For Copying and Planning.—Cartridge paper, thin journal paper,[2] rag paper for squeezes, spoke brush, paint brushes for outlines, colours for colour copying, drawing boards (several cheap ones, various sizes), tapes, 2-metre rods for gauging work and planning, prismatic compass, box sextant, vertical mirror level.

[2] These can be obtained in any Egyptian town.

CHAPTER X
PUBLICATION

Arrangement.

The final shape of the publication of the record has to be borne in mind in all the progress of it. The arrangement of the plates must precede the writing of the details of the work. In past generations the ideal was to define in words the conclusions and speculations of an author, and, where unavoidably necessary, to illustrate them by some costly engravings. How inefficient such publication may be, is seen at once in Greenwell’s British Barrows, a work full of important detail, which has to be painfully understood from hundreds of pages of text, where plans—and little else—are needed. Indeed the only means of using the information is to reconstruct plans from the intricate text. As form can now be almost as cheaply expressed as words, the ideal is widely changed. The reader is to be put first of all in possession of all the facts and materials, and the author’s conclusions are only a co-ordination, presented to enable the reader to grasp the material, and to feel clearly the effect of it on his sum of ideas, or organised sense of the nature of things. Hence nowadays the main structure of a book on any descriptive science is its plates, and the text is to show the meaning and relation of the facts already expressed by form. The plates, therefore, are the first thing to prepare; and when they are complete it is time to put in words the conclusions which have been reached.

Plates.

The orderly arrangement of the material in plates is the first duty. The drawings are each to be made with the final scale in view, so that the lines may be of proper thickness, neither faint nor coarse. The material must be classified according to its nature,—views, plans, inscriptions, sculpture, small objects, pottery, etc. In each class, the historical order must be followed, objects that are to be compared placed together, and the material arranged in an orderly shape, so that it gives a clear impression, and can be easily found again from memory. The details of the squareness and alignment of the various drawings on a plate are much more serious than might be supposed; needless irregularity confuses and disappoints the eye and starves the memory, distinctly detracting from the use and value of the work. Obviously every object on a plate must have a number for reference; and in a long series it is best for the numbers to run through several plates; so that “sealing 157” or “mark 642” is a complete reference and definition. A uniform scale should be used throughout a plate, or a series of the same class, and it should be stated in the heading of the plate. Every plate should have stated in its heading the source, nature, age, and scale of the objects; for these render reference far easier, and also give a value to loose plates apart from the volume. The use of double-page plates is often desirable, in order to show the whole of a large class at one view; the only drawback to them is that objects are more difficult to find in turning over the leaves. At every point it must be remembered that nearly all foreign students, and most English ones, will know the plates but not the text; that the plates will be the material practically used for comparison, and building up a view of the subject; and therefore that they should be as far as possible self-contained and self-explanatory, with full lettering upon them, and should comprise the main results of the work in diagram. To help reference to the text, the list of plates should have the page references to each plate stated, to show where it is described and dealt with in the text. The facility of using, remembering, and referring to the plates should be the first consideration. It is even well to remember to make the right-hand edge, or outer edge, of each plate the strongest part, with the most striking objects and best arrangement, and let the other edge be a residual, as this ensures the best eye-grasp in turning over the leaves.

The amount of plates must depend upon the subject; but it is none too much if the area of plates is double that of the text, or twice as many plates as there are pages. Folding-out plates should be avoided where possible; a double page on a deep guard, so as to lie flat when the book is opened, is the largest that should be ordinarily used. The most absurdly inconvenient shape is to have wide margins to a plate, and a fold at side and another at base, to make it fit the book. It is best to remedy such folly by taking the plates out, cutting them to book size if margins allow, and resetting without folds. The wild freaks of recent books in Egyptology are incomprehensible. We see some with plates which might be bound with text, yet printed with gigantic margins and issued in an entirely different size, so that they cannot be bound, or even stand on the same shelf with the text; some plates put on guards of tissue paper, so that they tear out of the book in turning over; one serial in parts with the plates starting fresh numbers with every separate paper, thus one part has half a dozen “Plate 1” in it, making printed references to the work quite impossible; other publications with the plates all renumbered and rearranged after printing, and double references throughout; others with scattered numbers of the plates issued, and intermediate numbers to appear later, after many years or never; some with plates without any numbers to the objects, and stray references in the text showing that they are usually counted by the author from the base upward, and from right to left. Every absurdity which want of design, forethought, and common sense could perpetrate, seems to be found in these monumental works.

Processes.