One hundred guineas is stated to be the lowest cost of either of the
engravings in "the Literary Souvenir for 1829;" some of them, indeed,
cost from 150 to 170 guineas each. A circulation of less than from 8
to 9,000 copies, would entail a loss upon the proprietors; so that the
expense of "getting up" this superb "Annual" probably exceeds 3,500l.;
and taking this sum for the average of six others published at the same
price, and with a proportionate advance for two more published at one
guinea each, the outlay of capital in these works is from 35 to
40,000l.[4] This sum would purchase _Five Million_ numbers of THE
MIRROR, or 80 million printed pages, with 10 million impressions of
woodcuts!
[4] The portion of this sum paid for the literary department would form
a curious item in the records of genius, especially in contrast with
Milton's five pounds for his _Paradise Lost_.
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