press, at a
small cost per square inch, is not only taking from the artistic value
of the modern _edition de luxe_, but also from its interest and
genuineness.

The next step is to manufacture rough-edged, coarse-textured paper,
purporting to be carefully "hand-made." The rough edge, which was a
necessity when every sheet of paper was finished by hand labour, is now
imitated successfully by machinery, and is handled lovingly by the
bookworm of to-day, regardless of the fact that these roughened sheets
can be bought by the pound in Drury-lane. The worst, and last fraud (I
can call it no less) that can be referred to here is, that the
clothing--the "skin of vellum"--that appropriately encloses our modern
_edition de luxe_ is made from pulp, rags, and other _debris_. That the
gold illuminations on the cover are no longer real gold, and that the
handsomely bound book, with its fair margins, cracks in half with a
"bang," when first opened, are other matters connected with the
discoveries of science, and the substitution of machinery for hand
labour, which we owe to modern enterprise and invention.[23]

Looking at the "decorative pages" in most books, and remembering the
achievements of the past, one is inclined to ask--Is the "setting-out of
a page" one of the lost arts, like the designing of a coin? What harmony
of style do we see in an ordinary book? How many authors or illustrators
of books show that they care for the "look" of a printed page? The fact
is, that the modern author shirks his responsibilities, following the
practice of the greatest writers of our day. There are so many
"facilities"--as they are called--for producing books that the author
takes little interest in the matter. Mr. Ruskin, delicate draughtsman as
he is known to be, has contributed little to the _ensemble_ or
appearance of the pages that flow from the printing press of Mr. Allen,
at Orpington. His books are well printed in the modern manner, but
judged by examples of the past, a deadly monotony pervades the page;
the master's noblest thoughts are printed exactly like his weakest, and
are all drawn out in lines together as in the making of macaroni! Mr.
Hamerton, artist as well as author, is content to describe the beauty of
forest trees, ferns and flowers, the variety of underwood and the like
(nearly every word, in an article in the _Portfolio_, referring to some
picturesque form or graceful line), without indicating the varieties
pictorially