Society of Antiquaries of London - Publications

Publications

The Society publishes Archaeologia and Antiquaries Journal "international journals of record". The Antiquaries Journal (1921 to present), is known as Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London. The Society also publishes a fortnightly online newsletter called Salon (Society of Antiquaries Online Newsletter).

Early publications included the talks given at the meetings, and engraved views and reproductions; these were issued to members as single issues and were collected for the volumes of series Vetusta Monumenta from 1718. These volumes were published until 1906, giving an encyclopaedic arrangement of exquisitely engraved views and details to accompany the descriptions.

An engraver was employed by the society since its inception—the earliest were George Vertue, James Basire and successors—labouring to produce the copperplate used in the printing of the folio editions. The prints were often large and appealing, and were intended to satisfy popular demand for archæological subject matter; their quasi-scientific illustrations were often inset with multiple viewpoints of architectural details. A fellow of the society, Richard Gough (director 1771 to 1791), sought to expand and improve publication of the society's research, motivated by the steady dilapidation of examples of Gothic architecture.

A later series of oversize issues was used to accommodate the format of some historical works, which the Society had commissioned to be reproduced by Edward Edwards and Samuel Hieronymus Grimm in water-colour in 1771; the first issues of these were mostly done by Basire. The first of these with a reproduction of a 16th century oil painting of the historic scene at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. The paper for this series required a larger size than was available, the manufacturer James Whatman was instructed to create a sheet 31 x 53 inches; the name given to this format is 'Antiquarian'. The engraving of the plate, measuring 4 ft 1in by 2 ft 3in, required two years to complete. The standard printing for this series was 400 prints; the plates were carefully stored by the society and used occasionally to fulfill later requests; only three of the seven plates still exist.