To the Executive Committee of the National Exhibition in Turin
E IX, 4110
He asks, with compelling reasons, that a verdict be reached that is more in line with the merit of the works carried out by the Salesian printing house – their value is indisputable and cannot fail to be appreciated by the jury
Turin, 25 October 1884
Honourable Executive Committee, (Review Jury Office)
On the 23rd of this month, a letter was written on my behalf to this Honourable Committee, in which some observations were made regarding the Jury's verdict and the Silver Medal award that would be given to the many works of my printing house exhibited in the Galleria della Didattica [Gallery displaying educational works] at the Italian Exhibition.
Returning to the subject, I would like to add, in accordance with the rules of the Jury, a few observations which are as follows:
the monthly publication of Italian Classics edited for young people and scientifically annotated, which has been produced by my printing house in Turin for 16 years and has already sold over 300,000 copies;
- the monthly publication of our Poplar Readings in an affordable edition, which has been running for 33 years and has sold over two million copies;
- the 100th reprint of the Companion of Youth, which sold six million copies, and other smaller works of the same nature, whose circulation is incalculable;
- the Latin and Greek classics annotated for secondary schools, which have been widely published for 20 years now;
the Latin, Italian and Greek dictionaries with related Grammars, compiled by professors from my institutes, appreciated and praised by competent individuals and universally accepted, as evidenced by the numerous and frequent editions published.
many other works on History, Pedagogy, Geography, Arithmetic, which are highly regarded and widely distributed, at very modest prices, within the reach of all budgets and suitable for widespread distribution;
a fair number of editions in various formats and sizes, illustrated with engravings or without, but always elegant in terms of paper and printing;
- many other products that I will omit for the sake of brevity, seem to me sufficient reasons to interest the Jury responsible for the examination and induce it to award a prize no less than those awarded to exhibitors whose products are inferior to mine in terms of quality and quantity.
I would also like to point out to the Jury that the above-mentioned works were carried out in all my printing houses by poor young people gathered from my Institutes and thus set on the path to earning an honest living; and yet the execution of the works is not inferior (in the opinion of those knowledgeable in the art) to other works exhibited by various publishers who received a prize not only equal to but, according to what I have been told, superior to mine.
I must not omit to mention that my works were not specifically examined and compared by the jury, and therefore I believe that its judgement could not have been made with full knowledge of their merit, as some expert publishers have stated in their reviews of our books and those of others, not to mention the elegant prints produced in the gallery of my paper mill and under the public eye.
As for my paper mill, if the expression was correctly understood, I would simply be offered a certificate of merit, thus excluding me from the list of competitors and prize winners.
Even if we disregard the paper machine because it is foreign, I nevertheless believe that consideration should be given to the refined workmanship of the machine and to the industry of the undersigned purchaser, who, at considerable expense to himself, is promoting art and craftsmanship in Italy with a wider range of products at today’s Italian Exhibition.
I am also surprised that the Jury did not give any consideration to my printing foundry, the composition and printing of books and the related binding, whose arts are fully represented in constant action in the Gallery itself, and through which the ingenious work by which a book is created, from rags to paper, type, printing and binding, was brought to the attention of the public.
For all these reasons, the public’s favourable opinion was unanimous, which should also weigh heavily in the jury’s decision when awarding the prizes.
I therefore ask the Honourable Committee, through the Review Jury, to reach a verdict that is more in line with the merit of the works mentioned above and leaves no reason for the public to express unfavourable opinions in this regard.
I hope that my notes will be taken into consideration. If this is not the case, I hereby renounce any prize or certificate, and request that this Committee issue the appropriate orders so that no mention is made in print of the verdict, the prize or the certificate itself.
In this case, it is enough for me to have been able to contribute with my work to the magnificent exhibition of Italian ingenuity and industry, and to have demonstrated with my actions the dedication I have always shown over the course of more than 40 years to promoting the moral and material well-being of poor and abandoned young people, as well as the true progress of science and the arts.
The appreciation of the audience, who had the opportunity to see for themselves the nature of my work and that of my collaborators, is reward enough for me.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish the Honourable Committee and the esteemed Jury all the best from God and express my deepest appreciation,
I am Your Lordships’
obliged servant,
