Volume 1 — LEARNED SOCIETIES, Etc.

THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES

THE Near East has been opened up by the war, and reports are coming in. The Augustinian Priory of the Holy Sepulchre, a complex of buildings, including the Calvary, St. Helen's Chapel, and the Prison of Christ, has been described by Mr. A. W. Clapham, who, being on military duty in Jerusalem, recently surveyed the ruins, and succeeded in making an almost complete plan of the Latin monastery, founded in 1114. Architectural features, both Western and Byzantine, were noticed, and the hope expressed that cleaning and repair would soon be undertaken now that the Holy Places are under British protection. In Babylonia Mr. H. R. Hall has been excavating for the British Museum at Eridu and Ur of the Chaldees. Work on the former site was begun by Mr. Campbell Thompson last year, and buildings of the First Dynasty at Ur have been discovered, dating about 2400 B.C. Still earlier finds of Sumerian origin, dating from pre-Semitic times, have come to light at Tell el-Obeid near Ur, including heads of lions and panthers in copper, on a bitumen foundation, with inlaid tongues, eyes, and teeth of coloured stone and shell; and a lion-headed eagle in copper relief, flanked by stags, the group being 8 feet long and 4 feet high. Nearer home Mr. Reginald Smith has brought forward evidence to prove that flint daggers belong to the early Bronze Age in Britain, but to the last phase of the Stone Age in Scandinavia. The earlier daggers point to connection between the two areas about 2000 B.C.

THE SOCIETY OF GENEALOGISTS OF LONDON

Since Her Majesty the Queen graciously consented to become a Patron membership has considerably increased, and now stands at 377. During the winter papers have been read as follows: By Mr. Watson-Taylor on "Joan of Arc, Her Relatives and Descendants"; by Mr. Austen-Leigh on "Editing a School Register," Eton to wit; by Dr. G. C. Peachey on "Bookplates"; and by Mr. George Sherwood on "Pedigrees and Next-of-Kin Cases," all of which were well attended, and the papers recommended for publication. A paper is promised by the Rev. T. C. Dale on "Durham Records." The last Report of the Royal Commission on Public Records has been much discussed, and measures suggested for getting its recommendations put into practice. Recognition has been accorded by the British Museum authorities, with the result that the genealogical papers of the late R. W. Twigge, F.S.A., have been added, with the consent of Mrs. Twigge, to the Society's collection.

The Society's aim is simply to facilitate research: by making records more accessible, by forming a collection of printed books, documents, and MSS., and by making a great index on the card-index system to the less-known records of biographical fact. Application should be made for the latest Annual Report to the Secretary, at the Society's Rooms, 5 Bloomsbury Square, W.C.1.

THE VASARI SOCIETY

The Committee of the Vasari Society have decided to resume the publication of their annual Portfolio in 1920 if enough subscribers are forthcoming. The Society's aim is to reproduce in facsimile fine drawings by the Old Masters from both public and private collections. While attempting in the first place to publish less-known drawings from private collections, it will not forget that the essential aim is to reproduce masterly drawings rather than secondary pieces of historical interest, and on that account will draw, as in the past, to a considerable degree on the better-known works in public collections.

In the first ten years of the Society's work an annual Portfolio was published with an average of thirty reproductions, covering the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries. The new series may be somewhat broader in scope in admitting the nineteenth century, and allowing "Old Masters" to include any deceased master of acknowledged excellence in draughtsmanship. Moreover, it is desired to give ampler representation to draughtsmen of the British School than has been done in the past.

To continue the annual publication at the same subscription of one guinea, it has been decided to reduce the size of the Portfolio from 18 by 15 to 16 by 11½ inches, and it is thought that this will be welcomed by members who have little space for the larger folios. It will not imply reduction in size of the reproductions, which will continue to be as far as possible facsimile in size and colour, and every effort will be made to keep up the standard of quality. Intending subscribers should communicate with the Hon. Secretary, Mr. A. M. Hind, at the British Museum, London, W.C.1. Subscriptions for 1920 will not be due until May 1st, and those who have intimated their willingness to become members will be informed before that date if the number of subscribers promised does not justify the committee in issuing the publication.

THE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY

The Annual Report of the Bibliographical Society announces that the Society's Transactions will henceforth be published in quarterly parts, and that with a view to lessening the cost it is proposed to allow copies to be purchased by non-members and to accept advertisements. It is hoped also that The Library, founded by Sir John MacAlister in 1888 and edited during recent years by Mr. A. W. Pollard, the Keeper of Printed Books at the British Museum, and the Honorary Secretary of the Bibliographical Society, may be brought into the scheme, and that the quarterly numbers may be gradually worked up into a full bibliographical magazine.

At the December meeting of the Society a point of great bibliographical interest was raised by a paper read by Mr. F. W. Bourdillon on "Some French Romances." He showed how many of the woodcuts used in illustration were reproduced by one printer after another with a marked fall in quality by a method of transfer on to wood-blocks called by the technical name of pocher, which, he submitted, may be an ancestor of the modern English verb "to poach." Mr. Bourdillon urged the importance of the comparative study of such woodcuts, and suggested that a Society should be formed for reproducing early book illustrations in facsimile.

*****

DISCOVERY

A Conference was called last January by the joint invitation of the President of the Royal Society, the President of the British Academy, and a large number of others, interested both in the production and distribution of knowledge, to frame, if possible, a scheme for a journal which should present in popular form the most recent results of research in all the chief subjects of knowledge. This Conference appointed a committee to frame a scheme, and their report was presented and adopted at the adjourned meeting of the Conference held recently in the rooms of the Royal Society, Burlington House. Professor R. S. Conway, of Manchester, has acted throughout as Secretary of the movement. The meeting approved the name Discovery for the new journal, and established a trust for its maintenance, the first trustees being Sir Joseph J. Thomson, O.M., P.R.S., Sir Frederic G. Kenyon, D.Litt., K.C.B., P.B.A., Professor A. C. Seward, Sc.D., F.R.S., Professor R. S. Conway, Litt.D., P.B.A.

The meeting further approved of the agreement made provisionally by the Executive Committee, with Mr. John Murray as Publisher, and of his and the committee's joint recommendation of Captain A. S. Russell, M.C., D.Sc., recently of the R.G.A., now of the University, Sheffield, and Reader-elect in Chemistry at Christ Church, Oxford, as Editor. The first number will be issued on January 15th, 1920, at the price of sixpence.

The Conference further considered in detail and adopted the committee's scheme for the management of the journal, of which the chief principles may be mentioned. The control of the trustees is final, but they undertake to exercise it through a managing committee, which they will appoint on the nomination of a large number of bodies, the chief of whom are the Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies, who will nominate five members, the Classical, Historical, English, and Geographical, each of whom will nominate one member, and the Modern Language Association, if, as is hoped, that also adheres to the scheme. Further the British Psychological Society and the Royal Society of Economics will appoint one member.

This, however, is only one side of the committee's constitution. It will comprise also representatives of the great Associations which represent different bodies of students and teachers, and the public libraries. Those that have already pledged themselves to take part are the National Union of Teachers, which is to nominate two representatives; the Co-operative Union; the Associations of Headmasters and Headmistresses, who will appoint one member. Similar co-operation is hoped for from the Royal Society of Literature, the Library Association, the Young Men's Christian Association, the Workers' Educational Association, the Associations of Assistant Masters and Assistant Mistresses, and the Association of Education Committees, all of which have expressed sympathy with the movement.