Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

366 FHA NCIS BA CON
connected with these subjects they are not infrequent, and the
student need not despair of getting an important book because
it is not in the printed catalogue of a great library.
.Perhaps it may not be amiss to give a few hints to observers
unaccustomed to the technical matters involved in making a
book. Let them take notice that in folio editions the papermarks
are to be found about the centre of the page j but in small
quartos, where the paper is folded so as to form four sheets, in
octavos, where another fold produced eight sheets, and in duodecimos,
where the folds are again multiplied, the paper-marks
will often be found divided into two or four parts.
Usually, the
sheet having been bent in the middle where the paper-mark is,
be seen at the binding, say, half
the halves of the marks will
on pages 1 and 2, and the other half on pages 7 and 8. But in
smaller books, the water-marks are still more divided, and
sometimes appear in pieces in the outer margins. The eye soon
becomes accustomed to distinguish these arrangements,
although the division of the design makes the work more
troublesome.
Even in the large and undivided marks, the letter-press and
engravings often obscure the design. Many specimens must be
compared, and many drawings made, before the exact character
of the mark can be ascertained.
This is the excuse, pleaded beforehand, for any errors or misconceptions
in the drawings which accompany this book. It is
also the cause why these illustrations have been taken from
such a limited circle of books. Those in our own library, or
belonging to friends, can be traced against the light with red
ink, and then carefully retraced. But this is impossible in
books belonging to public libraries, where the difficulty of
measuring and copying is much increased by the little aid which
the all-cheering sun deigns to bestow, and by the impracticability
of holding up large folios towards his veiled face. He
seems to be in league with the paper-makers and printers, and
the electric light is kinder in this respect.
For the present, to avoid fruitless controversy, and to enclose