Press enter after choosing selection

National Printing

National Printing image
Parent Issue
Day
9
Month
June
Year
1886
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

There aro 63,063 titles in Major Bent "erley Poore's reccntly published "Decrlptive Catalogue of Government Pubications." And it is estimated that here are at least 10,000 titles not inluded in this compilation. It Is prety safe to say, therefore, that the Gotrnment has published since its organzation 75,000 distinct works, 80 that ho "Pub. Does." as they are irreverntly called, would alone makc a libray that would rank among the largest n the country. The most complete collpctlon of these oouments is that in the Boston PubKc ibrary; the next in fullness is found n the Congressional Library, and the luid large collection is probably owned y the antiquarianbook firm of Anglim & Co., of this city. These dealers are ow completing a full sot of publio oeuments frora the Twenty-thiru Con;ress. Only a few volumes are mlssng, and these they expect to find, and when the collection is finisaed they esmate it will contaln 60,000 titles. The rice of this library is set at f3,000, md, as all the volumos which cempose t were printed at the public expense and distributed gratuitously, this sum bould represent a good prolit to inidllemen. The documents are of all sizes and relate to every imaginable topic Some are greatthick qnartoa, Iike the census volumes or the "Medical History of the Var." And at tho other extreme are housands of pamphlet roports on small raatto.rs. But it should be noted tliat Üie bilis introdneed in the Congresses are not included in the titles, if they wcre, tho total would bc high in the hundreds of thousands. Tho largest singlo publication ever undertaken by hc Government is the "Tenthí íensus," which, if completed, would fill about twenty-four largo quarto volumes. Only half of these have been issued or ever will be, but even as it Is the Centennial Census is probably the most Tolmninous public document, not counting as one serial the various annual reports. No donbt the finest and costliest group of publlcations relate to the Government surveys. Many of these reports are snperbly gotten up, copiously Hnstrated, and accompanied by maps of the highest scientlftc and mechanical excellence. Ono special series of twenty separate titles relate to the canals, routes and Isthmus of Panama. Then thero are reports of expeditions to the Arctio and to the Amazon, reports on the cholera, on birds, and bugs, and grasses, on various branches of politica! economy, on the Indian from every standpoint; many elabórate reports on patents; tho learned volumes put forth undor the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution; such bulky documents as the stenographic reports of the Star Route trials and the Guiteau trial; codification of the land law, and the many publications relating to the cítíI war. These are all executive documents, put out, that is, by the departments. Then, in addition, thero are the Congressional doeuments which include the Record, which alone has now swollen to seven or ten thick quartos for each Congreas; the great volumes full of tediuus and interminable testimony in committee investigation, and the thousands of smaller committee reports. The pace of the Government press has kept up with the rapid progress of the country In all directions. According to the index the documents for the first quarter of a century were about 2,000; for the next quarter, 6,500; for the third quarter, 20,000; for the fourth, 22,500; and the annual output now rum up to about 4,000 titles annnalïy. Then it must bo remembered that the oditions are much largor than in the carly days. Rarely are less than 600 copies of a document prlnted, and frequently the editioa Is many times that slze. Of tho annnal roDort of tho Commissionor of Agriculturo 800,000 copies "are iasued and distributed. The United States Government is, In short, the greatest publishlng house in tho world. Br tho side of its resources such an establishment as the Harpers' becomes quite nnall. Thcre are on tho pay roll 400 compositors, besides a largo force of .superintendente, foremen, etc. Fifty proof-reader3 are employed, and 45 prossmen, 115 press feedors and 34 ruling machine fecdera. The estimates cali for 100,000 reams of printing paper, or 48.000,000 sheets, nanh ahm.t makinff eitrht or sixteen

Article

Subjects
Ann Arbor Courier
Old News