Page 4 Advertisements Column 4

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9944, 20 January 1900, Page 4

Business Advertisements. THE TIMES (^ndon) ' OWEB3 ' THE GREATEST BARGAIN is ; THE HISTORY OF BOOKSELLING To Residents of New Zealand. THE PLAN adopted by •' The Times " (London) in distribnting a limited number of sets of the " ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA " in Great Britain at less than half price, and on easy terms of payment, is now temporarily extended to residents of New Zealand. Tho Beneation of the bookselling season in London, tho remarkable offer of THE TIMES reprint of the "ENCYCLOPAEDIA BEITANNICA" (9th edition), is already known to residents in New Zealand who read '• The Times." No fewer than 15,000 copies of the massive work were printed, but applications were received in rapid succession for more than 20,000. Widespread disappointment was occasioned by the enforced refusal of a great number of orders, and residents in Now Zealand were, owing to tbe delay in communicating with T/ondon, peculiarly unfortunate in this respect. What " THE TIMES " did for residents in England, it now proposes to do for residents in Now Zealand. Arrangements have been made for a limited number of copies for distribution in New Zealand. The price and terms upon which these copies may be obtained are stated in detail below, and immediate application Rhould be made by persons who desire to avail themselves of this extraordinary opportunity. The price at which the work is offered is in itself a phenomenal one, and the conditiona of sale are such as to materially enhance the advantages presented by the arrangement. The briefest statement of these conditions will be sufficient. Below will be found a full statement of the plan of payments, also the further details regarding tbe vaiious styles of binding, etc. The ENCYCLOPAEDIA BKITANNICA (Ninth Edition) consists of 24 volumes of 850 pages each, and of a 25th volume containing an elaborate index to the whole and a detailed list of contributors. The volumes nro lljin in height, 9Jin in depth, and 2Jin in thickness. Tho Full Morocco and Half Morocco bindings are of genuine morocco goat skins, sumach-tanned. This leather, clear in colour, elastic and soft, " yet firm and fine in grain and texture, " resists any other leather." (jENCY. BEIT., vol. xiv., p. 538). Tho colour of the Half Morocco is a deep maroon, relieved by the gold stamping on the back. The Pull Morocco binding is of high-class leather, dark green in colour, with rolled gold edges, and the Eoyal Arms stamped in gold on the side. In addition to the thirty million words which occupy the 22,000 pages, tbe ENCYCLOPAEDIA contains 338 full-page plates and 671 maps Bndjlanß. There are over 9000 other illustrations For the MS alone a sum of more than £60,000 was paid to the 1100 contributors, and the printing, illustrating and binding, which are of the highest quality, entail a bo much greater expenditure that the ENCYCLOPEDIA is unquestionably the moat cosily pioduction ever offered to the public. Tho Ninth Edition of the ENCYCLOPEDIA BBITANNICAis the standard national work of refovence. It was not until 1889 that it was completed, although the first volume was published in 1875, and the twelfth volume— half-way on the road— appeared in 1881. The elaboration with which the articles were written, the scrupulous care with whioh they were revised, the minute labour expended in bringing the typography and the illustration of the volumes to the highest point of accuracy, all combined to make haste impossible. No new edition has yet been commenced, and, if one should be undertaken, fourteen or fif teon years would elapse before it would bo completed. But the value of ouch a work is quite unaffected by the changes of the moment. It has none of the perishability of an annual, because its editors were wise enough not to attempt to give it the advantages and disadvantages of such a work, The publishers of tjie ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA formerly sold the work at JL37 a net, in cloth binding The persons who wanted the book more than they wanted £37 bought it at that piiee. But a great numbei who wanted it could not affoid to give tli.it much for it, and did without it. They have now the opportnmt> of bu\ing"The Time*" reprint for 17 guineas in monthly instalments, and The Tiraas " reprint is in every raipect the same as tba cipies already sold at the higher price l it is what booksellers call a new impiession, not a changed edition. Tlvre has been no com/ensation, no abiidgment.no omission. Every word, every illustration, every map, every element of value is preserved intact ; the paper is ,as good, the press work is as good ; there is not the most minute oheapenicg of the pro duct to offset against the remarkable diminution of the price. THE MAKING OF SUCH A BOOK entails as much labour as ths building of a cathedral, and in one respect it maybe better compared to the persevering assemblage of ft great mosaic Herschel estimated, after elaborate calculations that the workers on the Vatican mosaics must have distiiigaished 30,000 different effects of colour. This almost incredible minuteness is paralleled by the diligence required for the preparation of a work which deals with all branches of human knowledge. In the mechanical production of the " Encyclopedia Britannica " the assiduity of the mosaic^ worker is again suggested. Typo-setting, in itself a most tedious process, is complicated by the necesuity for careful levision ; the vagaries of compositors survive repeated correction ; and, on the other hand, authors themselves are never so fertile as when the margin of a proof-sheet tempts the pon. THE SETTING OP THE 22,000 PAGES of the ' Enoyo'optEdia Britannica " was, in fact, done three times over, for excisions and alterations made the total type setting equivalent to C 7,000 pages. Just as tbe present Cathedral of St. Paul was ivared upon an old subterranean church, which lies hidden beneath its floor, so the 25 volumes of the " Encvclopasdia Britannica" were built upon a substructure of 51 other volumes which never saw the light. No statement could better illustrate tho lavish expenditure which made the " Kncyclopffldia Britannica" as great a book as it is; and although the price at which tbe work was originally published proved to many perrons a prohibitive one, it was no more than common prudence demanded. Now that " The Times" (London) is enabled to distribute ~ AT A VERY MUCH LOWER PRICE tho limited number of sets secured lpr New Zealand, the " Encyclopedia Britannica " will at once find its way to the bookshelves of many persons who have hitherto been compelled to go to clubs and libraries in order to consult its pages. The more general appreciation of the usefulness of the " Encyclopaedia Britannica " mfty be expected to repay its publishers for the concession they have made, and the end in view will soon have been accomplished. It is one of the prerogatives of a newspaper to givo such incidents of its operation an especial effectiveness, and the " Encyclopedia Britannica" is so dignified an example of the national love of letters that the prospect of its increased" popularity is to be regarded with no little satisfaction. The only thing that can deprive anypne of hia share in the benefits of this special -Sreginncent setsVill go to the nrst who apply. SSfraeUaJPJyiSSitjlojjrapPjication reaches us in time. It ia a case of •• A PRIZE FOR THE PROMPT "—a prize ~m~ sovereigns — sovereigns that go to make up the amount saved by ordering your set of the' Encyclopedia. Britannica" NOW. Stock carried and shipments made from Wellington, New Zealand. TEMPORARY PRICE FOR THE 25 VOLUMES. DELrVEBED IN WELLINGTON, CARRIAGE PAID. Sufficient provision 17 Monthly Payments of One will be made for the O^ o ™ Guinea, each, or, if Cash in _ , i Pull accompanies the order £17 filling of Orders BINDING. [Publishers 1 Price for this promptly posted, but I Style of Binding, £37.] applicanta who hosi- ,22, 22 M(?Dthly Paymantß o{ One tate may find that HALF Guinea each, or, if Cash in 1V,., nnrnW nf sßt<is ß t<i MOHOfCO. J Full accompanies the order £22 tho number of sets Whjoh wfl Eecommen a t ] rp uWißhera . F Prica for thia secured for Now Zea \ style of Binding; J849.] land has bepn exhausted, and that the wrtT , 29 Monthly Payments of One «■ r v,oo v,»»r, »ifv, FULL Guinea each, or, if Cash in offer has been with- Full accompanies the ordsr £29 drawn, without fur- MOROCCO. [Publishers' Price for this ther notice. I Style of Binding, £65.|| TJE SETS ARE DELIVERED TO SUBSCRIBERS IN METAL-LINED OASES. NO CHARGE FOR DELIVERY. CASH PAYMENT-ORDER FORM. Subsoribeis who elect to pay for the set in one payment have the advantage of an additional siviug of one shilling in the guinea, as shown above. Cheques should be drawn to tho ORDER OF THE BANK OF NEW SOUTH WALES, WELLING TON, and sent to the office of " The Timea " (London) New Zealand offloe, as under : (Date) TO THE MANAGER, " THE TIMES " (LONDON) NEW ZEALAND OFFICE, GOVERNMENT LIFE INSURANCE BUILDINGS, WELLINGTON, N.Z. I enclose £17, full payment for the "Encyclopedia Britannica "\ (9th Ed.), bound in oloth I enclose £22, full payment for the " Enoyclopiedia Britannica " • [Strike out (9th Ed.), bound in half morocco four linos.] I enclose £29, fall payment for the " Encyclopedia Britannica "j (9th Ed.), bound in full morocco [C. 19, Wan. Her.] (Signed) (Address) E5" If books are to be delivered elsewhere than in Wellington, the purchaser should add here the name of the carrier in Wellington to wfcom delivery is to be made. ] (Beyond Wellington, Carriage) will be at Purchaser's Cost.) MONTHLY PAYMENTS-ORDER FORM. Cheques should be drawn to the ORDER OF THE BANK OF NEW SOUTH WALES, and seat to tho office of "' The Times " (London) New Zealand office as under : — (Date) TO THE MANAGER, "THE TIMES" (LONDON), NEW ZEALAND OFFICE, GOVERNMENT LIFE INSURANCE BUILDINGS, WELLINGTON, N.Z. I euolose One Guinea. Please send me " Tho Times Reprint of thp Encyclopteciia Britannica." f (a) CLOTH, for which I agree to make to'] you, or to anyone you may appoint, J6 additional monthly pay- [Strike out two roents of one guinea each. of the paragraphs (b) HALF MOROCCO, for which I agree marked " a," " b," BOUND IN 4 to make to vou> or to an .vone you I" o " respectively, j may appowt,2l additional month- [Jeaviug tbe one ly pavmerts of one guinea each. whioh names the (o) FULL MOROCCO, for whioh I agree style of biudina to make to you, or to anyone you desired.] may appoint,2S additional monthly payments of one guinea each. J my next payment upon delivery of the complete 25 volumes, and my succeeding payments on tho corresponding day of each month following. Until such payments are complete, I engage that the volumes remain your property, and shall not be disposed of by sale or otherwise. I further agree that, if, owing to unforseen circumstances of which you shall be tbe judge, the volumes cannot be delivered, the tetuin of this | U« posit of one guinea to me eha'l cancel this agreement. [C. 13 Wan. Her.] (Signed) (Address) J3T If bcoka are to be delivered elsewhere than in Wellington, the purch-=er should add her* the name of the currier in Wellington to whun delivery is to be made. (Beyond Wellington, Carriage will bs at Purphast,r - 3 Oust.;