One hundred years ago
THE SIZE AND WEIGHT OF BOOKS.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR"]
SIR. — Can you say a word to publish- ers on the size and weight of the vol- umes they sometimes issue? I am absolutely precluded from reading the Life of Dean Stanley from its great weight, and the Lives of W.H. Smith, Adam Sedgwick, &c., are equally heavy. Books of reference may be heavy with- out much inconvenience, as they are generally only required for a few min- utes at a time; but a reader wants to take a biography with him into different rooms where there is not, probably, any reading-desk; and an invalid, confined to bed, finds a heavy book an impossible companion, however great the solace of the companionship might be. The vol- umes of Dean Stanley's Life weigh 2V2 lb. each, and their size is another inconvenience independently of their weight.— I am, Sir, &c., AN OLD INVALID.
The Spectator 21 April 1894
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