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given way, it is still not inconvenient to read. for decent binding the advantage is obvious. cheap "ploughed” railway novels cannot be bound without losing their already shorn margins. There is nothing meaner or more miserably starved in consequence than our two-shilling railway novel when bound, for it is then stripped of its gaudy picture cover, and, with its stunted margin, is positively degrading to read.

Some years ago it was calculated that the mere waste-paper shavings of the London bookbinders amounted annually to upwards of four hundred tons, while the consumption of leaf-gold amounted to little short of four million square inches weekly. Rags are used in removing the superfluous gold during the process of lettering, ornamenting, and edging. They are burnt, and the yield would astonish the majority of people. It is known in the trade as "skewings." There is a newly-introduced system of fastening the sheets together by wire stitching, which is being generally adopted, notably for such publications as Mr. Labouchere's Truth.

There were some examples of costly English bindings in the Exhibition of 1862. A book of Bedford's binding took some two months to finish, and cost forty guineas. Shaw's "Decorations " was lavishly enriched with tooling and jewels, said to be of the value of £100. Zaehnsdorf, of Brydges Street, exhibited Doré's Dante's Inferno in folio, the binding and decoration of which, after the Grolier and Maioli style, cost one hundred guineas. Messrs. Leighton, Son, & Hodge in later years introduced silver on the ornamentation of books, or rather, it should be said, aluminium, for silver too soon tarnishes to be useful. A unique specimen of binding was recently executed

by Messrs. Peacock. It was a large quarto Altar Service in crimson morocco, with massive side ornaments encrusted with precious stones. A painting on porcelain of our Saviour, framed in a band of gilt metal studded with pearls, filled the centre. This was surmounted by a cross, also set with pearls, and with a large diamond in the middle. Below was the emblematic eagle of St. John, blazing with amethysts, garnets, and diamonds, and a lily, emblem of the Blessed Virgin Mary, set with black and white pearls. An elaborate border of gilt metal was thickly studded with topaz, pearl, amethyst, malachite, and turquoise, with beautifully carved cameos at intervals, and large rock crystals mounted at the angles. The gems, several of which are of considerable size, were alone said to be worth more than £200.

Turning to the comparative value of different materials for binding, Mr. J. Leighton (Luke Limner), in a paper read by him before the Society of Arts in February 1859, calls morocco "the prince of leathers." Hogskin he considers "a nice and durable leather," though not much used, and it takes "blind-tooling" admirably. Russia leather, except extremely thick, is apt to become rotten. It is principally prized for its odour and pleasant tone of colour. It has been said, indeed, by experienced binders, that the duration of russia binding in the atmosphere of London is but three years. It is certain, indeed, that russia backs always "go." Vellum is extremely strong and useful, but hard to work. All the tree-marbles, sponge - dabs, and other stained fancy patterns, he also considers must in time injure the leather, on account of the acids used in producing them. Brown and black are the only fast colours in cloth bindings. Red, green, and blue are nearly so, In calf-binding

yellow or tan is the only colour that will not fade. It wears best. Blue calf fades and rubs white. The quietest colours-neutral shades—will satisfy the eye longest. What are called "purple" and "wine" colours-solferino and magenta in binders' phrasehave been known to fade out entirely in a month. Wine - that is "claret" is nearly a fast colour, somewhat like green and red.

Paintings on the edges of books, or sometimes with the edges of the leaves embossed, or the title of the work written or impressed on them, have been amongst the most interesting features of the ancient ornamental art of bookbinding. At that time books were generally kept flat on shelves or on appropriated reading-desks, without any ornament or lettering on the back. We frequently see such positions of old books represented in the illuminations or woodcuts of the period. In some places the practice of lettering books on the edges had not been discontinued till comparatively recent times, for we find in a copy of "Locke on the Epistles" a written memorandum, made in 1711, stating that the "more convenient manner of placing books in libraries is to turn their backs outwards, with the titles and other decent ornaments in gilt-work, which ought not to be hidden, as in this library, by a contrary position, the beauty of the fairest volume is ;-therefore, to prevent this for the future, and to remedy that which is past, if it shall be thought worth the pains, the new method of affixing the chains to the back of the books is recommended, till one more suitable shall be contrived." What are known as "index edges," such as we see in the huge Kelly's Post Office Directory, are said to have been introduced by Messrs. Leighton.

HE mere oddities and eccentricities connected with books and printing are as endless as the curiosities of literature itself. There are books which exhibit in their paper and print freaks and "fads" of the strangest kind. One can hardly believe the excessive length to which amiable fanatics have indulged in their dealings with honest serviceable type and paper. The most singular displays of oddity have been in the choice and contrasts of paper and print.

A French bibliophile, M. Peignet, has actually published a work supplying a list of these fantastic productions. Thus in the year 1822 we find the following: "Aristarchus, or the Principles of Composition," 1822, which was printed on about fifty different coloured papers, and only twelve copies were struck off. The most extraordinary of these caprices is an "Elegy on the Death of Prince Henry," published in 1613, printed on black paper with white letters! There have also been blue, yellow, and harlequin papers. In the Bodleian Library is a copy of "Textus Decretalium Bonifacii VIII." (1473), printed on alternate sheets of vellum and paper. We also

find "A Sermon Preached before Charles the First," by the Rev. Joseph Howe, 1644, and thought to be the only known copy out of thirty printed, which is printed throughout in red ink. Other works, such as Chidley's "Complaints," 1652, Wilkes's "Essay on Woman," 1772, "Red Book," Dublin, 1790, are also printed in red ink. "Le Livre de Quatre Couleurs" (Paris, 1720) is printed in four different coloured inks. The "Book of Four Coulours," by one Caracicoli, printed in Paris in 1757, is printed in four different coloured inks, gamboge, ultramarine, sepia, and vermilion. Babbage's "Specimens of Logarithmic Tables " is printed with different-coloured inks on various coloured papers (to ascertain by experiment the tints of the paper and colours of the inks least fatiguing to the eye), in twenty-one volumes, 8vo, London, 1831. Of this work ONE SINGLE COPY ONLY WAS PRINTED. There were one hundred and fifty-one variously coloured papers chosen, and the following coloured inks were used: light blue, dark blue, light green, dark green, olive, yellow, light red, dark red, purple, and black. Vol. xxi. contains metallic printing in gold, silver, and copper bronzes, upon vellum and on various coloured papers.

"Le Livre de Demain" was printed on various kinds of paper with different coloured inks. The contents consist of selections in prose and verse, as well as an account of inks, paper, and the art of typography. The peculiarity of the book is the endeavour to suit the paper, ink, and type even, to the subject of the selection. The author, M. de Rochas, contends that a love-poem printed with light ink on rose-coloured paper will make a far deeper impression than if printed in black ink on white paper. There was a book published in 1832