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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 5
[miscellaneous paragraphs]
New Zealand folk will be interested to learn, on the authority of a home paper, that the Governor's baby was baptised in the name of « Mi-an-Kwai-Zondow, » which (according to the same authority) signifies « Bay of Sunlight in Strange Land. » It was commonly reported in the colony that the little one received the Maori name of « Huia. »
Mr A. V. Haight, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., has sent us a quarto book of specimens of printing. Mr Haight has secured a wide reputation as an artistic color-printer, and both in skilful composition and in exquisite and harmonious color-effects, the book is worthy of the establishment. We do not like the types, however. Among so many grotesque and misshapen styles in the display-lines, a few pages of plain letter would have been a sweet relief—but we fail to find them.
Auckland papers of the 6th ult. announce the death of Capt. McKenzie Wilson, librarian at the Auckland Hospital. He was born in South Africa in 1806, joined the British Army in 1826, and ten years later was gazetted captain. He served in South Africa and India, and eventually came to New Zealand. About twelve years ago he wrote a paraphrase of Psalm civ, and got it printed in a pamphlet. He then canvassed a great part of the Auckland province on foot, and sold 3,000 copies, with the profit from which he founded the Hospital Library, and became the librarian, the Government allowing him board and residence in the Hospital and £10 a year.
The stock of the late Mr Robert Holt Carpenter, second-hand-book seller, was recently sold by auction in Wellington by order of the public trustee. There were about seven thousand volumes, and the sale occupied two days. There were a few curious old works, but no really valuable books in the whole stock, and the amount of rubbish was enormous. Innumerable old cyclopædias, and other obsolete scientific books, « elegant extracts, » shabby old bound magazines and reviews, long-forgotten school-books and worthless remainders, antiquated lexicons, &c., constituted the great bulk of the stock. Some sets otherwise valuable, were imperfect —plates filched or volumes wanting. There were two copies of Johnson's Typographia, (the small paper edition, and shabby.) « Gorton's Dictionary of Typography » was catalogued. We took the trouble to look it up, though we suspected some error, never having heard of such a book. It turned out to be a broken-down old « Topography. »
The reporter of the Wanganui Herald, in his account of the Taranaki jubilee celebrations, refers to Mr Seffern, the editor of the Taranaki Herald, as « a veteran journalist who knows more about the history of New Zealand than any other man in it, that I know of. He is a great favorite with pressmen in general, and the local public in particular. »
According to the World, an Austrian lady novelist has just published a story, of which the scene is laid at Ober-Ammergau, and she makes the Christus of the Passion Play fall desperately in love with a gay nymph from Vienna, with tragical results to himself, The Munich papers announce that Joseph Mayer, who has played the Christus for the last thirty years, is so much aggrieved that he has brought an action for libel against the authoress in order to vindicate his moral character.
The latest example of the sneak advertisement in the news columns, and one of the clumsiest fictions ever set afloat, is a stupid hoax concerning a bashful man who hired Professor——'s phonograph to « pop the question. » It fills half-a-column, and appears in some paper in each town just as the advance agent comes round. If the newspapers are paid to insert the story they are guilty of cheating the public; if they copy it gratis and of their own free-will, they are allowing the phonograph man to cheat them in a very barefaced styie.
Langworthy, according to a late telegram, has died in a lunatic asylum in Argentina. There seems to have been a touch of insanity throughout his evil career, though there certainly was method in his madness. His immense fortune descends to his only daughter, whom he endeavored to disown. The manner in which Mr. Stead, single-handed, by means of the Pall Mall Gazette, defeated his machinations, and secured justice for his ill-used wife and daughter, will always be remembered as one of the triumphs of the press.
Out of the very peculiar libel case Cassin v. Dinwiddie, Walker, & Co., Limited, further developments are likely to arise. It will be remembered that the alleged libel was in reference to certain irregular dealings with the funds of a benefit society. The Herald now states that some of the legal gentlemen connected with the case have detected an interpolation of the words « and enclose checque [sic] payable to us » in one of the letters put in evidence by complainant. The press-copy of the letter was turned up, and the words are not there. The society concerned is to be written to officially on the subject.
« The young man from the country » is to be found in the colonies as well as in other lands. One in the South Island recently came to the city with his cheque, which he took to the bank. The ledger-keeper marked the cheque « Refer to drawer, » and the young fellow could not understand why the teller declined to honor the order. The official at last lost patience, and to close the discussion said, « All we can do is to refer you to the drawer. » Upon which, the customer, in righteous indignation, exclaimed, « Then show me the drawer, you mutton-headed chump, and I'll soon take the money out of it. »
At the Resident Magistrate's Court, Gisborne, a Maori woman, desirous of
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impressing the Bench with the importance of her position in the tribe, explained that she was « the Ace, the highest card in the pack, » His Worship's comment, sotto voce, is supposed to have been « The Deuce! »