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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 5

[miscellaneous paragraphs]

The Wellington Times describes an interesting document that arrived by a recent mail—a Chinese marriage certificate. It measures 4ft. 8in. x 1ft. 8in., and is as remarkable in colors as in size. The side on which the information is given is of a rich crimson; the back a vivid green; the columns are ruled off by broad lines of gold; and surrounding the whole, also in gold, is a floral border. The entries are in Indian ink, in characters an inch square. Suitably framed, it would be a handsome ornament for any home; and in comparison with the plain and commonplace slip of paper officially issued to the prosaic Briton, it illustrates some of the characteristic national contrasts between the two races.

The Photographic News calls attention to the reproduction, by means of photography, of an old and interesting book—the celebrated Biblia Pauperum, produced by block-printing prior to the invention of typography. Owing to the primitive method of taking the impression, only one side of the paper could be used, besides which the prints were very imperfect, showing inequalities in the color, and patches ill-defined and slurred. In the modern reproductions of these old drawings, the characteristic broken lines and weak spots have been carefully corrected, and they have therefore been useless to those engaged in researches into the early history of the art. No such objection applies to a beautiful photo-mechanical facsimile of the old work, lately produced by a Vienna publisher. It proves the immense value of photography as an aid to the investigation of the arts, every characteristic of the original being represented with perfect fidelity.

This month, for the first time, we have a semi-official communication from a branch of the Master Printers' Association—one more sign of the general recognition accorded to Typo as representing the Craft. The proposals regarding federation will be read with interest. In some of the smaller towns, where the association is most needed, the suicidal strife between the master-printers is fiercest. No disguise is made of their object to fight until one or more offices are ruined and forced to close. The bitterness is chiefly between joint-stock companies and private enterprise. The private printer who has worked hard for years in building up a business cannot be expected to look with much complacency on a soulless corporation—got up, it may be, to bolster up some political adventurer—that deliberately works below cost to choke him out of the field. Ultimately the company concerns fall into private hands, and no sooner are they conducted on business principles and begin to return a profit than they in turn have to face joint-stock opposition, and the old strife begins again. —We are sorry to hear both from north and south of irregularities on the part of members of the M.P.A. that, if unchecked, will break down the whole organization. In several cases work has been taken a long way under tariff rates. It is alleged, and apparently with truth, that some of the schedule figures have been fixed too high. The remedy is obvious, and there is no excuse for the breach of faith on the part of members.