The Palæontographical Society was founded in 1847 for the purpose of figuring and describing a stratigraphical series of British Fossils. The annual volumes consist of portions of works by the most eminent palæontologists, and these works are completed as soon as circumstances allow, but several of them are still incomplete.
The Arundel Society is so important an institution that it cannot be passed over in silence, although, as the publications chiefly consist of engravings, chromolithographs, etc., it scarcely comes within the scope of this chapter. The Society takes its name from Thomas Howard Earl of Arundel, in the reigns of James I. and Charles I., who has been styled the "Father of vertu in England." It was founded in 1849, and its purpose is to diffuse more widely, by means of suitable publications, a knowledge both of the history and true principles of Painting, Sculpture, and the higher forms of ornamental design, to call attention to such masterpieces of the arts as are unduly neglected, and to secure some transcript or memorial of those which are perishing from ill-treatment or decay. The publications of the Society have been very successful, and many of them cannot now be obtained.
Most of the societies above described have appealed to a large public, and endeavoured to obtain a large amount of public support; but in 1853 was formed an exclusive society, with somewhat the same objects as the Roxburghe Club. The Philobiblon Society was instituted chiefly through the endeavours of Mr. R. Monckton Milnes (the late Lord Houghton) and the late Mons. Sylvain Van de Weyer. The number of members was at first fixed at thirty-five, but was raised in 1857 to forty, including the patron and honorary secretaries. The publications consist chiefly of a series of Bibliographical and Historical Miscellanies, contributed by the members, which fill several volumes. Besides these there are "The Expedition to the Isle of Rhe by Lord Herbert of Cherbury," edited and presented to the members by the Earl of Powis; "Inventaire de tous les meubles du Cardinal Mazarin," edited and presented by H.R.H. the Duke d'Aumale; "Memoires de la Cour d'Espagne sous la regne de Charles II., 1678-82," edited and presented by William Stirling (afterwards Sir William Stirling Maxwell); "The Biography and Bibliography of Shakespeare," compiled and presented by Henry G. Bohn; "Analyse des Travaux de la Société des Philobiblon de Londres," par Octave Delepierre.
The Ossianic Society was instituted at Dublin in 1853 for the preservation and publication of manuscripts in the Irish Language, illustrative of the Fenian period of Irish history, etc., with literal translations and notes.
The Warton Club was instituted in 1854 and issued four volumes, after which it was dissolved.
The Manx Society was instituted at Douglas, Isle of Man, in 1858, for the publication of National Documents of the Isle of Man.
All the Societies mentioned above are registered in Henry Bohn's Appendix to Lowndes's Bibliographer's Manual, and lists of the publications up to 1864 are there given. Most of them are also described in Hume's "Learned Societies and Printing Clubs of the United Kingdom" (1853). Since, however, the publication of these two books, a considerable number of important Printing Societies have been formed, and of these a list is not readily obtainable, except by direct application to the respective Secretaries.
The newly printed General Catalogue of the British Museum in the Reading Room however contains a full list of the publications of the various Societies under the heading of Academies.
The foundation of the Early English Text Society in 1864 caused a renewed interest to be taken in the publications of the Printing Clubs. The origin of the Society was in this wise. When the Philological Society undertook the formation of a great English Dictionary, the want of printed copies of some of the chief monuments of the language was keenly felt. Mr. F.J. Furnivall, with his usual energy, determined to supply the want, and induced the Council of the Philological Society to produce some valuable texts. It was found, however, that these publications exhausted much of the funds of the Society, which was required for the printing of the papers read at the ordinary meetings, so that it became necessary to discontinue them. Mr. Furnivall, then, in conjunction with certain members of the Philological Society, founded the Early English Text Society. The Society possessed the inestimable advantage of having among its founders Mr. Richard Morris (afterwards the Rev. Dr. Morris), who entered with fervour into the scheme, and produced a large amount of magnificent work for the Society. Dr. Furnivall put the objects of the Society forward very tersely when he said that none of us should rest "till Englishmen shall be able to say of their early literature what the Germans can now say with pride of theirs—'every word of it is printed, and every word of it is glossed.'"