NOTES ON OLD BELPER AND OLD BELPER BOOKS. 5 



Major ; and G. H. Strutt, John Spencer, John Radford, and 

 Joseph Bradshaw, Captains ; Captain Joseph Bradshaw became 

 Major in 1804. He was the Perpetual Curate of Holbrooke. 

 Drill often being on Sunday, Major Bradshaw would arrange 

 his service an hour earlier, afterwards ride to Belper Market 

 Place and read the Church Prayers from horseback. The 

 corps would then proceed to the Derwent Meadows for 

 drill." It may be noted that a Mr. G. H. Strutt is at this 

 time Captain, and that the Volunteers of the present day are 

 slill drilled in the Derwent Meadows. The original Deed Roll 

 of the old Volunteer Corps is in the possession of Mr. Joseph 

 Pym, whose family has long been connected with Belper. 



With the increase of population in Belper the printing press 

 was introduced. Derby had for some time been famous for 

 its printing and publishing, and it was only natural that the 

 example so well set should be followed. The earliest 

 productions were of an ephemeral nature, such as ballad sheets, 

 public notices, and hand bills. It is only after experience 

 that a printer will venture to introduce more important work to 

 a critical public, and it is probable that no book of importance 

 was printed in Belper until the year 1809. In this year was 

 issued a well-printed octavo volume of 126 pages, bound 

 in mottled sheepskin, entitled : — "Forms | of | Devotion 

 I for I the use of families ; | with | a preface | recommend- 

 ing the practice | of | Family Religion | By the Rev. Dr. 

 Leland, and others | Belper : Printed for J. Hicking, by 

 S. Mason | 1809." At the conclusion of a heavy intro- 

 duction which takes up 33 pages, there is a small woodcut 

 said to be "Bewick's" by some enthusiast who has marked it 

 accordingly in the copy possessed by the writer. It is a 

 tailpiece of considerable merit, depicting a clergyman walking 

 up a winding path to the village church in the distance. The 

 clergyman is respectfully followed by a dog, and he bears 

 aloft either an umbrella or a parachute to keep off the rays 

 of the sun, for no rain is suggested by the artist. The type 

 is excellent, but at times the orthography is weak, and the last 



