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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 4

[miscellaneous paragraphs]

Despite sinister rumors and assertions (says the Stationery Trades Journal) the circulation of The Times is constantly and steadily increasing, and was never so high as it is at the present moment.

« Puff, » in the Wellington Press, writes:—I see that Lord Salisbury said what you have often urged, that the present demands of labor meant ruin to all small concerns.—No doubt; it's perfectly true, but did you see that the federated Wharf Carters', Expressmen's, and Storemen's Union in Dunedin resolved to uphold the Evening Herald, though it was not working under the Typographical Union.—Oh, that was liberal!—Yes, they said the paper wasn't rolling in wealth, and that if trades unions supported it that would probably be remedied.—Good on them! They see that it's of the highest importance to maintain the liberty of the press, and the independence of journalism.

Apropos of the compounding of words, it is time to enter a strong protest against the division into halves of reduplicate nouns. New Zealand comps are great sinners in this respect. It is absolutely incorrect to write Tuki Tuki, Onga Onga, Para Para, for Tukituki, Ongaonga, and Parapara, and there are some scores of other native names that come under the same category. Going farther afield, we find the Australian printers almost invariably set Buln Buln, Wagga Wagga, Wonga Wonga, &c, though they would not think of setting « Wooloo Mooloo » or « Murrum Bidgee. » Americans, too, write « Sing Sing. » What unwritten law induces the comp to break proper names whenever the two halves are alike?

Another wonderful book reaches us from Foster, Roe, & Crone, of Chicago. Ten years ago the idea that such effects as we have here were produced by typography would have been ridiculed by the most advanced printers. Even now, there is not a page of the hundred-and-four before us that is not full of originality, and unlike the work of any other printers in the world. The hand of Mr Foster, the senior partner, is visible throughout. Many of the types—including the beautiful « tile » ornament (which no one else seems to know how to use)—are from his own designs. The cover is a marvel of fine work, and the reptilian demon, with the extraordinary tail— « in knots and many boughtes upwound, pointed with mortal sting, » as Spencer hath it—would make the fortune of a shilling shocker. The execution of the work throughout is beyond criticism. As to the taste displayed, opinions will differ. All that is bizarre—outre—(only outlandish words can express the style)—is here to be found. Many of the color effects are simply splendid—suggestive of the glories of a golden sunset, or the beauties of a crimson afterglow. Some are mere « splodges » and splashes. Beasts and birds unknown to science abound, and as a general rule, the ornaments have not the most distant relation to the text. Making full allowance for faults, the book is « a joy for ever » to any progressive printer. One great merit is its absolute decision of style. The artist knows just what he means to do, and does it, producing his best effects with a minimum of effort. We have the portraits of the three partners—all young and sublimely self-confident. May they still progress, and may they celebrate their jubilee with still more magnificent if less exuberant work than they are now producing with such marked success.