GREATEST ISSUE OF "THE TIMES."

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12856, 28 October 1912, Page 8

GREATEST ISSUE OF "THE TIMES."

. . WONDERFUL 40,000 TH NUMBER. i MASTERPIECE OF PRINTING. LONDON, Sept. 14. The 40.000fch number of " The Times," which was published on Tu&sday, was the most wonderful that has ever -been issiied by that great journal. The historic occasion was commemorated by a special supplement of forty-four pages, notable alike for the exceptional interest of its literary matter and the artistic taste of ite printing and production. It £«t forth the story of the modern "Times." which is a veritable romance, and grave information which is nowhere elso to be obtained in so accessible and authoritative a. form. Tho first article was devoted to the | story of printing from Gutenberg to Morris, which was appropriately illustrated by the first known representation of a printing press and by superb reproductions of pages of the "Ashdeno Dante and Kelmseott Chaucer. In an article on " 'The Times of Today," tho public were admitted behind tho scenes, and were enabled to trace every process and stage in the production of a great modern newspaper. Tho average- number of "The Times," it points out, consists of twenty pages, with ?, typo space equivalent to that of two ordinary novels. 2,000 WRITERS. § The total of writers on "The Times" is closo upon 2,000, and tho staff in the offioei numbers in addition 290 persons on tho literary side and 350 on the I mechanical. It was in "The Times" office that modern newspaper printing machinery | may bo said to have originated. The progress achieved in a century can be understood from the fact that whereas r* 'The Times" presses in 1827 could only turn out 4,000 to 5,000 four-page copies per hour, to r day they can turn out 150.----000 sixteen-page conies in the same time. Articles on the growth and origin of the British newspaper, on tho early history of advertising, on modern advertising, on colour printing, and on every process involved in the production ol : \ ■modern newspaper from tho moment when tho wood is cut for pulp-making were among tho varied features. The advertisements were not lews notable than tho letterpress from tho taste with tt'h''-h'they are displayed and printed. Ibero wa<; an extraordinary demand tor copies of this great issue, and customers stood outside the offices in 1 HRtinp; Houso Square in queues buying comes wet from the machines.