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There is nothing particularly new in this book unless it 
may be in the Illustrations, which are printed from the 
fern leaves themselves in a way which I believe has not 
been hitherto made public. The process is simply this. 
Take a fern leaf-cover one side of it with printers’ ink — 
transfer it to the lithographic stone— and have it printed 
on paper. This is the process ; but still, it is scarcely so 
brief or so easy as that. One of the best ways to put the 
ink on the leaf, is first to distribute it with a dabber made 
of cotton-wool tied up in a piece of silk, over a sheet of 
paper, and as thick as a good" coat of paint. Upon this 
lay the leaf; and having placed a spare sheet of paper 
upon this, press it down with the hand, or in any other 
effectual way. Then draw off the top sheet of paper, 
and secondly the leaf, carefully. As the green surface is 
smooth, sometimes this must be repeated before the ink 
will take to it. There is now too much ink on the leaf, 
therefore make an impression on a spare piece of paper 
to get rid of the superfluous portion. If you have no 
lithographic stone at hand (as I had not) lay the leaf on 
lithographic transfer paper, cover it with some clean stout 
paper, and firmly draw a smooth ruler over it. This re- 
quires great caution for fear of blurring. A copying press 
would be a good thing. The leaf must be drawn off with 
eare. Then write the name under, or anything else, with 
a steel pen and lithographic ink, rubbed up like Indian ink 
in a saucer. If the impression is satisfactory, roll it on a 
ruler or pipe of paper, and send it by post to the printer. 
The Illustrations in this book were thus impressed in 
Sidmouth, and sent into Exeter to be printed. Nicety 
and a little practice will ensure success. The plan might 
be useful for various other things besides ferns. This 
book contains a list of all the ferns I have hitherto found 
within a distance of three miles of Sidmouth. If you can 
find others and add to the list, pray let me know. Go 
and look, 
B 
