160 
NOTES AND QUERIES. (2"4 S. Nog, Pen, 23, °56. 
These are the bearings of Sir Robert Clere, on 
whose brass are the shields I seek to be informed 
of. He married first, Anne, daughter of Sir Wm. 
Hopton, and second, Alice, daughter of Sir Wm. 
Boleyn, of Blicking, and aunt of Queen Anne 
Boleyn, He attended Henry VIII. in his inter- 
pe! with Francis I. atthe Field of the Cloth of 
zold. 
15. Clere and his quarters impaling Tyrrel, 
with a martlet sa. for difference. 
16. Clere, &c. impaling Fulmerstone. 
_ As these give only the direct, line, the unknown 
families will be found in some collateral branches 
of the family. I have an obscure recollection of 
some family bearing the arms of the city of Lon- 
don, but with different tinctures; they occur 
among these shields. 
Will any correspondent kindly furnish me with 
a rubbing of the brass of Thomas Clere, in the 
north side of the chancel of St. Mary’s, Lambeth ? 
I will gladly repay the act in hind. 
KE. §. Tayzor. 
Ormesby St. Margaret. 
[A member of the London and Middlesex Archzolo- 
gical Society has kindly offered to furnish the rubbing. | 
PHOTOGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE. 
The Application of Photography to the Copying of Ancient 
Documents, Prints, Pictures, Coins, &c. — Several letters 
having lately appeared in Zhe Times upon the above 
subject, which is one in which I haye had considerable 
experience, I beg leave, in reply to severai correspondents, 
to make the following observations. 
I consider there is no difficulty whatever in obtaining 
a perfect fac-simile of nearly every ancient manuscript ; 
_ and if the copy is to be made of one half or about three- 
fifths the size, then an entire book may be copied with~ 
out in any way disturbing it; but in case of a transcript 
of the exact size, it is needful that great flatness of sur- 
face should be exhibited to the lens, and it would be re- 
quired to pin or otherwise fix the object, that this state 
of even surface may be produced. 
T do not meet with documents of the bright blue spoken 
of by Mr. Claudet, or of the “ gamboge yellow ” to which 
my friend Professor Delamotte refers. It is true you 
occasionally meet with a brilliantly illuminated capital 
letter, into the composition of which burnished gold and 
cobalt blue enter; but then there is a sufficient difference 
for the tint of the vellum ground to make the photograph 
perfectly useful and beautiful at the same time. I may 
call to your recollection an entire page of a manuscript 
relating to Sussex which I perfectly copied about four 
years since, the original being in the possession of Mr. 
Durrant Cooper. In'that early specimen there are many 
colours, and the result was most satisfactory. I believe 
that many of our best photographers fail from not using 
chemicals suitable for the purpose. The collodion adapted 
for the rapid production of a portrait from life is ill suited 
for a fac-simile, where length of time is of no consequence. 
I believe an old mixed collodion originally made sensitive 
with a compound of iodide and bromide of ammonium 
produces the most satisfactory results. But in general 
any old collodion is to be preferred to that recently mixed. 
All the fine lines in a delicate engraving, or the up-strokes 
of writing, become obliterated when a too rapidly act- 
ing collodion is used. I expose a light object, say a 
page of an ordinary printed book, when to be reduced one- 
half in size, for about three minutes; but twelve or fifteen 
minutes will be required when the full size is to be ac- 
complished, and a longer time still if the object copied is 
to be magnified. I presume that a single lens is being 
used. The double-combination lenses will succeed in half 
the above time; but then the surface covered in accurate 
definition of focus is comparatively small. When a single 
lens is used, no diaphragm is required beyond that usually 
used. But a double achromatic lens gives much greater 
roundness and beauty, provided the front lens is much 
stopped off by means of a diaphragm. 
The picture is to be developed in the usual way, with 
a very weak solution of pyrogallic acid, and yery freely 
dashed over the surface of the collodion, for otherwise 
stains will be produced from its haying become more dry 
than ordinary, from the mere length of time employed 
since it was taken from the bath. 
The picture being cleaned perfectly from the hypo, 
may have little of a negative character in it; but now by 
freely passing over it a portion, according to the size of 
your plate, of a mixture composed of 2 drachms of 
the bichloride of mercury, 2 drachms of chloride of am- 
monia, dissolved in 10 ounces of common water, a great 
change takes place, and a blueish tint will come over it. 
Wash it quickly and perfectly again, and pour over at 
once a solution of hyposulphate of soda, 5 grains to the 
ounce of water. The most intense black is now produced ;. 
and, the negative being washed and varnished as other 
nggatives, the plate is finished, and is perfectly perma- 
nent, from which an unlimited number of positives can be 
taken, without any deterioration. In offering these re- 
marks, I am well aware that, to all experienced photo- 
graphers, they ought to be well known; but, as is evident 
from the correspondence which leads me to make this 
communication, success has not always attended their 
endeavours. In conclusion, let me add, that this process 
is applicable to the production of photographie copies, 
not merely of MSS. on vellum and paper, but of engray- 
ings, medals, seals, oil-paintings, and, in short, of all 
similar objects. Any of your antiquarian readers, possess- 
ing objects of interest, of which they may desire copies, 
I shall be happy at all times to advise as to the most 
ready means of accomplishing their wishes. 
Hues W. DiAmonp. 
Wandsworth. 
[This valuable communication from Dr. DiAMonp, the 
importance of which can hardly be exaggerated, was ac- 
companied by a photograph, representing on one sheet 
copies of four documents of very different dates and 
condition, both as respects the colour of the parchments,- 
and the fading of the ink—all taken at the same time. 
The first is of the date of Henry VII.; the second of 
Henry VIII.; the third of Edward VI. (the parchment 
of which is as dark a brown as parchment can well be); 
the last is a document dated in the reign of Elizabeth. 
Nothing can be more perfect than these copies. _ It is al- 
most difficult to believe that they are copies, and not ori- 
ginal documents. But that our readers may form their 
own judgment on this point, the photograph is left for in- 
spection at the office in Fleet Street. 
Since the above was written, we have received a note 
from Dr. DrAmonp, announcing that he has just made a 
most successful copy of a page of MS., in which the red, 
gold, and blue are all of the proper degree of tint. — Ep. 
“ N. & Q.”) , 
