Aldis, M.A.
Cambridge: at the University Press 1916
it begin to fall to pieces as soon as they reach the reader's
hand. The so-called' art paper,' with its shiny surface so
trying to the eye and disagreeable to the touch, is made by
coating the paper with a preparation of china clay and glue
which gives a solid even surface and is therefore much used
for process illustrations. If a book printed on this paper gets
damp the leaves stick together and cannot be separated
without irreparable damage; and if the volume gets
thoroughly wet it becomes practically a solid block. With the
object of bringing books within small compass the use of very
thin paper is frequently resorted to, and the necessary
qualities of strength and opaqueness have been combined
with extraordinary success in the India paper now so largely
used.
any number that it is decided to print. When an unusually small number is printed, attention is generally called to the
fact as enhancing the value of the book, and sometimes the copies are numbered consecutively. The description
'limited edition' now often used in a vague and specious way, is a loose term of no value whatever, as every edition
must be limited, even the mammoth editions of 100,000 copies which have been printed of some popular novels: there
can be no such thing as an unlimited edition. When the demand for a book is expected to exceed the number first
printed, the type is sometimes kept standing in readiness for a further impression; but if the work is of a nature not to
require much amendment or alteration it is more usual to make stereotype plates from which additional copies can be
printed, in order to set free the type for other work.
To distinguish between a mere verbatim reprint of a book and a reprint in which the work has undergone some
revision, the terms 'impression' and 'edition' respectively are sometimes used. It would be a decided advantage if this
practice were uniformly adopted. When a portfolio of an impression is published in a form differing from the original
issue it is called a re-issue. Sometimes, and not altogether honestly, it is passed off as a new edition. Another form of
republication to be deprecated is the issue of a novel in book form under a different title from that which it carried
while appearing as a serial story in a periodical publication.
The antistatic process, sometimes resorted to as a cheap method of making reprints of a book, is happily less in favor
in this country than on the continent. In this process the ink from the page of an original copy is transferred to a zinc
plate which is then, by treatment with acid, converted into a surface from which impressions can be taken. The result
is, however, anything but satisfactory, for these reprints, full of imperfect letters, have a wretchedly feeble
appearance and are irritating to read.
Occasionally a few copies of a book are printed on larger paper than the rest of the impression, and sold at a fancy
price. But these 'large-paper' copies, which shout so loud in booksellers' catalogues, are cumbersome things with an
overgrown, purseproud look, and are infinitely less desirable than copies with the right proportion of margin printed
on better paper than that used for ordinary copies.
Illustrations and binding, both of which are important elements in the construction of a book, form the subjects of
separate chapters.
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