| Description | Reply to their letter (reference 7532/88) of 19 January 1889, Foster is directed by the President and Council of the Royal Society to communicate that while the Society regrets their decision not to undertake the publication of any further volumes of the 'Catalogue of Scientific Papers', they are so convinced of the importance of the work that they are making arrangements for the publication of the decade now prepared and have started preparation of the manuscript for the next decade.
The work is noted as incurring great expense, which the Society is willing to meet. However, their finances are such that they hesitate to incur the additional expense and risk associated in the publication of the volumes on the Society's own account, so are trying to make terms with a publisher which would save them from financial responsibility, and ensure the volumes are issued at a price designed to maintain and increase scientific usefulness. The 1000 pounds from the Treasury will help in this effort, and they send thanks.
Foster notes that the Treasury have stated this money is not to be considered a precedent, and as the Society wish to be able to continue the series without further such subsidies they make a suggestion. Foster notes the advantages of having the sales of the volumes already published and those yet to be published in the same hands, so proposes that the back issues at the Stationery Office be placed, on reasonable terms, with the publishing firm chosen for the sale of suceeding volumes. |