they could keep on growing. The Vale Press books, on the other hand, have all the supersensitiveness of things which have been deliberately made according to a fastidious tho eclectic taste and a strict formula. It is the difference between naturalness and refinement." After these two, quiet and serene, comes CobdenSanderson, philosopher and mystic, with a cosmic vision comprehensive enough to resolve illimitable complexity into utter simplicity.

Perhaps the Vale Press deserves more detailed consideration than is here given, yet there is a question as to whether it affected typography as strongly as the other two. Mr. Ricketts was an active factor in the revival, but as much for what he said and stood for as for what he produced. His type design was transitional rather than permanent and had little or no influence on later practice. Not a small measure of the recognition accorded the Vale Press was due to the arrangement by which John Lane acted as publisher-and advertiser.

Publicity went hand in hand with accomplishment and response. We of this

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grateful and appreciative, even to the extent of buying their books. It is not only possible, but highly probable, that our prompt recognition and patronage more than offset any damage done by piracy.

The Ashendene Press has two periods, coinciding with the divisions of this series, tho it has been in continuous operation since 1894 to the present time and is still active. The first phase, when Mr. Hornby maintained it in his father's residence at Ashendene, Hertfordshire, ran from the inception to about 1901. His own type was not cut until later and the early books were set in Caslon and some of the Fell faces. Very few copies were printed, all reserved for "the family and a narrow circle of close friends"-none was sold.

Akin to the Vale Press in many ways is Lucien Pissarro's Eragny Press, named for the hamlet in Normandy where he spent his boyhood. Close association with Mr. Ricketts is indicated by the fact that for the early books he used the Vale type, which was succeeded then by his own Brook font. Yet, tho he may have been, in a sense, a disciple of Ricketts, Pissarro had a viewpoint of his own, so that Eragny books are charmingly unlike any others. One of their distinctive features is the use of woodcuts printed in several colors, notably well done.

The Essex House Press, established by Laurence Hodson and C. R. Ashbee at the Guild of Handicraft, was something more of a communal than a personal affair, yet it was always a reflection of Mr. Ashbee's viewpoint. It was founded "in the hope to keep living the traditions of good printing that William Morris had revived" and was manned by former employees of the Kelmscott Press. But the presswork, at least in the early volumes, was far from Kelmscott quality. They attempted to secure some of the Kelmscott types but, failing, had recourse to Caslon for the first two years and then used the font designed by Mr. Ashbee.

The Caradoc Press was founded by H. G. Webb about 1900 and is credited with several good books. That and the Dun Emer, later called the Cuala, Press, established by Elizabeth C. Yeats in 1902, will have further consideration in due time.

So there is the nativity, so far as most of us nowadays are concerned, of the pri

vate press. There was a new feeling, a fresh vision, to be expressed. The men who inaugurated the era had something to say and they said it magnificently. Not only that, but they produced beauty, always a welcome gift, and expressed it in a most delightful medium. Small wonder that we start our reckoning, going back to the past, enjoying the present, and anticipating the future, from England in the Nineties.

Printing and the Connoisseur "I FEEL that printing, being an art,

can do anything," J. M. Bowles writes in the current Direct Advertising; "it can serve both the man in the street and the connoisseur in his library, the former thru a good, simple format in the newspaper he reads, and well designed and illustrated advertisements; and the other thru the work of art in book form which, thru the necessities of the case, it may be impractical to produce in any other than a limited edition."

T

Dictionary Making

HE making of dictionaries has always had an honored place in publishing, and America has had reason to be especially proud of the contribution which this country has made to lexicography. Webster, Worcester, Century, Standard have all carried American imprints and American editorial purposes well to the front and into other countries.

The making of a concise dictionary is an art in itself, because in the selection of words the editor must be guided by the user's own interest and not so much by his own personal judgment. A few years ago John C. Winston Company blazed a new trail into the area of the small dictionary with its Simplified Series, and this month. it has added to that series an "Encyclopedic Edition," a volume of 1,500 pages with 32 colored maps, and selling for $5. The dictionary proper defines 100,000 words and includes in the one alphabet foreign words in common use, Biblical and mythological proper names, common abbreviations, slang expressions, obsolete and archaic words in use in the Bible and

by standard authors. The supplementary material includes an index to the alphabets, foreign languages, deaf and dumb alphabet, Morse Code, musical symbols, topographical symbols, weights and measures, a supplement of foreign words and phrases not adopted in general English speech, an index of names and places, phrases and idioms, a Scottish glossary, chronological table, condensed grammar and gazeteer. The general editorship has been in charge of William Dodge Lewis, connected from the beginning with this series of Simplified Dictionaries, with the help of Dr. Henry Seidel Canby, editor of the Saturday Review of Literature, and Dr. Thomas Kite Brown, Jr., formerly of Haverford College.

One of the oustanding features of the dictionary's planning is the method of using a two line space for the word itself, thus giving it twice the text size and making it easy to catch the eye. The diacritical marks are similar to those in Webster. Derivations are included and much encyclopedic information. The presswork is clear and pleasant to the eye, and the volume is bound in strong blue leatheroid.

Lectures on Printing and

Publishing

COLUMBIA University announces its

course in typography to begin on September 28th, conducted by John Clyde Oswald, a well-known authority on typographical and printing matters. The fee

for the winter session is $20, section I beginning from 11 A. M. to 12:40 P. M. on Thursday, and section 2 from 7:20 P. M. to 9 P. M. Thursday. The course is intended to enable the student to meet the problems arising in business and professional life in connection with printing, publishing, illustrating, engraving and advertising.

The details of the various operations will be discussed only insofar as they I will help to provide a working knowledge of the subject and to promote an understanding between publisher and printer. Among the lectures are such subjects as "The History of Printing," "The Preparation of Copy," "Proof Reading and Make-Up," "Typefaces," "Paper and Its Uses," etc.

History of Printing

GRAFTON AND COMPANY of

London have announced for early publication, "Printing, A Short History of the Art," edited by R. A. Peddie. The different sections of the book have been contributed by specialists in the history of printing in their various countries.

The American Old Testament

THE typographical planning of a new edition of the Bible is always a difficult. problem for any publisher because of the ex tent of the text, but the University of Chicago has faced this problem and successfully met it in its new octavo edition of "The Old Testament: An American Translation." The book consists of 1,700 pages of smooth surface thin paper; the page heading is in italic caps, with the chapter and verse number on the inside corner; the text is printed in continuous paragraphs to facilitate enjoyment of reading; conversation is printed in quotes and in conversational form, poetry in poetical form, and so on, thruout the book.

W

The Vail-Ballou Press

HEN, in 1900, S. E. Vail opened a printing office in Cleveland, Ohio, no one could know that in a quarter of a century it would develop into one of the largest presses in the country. For the entire equipment was two linotypes in a fifteen by thirty-two bay space partitioned off in one corner of a printing office. Within a few months, however, an immense job, the composition of an encyclopedia of sixteen volumes, something like forty million ems, was offered the office and the plant was moved to larger quarters in the same building.

The developments now followed along at a fairly swift rate. The office was moved to Coshocton, Ohio, where it went into a new building of its own in 1905. The stock was increased and the corporate name changed to the Vail Company. In 1907 a New York office was established and J. B. Ballou became resident manager for the Eastern trade. In the latter part of 1910 the company bought the plant of the Binghamton Book Manufacturing Company, at Binghamton, N. Y., and a new company called the Vail-Ballou Company was formed to operate this plant. In 1913 it seemed logical to combine the two offices and the Binghamton plant was selected as the survivor. The Ohio plant was moved there and the title of the combined plants became the Vail-Ballou Company. There an edition bindery, equipped with the very latest machinery, was installed in a modern sawtooth one-story brick building in 1923. In 1926 another brick warehouse was built, new bindery machinery was installed and several large printing presses were added to the pressroom making an equipment of fourteen presses running double shifts. The entire plant, comprising about 60,000 square feet of space, is of onestory construction, with ample skylights to augment the usual side window lighting. All departments are served by an intercommunicating telephone system centrally located. The battery of linotypes consists of eight Model 5s, five Model 19s, four Model 25s, a Model 8 and a Model 4. Two shifts daily are employed. Twenty-five readers, copyholders and revisers make up the proofreading force. Altogether nearly a hundred people are employed in the composing

room, making a total of 225 for the entire plant.

With such a press and such an efficient battery of employees the Press has been able to live up to its reputation for "three new books daily." Of the total output of new books produced in the United States annually about one out of every eleven comes from the composing room of the VailBallou Press. The output of the electrotype foundry is a thousand plates daily; the binders' output, 8,000 volumes. The pressroom is turning out four million books annually. And the whole thing began in 1900 with two linotypes.

The Book Binders' Convention

THE Employing Book Binders of Amer

ica have just closed a very successful convention held during the period of the big printing show at Grand Central Palace. The meetings were at the Hotel Roosevelt, Elbridge W. Palmer of the Kingsport Press, presiding, Raymond E. Boyles of New York acting as chairman of the Convention Committee, and Francis E. Grady as Entertainment Committee chairman.

The convention held sessions on three days from September 15th to the 17th, Reports were brought in by many active committees, including the Cost Committee, Educational Committee, Book Sales Promotion Committee, etc. Round tables were conducted by the Library Binders group, of which the chairman is Joseph Ruzicka of Baltimore and by the Edition Binders group, Thomas H. Morrison of Chicago, chairman.

At the open forum meetings the subject of "New Developments in Machinery and Operating Methods" was developed by Thomas H. Morrison; ;"What is the Most dustry?" was discussed by Henry Tentschert Needed Reform in the Book Binding Inof St. Louis; "Has a Superfinish Department a Place in the Edition Bindery?" discussed by C. A. Mershon. The Employing Book Binders have, thru their Promotion Committee, led by Mr. Mershon, been giving significant and important backing to the book promotion campaigns of the National Association of Book Publishers. A report on this work was read by Mr. Mershon, and a discussion of the whole program of book promotion was given in an address by Frederic G. Melcher.