sively where goods made from jute represent a large branch of industry. This very cheap raw material is employed thereeither pure or mixed-to make ordinary brown cloth, but more especially sacking, packing cloth, and carpets. The jute yarns used for carpets are of the richest and most varied colours, and are sometimes used with cocoa fibre. Even the Brussels or velvet carpet is imitated with success in appearance, if not in durability.” Hitherto the bleaching of jute yarns-bringing them up to a high colour has not been very successful; at present, however, a process is being tried, from which it would appear that this difficulty will now be overcome.

I trust that these statements show how useful a fibre may soon become after its being known. And it may be very properly asked, why should we not be supplied with many other fibres? India and other countries can provide an abundance of fibres of a similar nature, and many of a better description, like jute, all fit to be manufactured, but not yet developed. Amongst these are the sida, the ambaree, the yercum, the pineapple, the nettle tribe, and many others, all of which, without doubt, are capable of being manufactured. On looking at the rapid consumption of jute it would be hasty in any one to declare that a like course may not be followed with some of these fibres, as yet almost or altogether unknown; and, from the experience which the spinners in Dundee already have in the treatment of such products, it is not improbable but it may be their lot to carry this into effect.

In conclusion, in the words of another-" The wants, the curiosity, and the ingenuity of man have made him acquainted with the uses and properties of the productions of the vegetable kingdom; but, nevertheless, all that he knows, and all that he has done, does not amount to a tenth part of that which yet remains to be studied and applied. Our trade and commerce is but a trifle compared to the almost boundless wealth of Nature."

APPENDIX.

Approximate statement of the staple trade of Dundee for the year 1862:

Raw material left for consumption in Dundee in 1862:

811

Publishing, and its allied Trades, in Edinburgh. By WILLIAM CHAMBERS, of Glenormiston, F.R.S.

EDINBURGH, as is generally known, has long enjoyed a certain degree of celebrity from being a centre of literary production; and viewed simply as a matter of social economics, it is interesting to note how it should have attained to this distinction, and whether its character in this respect is likely to be supported. The tendency of towns to excel in particular trades depends usually on some peculiar local circumstances, including the habits and tastes of its inhabitants, and is rarely a result of any deliberate arrangement. Such has been the case with Edinburgh. Traditionally, the capital of a distinct kingdom, and still a metropolis for various national branches of administration, this city has had the good fortune to possess a leisurely and educated class, among whom, at different times, have been developed the taste and ability for literary occupation. At the same time, aiding and encouraging this literary class, there has sprung up, during the past hundred years, a succession of individuals who as publishers have impressed upon our city the reputation it has attained as a centre for the issue of literary productions.

Mainly through a concurrence of these circumstances has a feeble and insignificant branch of industry grown up to be a lucrative and important staple of manufacture. As early as the middle of last century, the plan of issuing cheap editions of popular works was struck out by Alexander Donaldson, an Edinburgh bookseller, and was followed up by several publishers in London. Among the immediate successors of Donaldson were Bell, Elliot, Doig, and Creech, by whom respectively works in general literature were successfully issued. In 1771, William Smellie, in whom was united the printer and man of letters, commenced the Encyclopædia Britannica, which in its different series since that period has proved a prolific production of the Edinburgh press. Sixty years ago, an immense impetus was given to the trade, through the introduction of an elegant style of printing by the Ballantynes, simultaneously with a munificent system of dealing with authors by Archibald Constable, the first publisher of the Edinburgh Review, and the poems and novels of Scott. What was thus so auspiciously begun, was continued by the enterprise and skill of Messrs. Black, and the late Mr. William Blackwood, the originator of Blackwood's Magazine, which remains one of the conspicuous periodicals issued in Edinburgh. Others, however, could be mentioned as helping to confirm and extend the reputation of Edinburgh as a literary mart, each firm adopting and fostering a peculiar line of business-as, for example, Messrs. Oliver and Boyd, juvenile and school books; Messrs. Oliphant and Co., religious publications; Messrs. Bell and Bradfute, law books; Messrs. T. and T. Clark, law books, and translations of

eminent theological treatises; Messrs. Edmonston and Douglas, miscellaneous literature and fiction; Messrs. Gall and Inglis, Sabbath-school and religious publications; Messrs. Strahan, W. P. Nimmo, J. Maclaren, Grant and Son, and J. Nichol, miscellaneous literature; Messrs. Maclachlan and Stewart, medical treatises; Messrs. Nelson and Sons, works of an educational and useful kind, also Bibles; Messrs. Fullerton and Co., works issued in numbers; Messrs. W. and R. Chambers, cheap periodicals and educational treatises, &c. In the department of music publishing, there are three or four firms carrying on a large business.

Several of the book and periodical publishers have branch establishments in London; while, on the other hand, a number of booksellers in Edinburgh act as commission agents for London houses, by which means there is much reciprocal intercourse in the business of publication. Among the commission agents in Edinburgh, none is more remarkable for the extent of his transactions than Mr. John Menzies, bookseller and publisher, at whose establishment there is always a copious supply of new works issued by London houses.

As regards Scotland, Edinburgh is the centre of a large trade in second-hand books, in which branch of business there are several well-known firms, who derive their stocks chiefly from the sales by auction of the libraries of deceased professional and private gentlemen, for which description of auctions there are some large and wellconducted establishments.

Co-ordinately with this growth of the trade, there has been developed an extraordinary variety of allied pursuits, such as pressmaking, type-founding, letter-press and lithographic printing; engraving on copper, steel, and wood, the construction of maps and atlases, die-cutting, and bookbinding; with, in addition, a numerous body of retail booksellers and newsagents. Stereotyping, the invention of William Ged, a goldsmith in Edinburgh, at the beginning of last century, has been recently brought to great perfection in this the place of its birth, and prodigiously facilitated the mechanical production of that popular class of works in which great numbers are required. Although stereotyping is conducted as a separate profession, it is so only to a limited extent; the practice is to attach a corps of stereotypers to a printing-office where such work is required.

With the establishment of new publishing firms there has been introduced a system in which the whole routine of book and periodical preparation is conducted in a single establishment. When, as in some instances, literary men are likewise engaged as assistants, the spectacle is presented of entire buildings, wherein every branch is united, from the receiving of plain paper to its dismissal in the form of bound volumes ready for the counter of the bookseller. The business of certain Edinburgh publishers, so far resembling that which is not unusual in some continental countries and the United States, partakes, therefore, of the concentration, promptitude, and economic working common to the factory system, with a correspond

ing advantage to public as well as private interests. To these facts it is to be added, that the profession of the Edinburgh publisher is materially assisted by two things: first, his proximity to the extensive paper manufactories of Mid-Lothian, whence, drawing his supplies direct, he is not taxed with the profits of a middleman, as is generally the case in London; secondly, the facility of sea and railway transit for his packages to the metropolis, whence much of the produce of the Edinburgh press is disposed of, either on commission, or by branch-publishing establishments.

The following table of statistics will afford an idea of the present extent of the publishing trade of Edinburgh, with allied departments of business:

Publishing firms

Booksellers and newsagents, including the above publishers
Clerks and assistants employed by the foregoing

Apprentices, packers, and porters

Letterpress-printing establishments

Hand-presses in regular or occasional use

Printing-machines of all kinds in use.

Journeymen compositors

Apprentice compositors

Pressmen and machinemen

187

Apprentice ditto

125

Young women employed as compositors

14

Type-founding establishments

3

Copper and steel plate engraving and lithographic-printing esta

blishments.

33

Persons of various classes in their employment (approximate calcu-
lation)

300

Printing-press makers.

Bookbinding establishments

34

Male operatives employed in the above book-binding establish

ments

499

Female operatives ditto

. 532

Typefounding, though conducted by only three establishments, is in the highest state of advancement, whether as regards mechanism or cut of letter. All the founders have introduced casting-machines, by which the labour is simplified and cheapened; and as, accordingly, demand is increased, the business is able to afford additional employment. One establishment (Messrs. Miller and Richards) employs 300 men and boys, and contains 82 machines. Each machine when in full work is capable of producing 18lbs. of average-sized letter per day. Trade has been somewhat dull lately; but when it is brisk, this concern turns out at the rate of 200 tons of types in the year, A large proportion is sent to London and the colonies.

Another establishment (Messrs. James Marr and Co.), is on a similarly large scale, and besides has allied branches in London and Dublin.

Letter-press Printing.-This art, on which so much of the tasteful appearance of books depends, may be safely averred to have been brought to as great perfection in Edinburgh as in any city in the

world-that which was so adroitly commenced by the Ballantynes under the disadvantage of antiquated mechanism, being not only sustained but greatly improved upon by their successors, as also by Mr. Thomas Constable, Messrs. Clark, Neill and Co., and others. The extent of some of the printing establishments may be judged from the fact, that from one alone, that of Messrs. Ballantyne and Co., there are produced on an average one million two hundred thousand volumes annually.

The excellence of Edinburgh typography, which continually draws work from London, is the more remarkable, when it is borne in mind that only so lately as fifty years ago the whole of the literature issuing from the Edinburgh press was executed by hand-labour, and with such a protraction of toil as to be alike damaging to health and moral well-being. The introduction of printing machinery moved by steam-power has not only remedied this grievous evil, but been the means of vastly increasing the number of hands employed— this improvement in the condition and habits of the operative printers of Edinburgh being among the more gratifying instances of social advancement in our times. It says not a little for the intellectual progress of this class of artisans, that besides supporting a library for their own particular use, they sustain a periodical for the discussion of topics connected with their profession.

Wood-cutting.-Thirty years ago it was scarcely possible to get wood-cuts executed in Edinburgh. There are now several establishments for this kind of labour, besides wood-cutting departments connected with publishing firms, from all which a superior class of work is obtained.

Engraving and Lithographic Establishments.-Of these there are some notable examples, including that of Messrs. Schenck and Macfarlane (42 presses, 12 artists, and 70 printers and assistants); Messrs. Home and Co. (music printing); Mr. J. Bartholomew (map engraving and printing); Messrs. Banks and Sons (pictorial and fancy engraving); and several others in different branches. But the most extensive establishment in this variety of the publishing trade is that of Messrs. W. and A. K. Johnston, which gives employment to about 160 persons, and keeps in use 48 presses. The departments carried on in this large concern comprise engraving on steel, copper, and zinc; copper-plate, lithographic and letter-press printing; map colouring and mounting, globe-making; constructing plans, &c. While every species of commercial work, from the designing and engraving of bank-notes to the printing of ordinary circular letters, is carried on, the establishment has long taken the lead in the preparation of geographical works, including atlases, several of which, on a magnificent scale, have been produced under the able editorship of Mr. A. Keith Johnson, a member of the firm. This atlas and miscellaneous map department is acknowledged to be the largest and best appointed of any private establishment in this country, perhaps in Europe. The weekly wages paid by the Messrs. Johnston amount to upwards of £6,000 per annum.