No. XXn.] APPENDIX. 313 



As far as the Bank is concerned, the new system has insured increased 

 excellence with diminished expense, but probably its adoption by the Bank 

 win lead to a far more important use in the arts. Since the printing of 

 the cheques, the Gfovemment have adopted surface-printing for the receipt 

 stamps, and more recently for their new bill stamps. For extensive pro- 

 duction and uniformity of expression, surface-printing stands pre-eminently 

 as the master. Although the daily production of the ' Times ' and the 

 weekly production of the ' Illustrated London News ' may justly be termed 

 the typographical wonders of the world, yet the care bestowed upon the note 

 to render its unlimited duplication perfect, has a tendency to materially 

 influence the printing art in this department in a beneficial manner. 



One application of surface-printing, although disconnected with bank- 

 notes, I cannot pass over in silence, as I think the Society of Arts should 

 recommend the adaptation of surface-printing to the Ordnance Maps ; and 

 thoi^h I am fully sensible of the difficulties which would attach to this 

 new system, and fully estimate the perfection of these plates, nevertheless 

 I feel persuaded that all difficulties may be sui-mounted, and every English- 

 man may be in a position to have a correct map of the land of his fathers, 

 at a price not exceeding that of an ordinary newspaper. 



In regarding the future operations of the Bank, I cannot but think 

 that the results which have been described are the first step of the com- 

 mencement, and not the end, of those improvements which will take place 

 in the production of bank-notes. If the use of the steam-press exceeded 

 my own propositions, yet in many respects the result has fallen short of 

 my anticipations. Considering the great importance of a uniform note 

 of a certain standard of perfection, it was necessary to take the most 

 prudent course ; nevertheless I cannot bring my mind to suppose that the 

 processes can possibly stop where they are. In the first place, the original 

 cutting of certain parts of the note will be far more highly finished than it 

 is at present when increased skill is brought to bear upon it. "With regard 

 to the printing, hereafter, probably four, and possibly six or eight, will be 

 printed, and subsequently numbered, at a single operation. 



We are all too apt to think that art will stop at our point, and not 

 progress, but it is the property of invention ever to move forward. The 

 point at which we have arrived must be the step from which future 

 improvements must spring, and, proceeding step by step, the highest 

 possible excellence will doubtless eventually be secured. 



There are certain characteristics which are conunon to the whole class 

 of Bank of England notes which should be known to all the world. In the 

 first place, every note has three of the natural edges of the paper, and one 

 cut edge. In the centre of every note is a water-mark composed of waved 

 lines, and the words " Bank of England " are inserted in the substance of 

 the paper at the upper and lower portion, with a facsimile of the auto- 

 graph of Matthew Marshall, the esteemed chief cashier of the corporation. 

 The Britannia is printed on notes of all denominations, and all notes have 

 the words " I promise to pay the bearer on demand." 



The entire class of bank-notes include twelve genera, as each of the 

 eleven branch establishments issues notes with the town upon it, as 

 Manchester, liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle, Leicester, Bristol, 

 Portsmouth, Plymouth, Hull, Swansea; and these, with London, form 

 twelve establishments issuing notes. 



