een surpassed before or since.

When William Pickering, in 1830, began to issue his Aldine edition of
the British Poets in the most beautiful and appropriate form that he
could devise, the design which he placed upon the title-page, a dolphin
and an anchor, with the words "Aldi discip. Anglus," was an expression
at once of pride and of obligation. He had gone back to Aldus for his
model, and the book which he produced was in all but its change of type
from italic to roman a nearly exact reproduction of the form which Aldus
had employed so successfully three centuries before. Even the relative
thinness of the volumes was preserved as an important element of their
attractiveness to eye and hand. Whoever would learn what an enormous
difference in esthetic effect can be produced by slight differences in
style and size, especially in thickness, should compare the Pickering
"Aldines" with the rival set of British Poets published by Little and
Brown. The latter series is a noble one, often showing better presswork
than Pickering's, and it was deservedly popular, but it is many degrees
removed from the totality of esthetic charm that would entitle it to
rank as a favorite.

We said that Pickering went back to Aldus for his model, but he did not
travel a lonely road. The book size in question had never ceased to be
used, and in the eighteenth century it was in full favor. The writings
of the novelists and essayists found ready buyers in this form, as
witness, among others, the Strahan Fielding of 1783, the Rivington Idler
of the same year, and the Rivington Sterne of 1788. The size of the
printed page is usually larger, but that of the Sterne corresponds as
closely to that of the two "Aldines" as the difference in the size of
type will permit. Pickering's contemporaries and successors in the
publishing field recognized the attractiveness of this book size, and
the works of the poets generally were issued in this form; hence we
have, for example, the Longman Southey, the Moxon Wordsworth, and the
Murray Crabbe. The latest series to appeal for popular favor by the use
of this book form is Everyman's Library, in which, though much has been
sacrificed to cheapness, the outward proportions of the volumes are
almost identical with those adopted by Aldus and Pickering.

Go, little book, whose pages hold
Those garnered years in loving trust;
How long before your blue and gold
Shall fade and whiten in the dust?