ABSTRACT
One of the prominent members of the Franco-Scottish Society, mentioned briefly in, was Charles Sarolea, the first head of the French Department at Edinburgh University. The uncovered pages then moved to an ingenious casing-in machine which gave the book its hard cover. Cheap French books, all bound in thin paper covers, instead of hard covers, were usually printed in what British readers considered old-fashioned typefaces, on poor quality paper, and their pages were uncut. The first four titles in what was to be Nelson's French collection had been typeset in the Netherlands, then printed and bound at the Parkside Works in Edinburgh. They compared favourably in material terms with French low-cost books: the typeface bold and clear, the stitching solid and the first titles all sure sellers had illustrated wrappers. It is the first time the public has been offered in this luxurious and convenient format works which one could not obtain before because of their high price'.
