were interspersed with the text, or taking up several full pages. Critics have compared this approach with contemporaneous works that included the subject as an attractively sketched scene, illustrations were not yet recognised as a valuable source of information. The book used the multiple and separate details to synthesise encyclopaedic surveys that typified the approach of the natural historians and antiquaries, what Barbara Maria Stafford has described as "cross-referencing material bits of distant reality". An 1803 article on the Rosetta Stone was amongst the earliest-published research. The first detailed account of the medieval French Royal Gold Cup in the British Museum was published in one of the last papers, of 1904, by Sir Charles Hercules Read. Contributors The following is an incomplete list of noted contributors, and their articles: Thomas Astle Thomas Amyot, a description of Tewkesbury Abbey William Wilkins, "Observations on the Porta Honoris of Caius College, Cambridge" George Gwilt the Younger, architect Browne Willis, "A Table of the Gold Coins of the Kings of England" (1733) Thomas Walford (iii. pt. 39) Notices on illustrations mention the following engravers: George Vertue, engraver to the society. Produced a drawing of the Holbein Gate in 1724, his 1727 engraving appears in volume 1, 1747. Other works include the portrait of Richard II at Westminster, the shrine of Edward the Confessor, and a view of Waltham Cross; nearly all the copperplate to 1756 was engraved by Vertue. James Basire (1730–1802), one of Vertue's successors, who produced large and exquisite design on copperplate. His descendants of the same name, the son James Basire (1769–1822) and grandson (1796–1869), were also appointed engraver of the Society. His work for the volumes—after his appointment in the 1760s—is described as amongst his best; however, William Blake, Basire's apprentice is thought to be partly, if not largely, responsible for many of the designs. Charles Alfred Stothard, coloured facsimile of the Bayeux Tapestry in 1818 Jacob Schnebbelie (d. 1826), draughtsman to the society. Executed many of the architectural views of the second and third volumes. Samuel Hieronymous Grimm References Further reading External links Archaeology journals Society of Antiquaries of London Architecture journals 1718 establishments in Great Britain 1906 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Publications established in 1718 Publications disestablished in 1906