Paper and Binding
My pages are probably made of a paper format known in England as "printing demy", as evidenced by the fleur-de-lys watermarks when one carefully shows a single page up to the light. With dimensions of approximately 56 x 44.5 centimetres*, twelve pages would have been would have been printed on this sheet. The complexion of each of my pages has not been marred significantly by age. I do have a few spots where impurities such as traces of metals in my linen-rag paper have oxidised.
I am still clothed in the bindings that were given to me by the publisher. An advertisement of the time has offered my "in boards for three shillings"**. My boards, covered in marbled paper, are worn smooth as if they have been slid in and out of a bookcase many times. I am "quarterbound", meaning that just my spine has been covered with leather. Into this is tooled in gold lettering the essence of my name "Wakefield" and "Botany".
My slightly rough paper and my publishers' bindings certainly show that I am the demure three shilling edition advertised in the British press in 1796. I did have some more glamorous sisters in my generation, advertised for sale with coloured engravings and fine paper.**
I am still clothed in the bindings that were given to me by the publisher. An advertisement of the time has offered my "in boards for three shillings"**. My boards, covered in marbled paper, are worn smooth as if they have been slid in and out of a bookcase many times. I am "quarterbound", meaning that just my spine has been covered with leather. Into this is tooled in gold lettering the essence of my name "Wakefield" and "Botany".
My slightly rough paper and my publishers' bindings certainly show that I am the demure three shilling edition advertised in the British press in 1796. I did have some more glamorous sisters in my generation, advertised for sale with coloured engravings and fine paper.**
*Source: Gaskell, Philip (1972) An New Introduction to Bibliography. Oxford : Oxford University Press.
***From: Oracle and Public Advertiser (London, England), Friday, June 10, 1796; Issue 19 343. Retrieved from British Newspapers 1600-1900 database.
***From: Oracle and Public Advertiser (London, England), Friday, June 10, 1796; Issue 19 343. Retrieved from British Newspapers 1600-1900 database.