Page:The Polygraphic Apparatus.djvu/50

 l “ 45 i lisher capable of giving a sound judgment as to the value of the l hook! Why does an author rather have his book published at Cotta`s than at any other publishers? Because the former is known to publish only valuable books at his shop, and, for that reason, his publication is sure to meet with a readier sale at Cotta`s. In time of yore an established rule was followed, that no printer was considered capable of carrying on his business, if, he was not able to print every Greek or Latin classic, of which he must have read himself the proofs, free of errors. Let us com- pare this with the pretensions of the present day, and we shall —·- with a few honorable exceptions -—~ find many of our printers who are not able to correct a German book, how much less one in a foreign language; this is the reason of the difference, with regard y to correctness, between works printed in England and France and some of our German works. This induced me to place the character of an apprentice -—— as far as the young typographers in the imperial printing-otlice contided to my care are concerned —-· on a footing different from the one usually granted; that is my motive for having them in- structed not only in all the departments of typography, but also in ’ reading and writing, in their native tongue and in foreign lan- guages; I have even lectures held to them on geography and his- tory, in order that the number of well educated typographers may by this means be increased — and I am happy to say that from the course of the first tive years I have experienced the most r pleasing results. On treating the section typography, I must not pass by a nuissance without mentioning it, namely that the literary produc- tions of Austrian authors are printed and published abroad. It is from foreign countries that we obtain almost every important lite- rary work. Medical works ·— the intrinsic worth of which is acknowledged abroad, owing to the high position occupied by the general inlirmary of Vienna - mostly form the publications of foreign booksellers and are often published in some of the smaller