Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/38

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[12 S. I. JAN. 8, 1916.

ANASTATIC PRINTING (11 S. xii. 359, 403, 443 ; 12 S. i. 13). Having acquired nearly all of the volumes issued by two societies formed for issuing drawings by this process, and from inquiry finding that these publica- tions are not generally known, I think the following particulars may be worth record- ing. The prospectus of the Anastatic Drawing Society is dated April 13, 1855, and signed by the Rev. John M. Gresley, Over Seile, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, who was the originator and hon. secretary of the society. The subscription was half-a-guinea, and each member contributing drawings was entitled to ten extra impressions of each of these, the size of which was limited to 7 in. by 9| in. The first volume (for 1855) was issued early in 1856. The members then numbered 145, but by the next year they had increased to 267. There are 66 plates in this volume, of which 20 copies in folio (issued at a guinea) and 140 in quarto were printed by Messrs. W. & J. Hextall, Ashby-de-la-Zouch. A volume was issued each year until 1862, but the one for 1863 was not published until 1866, there having been some delay in the completion of the plates. The preface is dated 1863, and to this a note Xov., 1866 is added stating that in consequence of the death of Mr. Gresley the series of drawings had come to an end. The complete series of this society thus comprises nine volumes, which contain 563 plates. The first four were printed by Hextall, and the remainder by his successor in business, John Barker.

In 1859 the Ham (Staffs) Anastatic Draw- ing Society was formed by the Rev. G. R. Mackarness, himself an original member of the earlier society. Under his direction nine volumes were issued, the one for 1868 (published 1869) being the last. He was succeeded as secretary by the Rev. W. F. Francis, who was responsible for the volumes issued from 1870 until 1873. From the references in later volumes, and the number- ing, it appears that nothing was published in 1874 or 1875, when the editorship passed into the hands of Llewellynn Jewitt. The volume for 1873 is numbered xiii. ; those for 1876 and 1877 are not numbered, but 1878 is vol. xvi. In 1876 the word " Ham " is omitted from the title-page. In the preface to this volume Mr. Jewitt writes as if the original Anastatic had been amalgamated with the Ham Society, but this, it is evident, 'was not the case. The lists of members of the latter are, with the exception of a few names, entirely different from those of Mr. Gresley 's society, and the number very much

smaller. Mr. Jewitt edited annual volumes until 1883, but the next did not appear until 1887. This included drawings for the years 1884, 1885, and 1886, and was prepared partly by him, but, owing to his death in June, 1886, was completed by William George Fretton, who also edited vol. xxiii.,, for the years 1887, 1888, and 1889. This is the latest volume I have seen, and I shall be glad to hear of any others. The members of this society numbered 137 in 1887. The^ volumes from 1864 (the earliest I have) until 1868 were printed by M. Hoon of Ashbourne, and after this at Cowell's Press, Ipswich.

The drawings in these two series illustrate a very wide range of subjects, and include antiquities of every description. The execu- tion varies as to merit, but many of the plates are exceedingly well drawn.

A report of Faraday's lecture on the process was published in The Polytechnic Review for May, 1845, and reprinted later in The Medical Times. Poole gives references to papers in The Southern Literary Messenger , xi. 383, and Littell's Living Age, v. 56, 534 (in addition to that given by MB. HUM- PHREYS).

The earliest reference given in the ' Oxford Dictionary ' is 1849, a paper on the process having been read by H. E. Strickland at the meeting of the British Association in 1848. The title only is given in the Report dated 1849. It will be seen from MR. HUMPHREYS'S reply that the word is of older date.

ROLAND AUSTIN.

Gloucester.

ENEMIES or BOOKS (11 S. xii. 480). Poor torn-tit has again as on so many occasions in garden and orchard been wrongfully accused.

The tit is essentially practical and utili- tarian. He is too intent on getting his living (insect life, sometimes garnished with the additional luxury of fat or cocoa-nut when obtainable) to risk his life and liberty in invading libraries to peck the " calf bind- ings." The appearance of the tits' " mis- chievous activities " means an insect pest, I recommend your correspondent and the Chapter Librarian to examine the books and wallpaper with a powerful glass. They will at once understand the presence of the tits.

I am no entomologist, and cannot name the insect the bird is waging war upon, but I have had the displeasure of making both his acquaintance and that of the little wood- boring beetle and so-called bookworm, and have successfully eradicated them. The insect now under trial appears to feed on the