222
NOTES AND QUERIES. m s. m. M. as, IML
Grands Prix at the Brussels International
Exhibition last year. One of these was for
Oxford India paper. Similar awards were
obtained at Paris in 1889, at the Franco-
British Exhibition in 1908, and at many
other exhibitions.
No more beautiful specimen of the advan- tages of this paper has been shown than the volume published by the Press con- taining the Old and New Testaments, the Apocrypha, and ' Helps to the Study of the Bible.' Its size is 9J inches by 6| inches ; it is 1J inches thick, and weighs in its flexible morocco binding only 21b. 10 oz. I have frequently shown friends the strength of the paper by holding the book up by a single leaf. Spurgeon wrote of it :
" I rejoiced as one that findeth great spoil when I received a copy of this Bible. The print is like a pulpit Bible, and yet the book is, com- paratively, so small that I thought it could only be a portion of the Scriptures. Marvellously thin and strong India paper is used, or the book could not be got into the space. I feel personally indebted to the University Press for producing a volume which makes it a pleasure for failing eyesight to rest upon the page."
Mr. Frowde has also given me some interesting particulars as to the sale of Bibles by the Clarendon Press. As regards " the Family Bible in its old form, there is hardly any demand for it now." He attributes this to two reasons :
" One is that in former days it was a record, of the births and deaths of the members of a family, and when compulsory registration came in, it was no longer needed for that purpose. The other reason is that the fashion of heavy bindings and metal clasps is alien to the taste of the modern person. The old-fashioned ^ illustrated Bible, too, has almost passed away."
It is good to know that the small-type Bibles so much in vogue years ago are giving place to those with larger type.
Mr. Frowde says that
" the sale of the Revised Version has, for some years past, been slowly, but steadily increasing. In 1899 Convocation authorized its use in the Church of England, leaving its adoption to the discretion of the clergy ; and the Wesleyan and other religious bodies have adopted it in a similar way. Within the last few years we have prepared special editions for the British and Foreign Bible Society. All this," continues Mr. Frowde, " will show you that there is a growing interest taken in the Revised Version."
Mr. Frowde is not at liberty to state the exact number of copies sold of the Revised Version, but he tells me that " they do not amount to a tenth of the number sold of the Authorized Version." Last year was pub- lished ' The Revised New Testament with Fuller References,' representing the work
of two generations. This may be had on
Oxford India paper, and also, Mr. Frowde
tells me, " on our ordinary rag paper."
Of Mr. Frowde's own publications on Oxford India paper, perhaps the most note- worthy are the Oxford India-paper Dickens- and Thackeray, each in 17 volumes. Dickens is represented by 15,140 pp., weighing when bound 9 Ib. 7 oz., with a shelf space of 14 J in.; the corresponding edition on ordinary paper (the " Fireside Edition ") contains the same number of pages, but, split up into 22 volumes, occupies 26 in. of shelf space and weighs 28 Ib. 9 oz. The Oxford Thackeray runs to 12,524 pp. On ordinary paper these 17 volumes of Thackeray take up 25| in. of shelf space and weigh 25| Ib. On Oxford India paper in a similar binding they take up only 12| in. of shelf space and weigh but 9j Ib. ' The Oxford Book of English Verse,' by Sir A. T. Quiller-Couch, shows also in the thick and thin forms a remarkable differ- ence, the thick weighing 1 Ib. 15 oz., and the thin (same binding) 12 oz.
JOHN COLLINS FBANCIS.
STATUES AND MEMORIALS IN THE
BRITISH ISLES.
(See 10 S. xi. 441 : xii. 51, 114, 181, 401 ; 11 S. i. 282 ; ii. 42, 242, 381 ; iii. 22.)
STATESMEN AND POLITICIANS.
Barrow in Furness. In front of the new Town Hall is a bronze statue of Lord Fre- derick Cavendish. It is the work of Mr. Albert Bruce Joy, and was unveiled by the late Earl Spencer in 1885. The statue is 10 ft. 6 in. high, and stands on a pedestal of polished Aberdeen granite. I had the privilege of seeing Mr. Bruce Joy at work in his studio in 1884 at the plaster cast of this statue and of the completed statue in bronze before its removal to Barrow.
Liverpool. In front of St. George's Hall is a bronze statue of Lord Beaconsfield, erected by public subscription in 1883. It cost about 2,200 guineas, and was un- veiled by Sir R. A. Cross (Lord Cross). The sculptor was the late Mr. C. B. Birch, A.R.A. The total height of the statue, which stands on a pedestal of polished Peter head granite,, is 23 feet.
In St. John's Gardens are statues of the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, born at Liver- pool, 1809, died 1898 ; and Sir A. B. For- ward, Bt., born 1836, died 1898.
