§ MR. DILLWYNsaid, he wished to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education, If it be true that there is any intention on the part of the Science and Art Department to publish a Catalogue of all known Works of Art in England and elsewhere; and, what has been the cost of the "Universal Art Catalogue" already published, how 625 many copies of it have been sold, and what amount has been received for such sale?
§ MR. W. E. FORSTERIt is true, Sir, that since 1864 the Science and Art Department has been collecting very brief notes of objects of industrial art, copies and reproductions of which might be useful to the Schools of Art and the Museums of Art in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin. A part of the work relating to mosaics and stained glass is now printed; 250 copies are printed, and 150 of them will be circulated amongst local Schools of Art. With regard to the Universal Catalogue of Books on Art, the estimated cost of printing, circulating, and advertising it, stated in the House of Commons' Return, 1867, No. 362, moved for by Mr. Gregory, was £8,383. This did not include compilation and editorship. The actual total cost, including all, has been only £8,034, from which has to be deducted sales, estimated to produce £500, reducing the cost to about £7,500. The work has not yet been published complete, but parts only have been sold. The price of the two volumes will be two guineas, and 500 copies have been printed for sale to the general public. The work was produced particularly for the libraries at South Kensington, Edinburgh, and Dublin, and the 110 Schools of Art in the United Kingdom, and has been welcomed throughout Europe as a valuable work.