paper? Only so recently as Wednesday last we received a letter from the makers of the paper, Messrs. John Dickinson and Co., Limited, from which we quote the following, as being of possible interest to your readers, many of whom are doubtless also readers of "The Temple Classics" ; —" The history of the paper is shortly as follows. Some years ago, when discussing with the publishers the paper most suitable for Sir Walter Scott's Journal,' it was suggested whether it would not be possible to make a paper similar to that used in the early part of the century for Sir Walter Scott's Novels, and of the same antique character and appearance. We decided to make the experiment, but failed to obtain thoroughly satisfactory results on our modern machines. However, we had one old-fashioned machine left at one of our mills, and we made a further experiment on that with a very happy result. The paper was adopted for ' Scott's Journal,' and later on for Scott's Lettere.' From time to time, in response to suggestions made by you, we have made slight improvements in it, and the final result is the paper now made for The Temple Classics.' In every respect, surface, colour, texture, and 'lookthrough,' it is a true antique paper, and one in which we take a great pride."—
[We regret to have written in the review as if the " Religio Medici " and " Urn Burial" were not included in "The Temple Classics." They are included, and form a very pleasant volume.—ED. Spectator.]
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