page 41

Our Exchanges.

Our French contemporary, l'Intermédiare (Lyons), is doing good work in promoting artistic printing. It is offering premiums for the best specimens of composition in various classes of work, the copy being supplied, and the form left to the discretion of the workman. In the February number appear the conditions of the fourth and fifth concours d'honneur. M. Eugene Sédard, the editor, offers handsome prizes, the first prize in the fourth concours being a gold medal and 100 fr. In the same number is a fine outline vignette of a rose in rule-work, by M. Jules Blanc. There are some capital specimens of composition in this number, which is printed throughout in chocolate ink. The following is the text of the humorous bill of fare, which formed the subject of the third competition:

Menu.

Potages.—Saint-Germain,—aux Algues marines. Brunoise. Clichés hors-d'œuvre justifiés par l'usage.

Relevé.—Truite saumonée mise en pages sauce teinte douce.

Entrées.—Filet de bœuf .. de prote. Jambon de Mayence Gutenberg. Accolades de volailles truff'ées.

Roti.—Imposition de poulets et de canetons au cresson. Feuilles de salade revisées en premiére. Pâté de foie gras mastiqué.

Entremets.—Garniture d'écrevisses en bon à tirer .. par les pattes. Asperges en branches aux grands blanes. Petits pois typographiques. Gâteau protal. Lingotière de glace au parfait typo.

Distribution de Desserts en conscience.

Type (a title nearer our own than any other trade paper possesses) is the organ of the Dickinson Foundry, Boston. The first number (January) contains twenty quarto pages, two being occupied with reading matter, and the rest with advertisements and specimens of the original styles of the foundry. Type is beautifully printed, in a very dark green shade of ink, on superb paper. The text is set in the beautiful « Riverside » minion—a clear and strong roman. By a singular and original whim, every i and j in the reading-matter has had its dot removed—a reversion to the old Saxon style. Of course the only use of the dot is to ensure greater legibility in MS.—serving the same purpose as the curved stroke over the c and u in the cramped and angular German caligraphy, and it is by no means necessary in type. The abolition of the dot decidedly improves the appearance of the page, and with the exception of a few words, as, for example, « pertaınıng, » « ın mıxıng, » and « ınquırıes, » does not interfere with the legibility of the matter. We shall look with interest to see how this new experiment is received.

Books and Notions, Toronto, Canada, has entered its fifth year, and has a wide circulation in the printing and bookselling trades throughout the Dominion. It is well-edited, full of information, and liberally supported by advertisers. The editor has established a specimen exchange on the principle of the English one. Each subscriber supplies 220 copies on quarto, and receives a volume of 200 specimens. The subscription is 50 cents. Only two contributions from the Australian colonies are to be admitted, and these may be sent to Messrs G. Robertson & Co., Melbourne, or J. J. Moore, Sydney.

Paper and Press for January (No 1, vol. viii) is a superb number. It is printed throughout in various « art shades, » and contains 102 large quarto pages, besides plates. One of these is a beautiful specimen of landscape color-printing etched on zinc by the Electrolight Engraving Company. The snowy mountain in the background is suggestive of our own Egmont. No other trade paper in the world devotes so much attention to novelties and improvements in all classes of printers' machinery.

The London Printer and Stationer of 7th February contains a biography with portrait of the late David Payne, inventor of the Wharfedale machine. The portrait is that of a handsome man, with a head and countenance indicative of a high order of intellect and a benevolent disposition.

The Paper and Printing Trades Journal, with its 86 pages of close print and advertisements, is a wonderful paper for sixpence. No item of interest at home or a broad, appears to escape the keen-eyed editor. From all parts of the world printers send specimens of their best work, in hopes of receiving a word of commendation from so able a critic. In the present issue, more than eight pages are occupied with criticisms of work—favorable and otherwise. There is some new idea in every number. This one (December), is sacred to « Dan Cupid, » who accompanies every initial—piping, hunting, dancing, flower-gathering, &c., &c. There are four more of the capital advertising optical illusions, which have recently been a feature of the Journal. The literary articles and judicious reviews of new books (not by any means confined to those relating to the craft) constitute a valuable feature in this useful paper.

The Printers' Register for January contains the usual valuable « Retrospect of the Year. » In the February number is an illustration of the « Thorne » composing and distributing machine, one of the most practical yet devised, and a special feature of which is, that the machine automatically distributes the types into the holders ready for composition at the same time as composition is going on. To secure accuracy of distribution, every character has a distinctive nick. This is a long way ahead of Typo's modest suggestion of « a systematic nick » (vol. i, pp. 18 and 60), to distinguish characters so nearly resembling each other as to distress the eyes—a suggestion which the English founders treated as they generally do treat any new idea—as « impraeticable. »