Welsh Journals

Library to complete its imperfect copies of printed works by making facsimiles of the missing portions from other copies borrowed for the purpose or even to reproduce the whole of a borrowed manuscript or rare book. Later, an ordinary photographic camera was acquired, with the aid of which photographic prints of the contents of the Library are supplied, mainly for block-making purposes. In 1931 1 two fluorescence' cabinets were secured, one of them through the gener- osity of Sir Herbert Lewis. These help to overcome the difficulty of illegibility, for their ultra-violet rays make available to the research worker those faded and illegible words, lines, or passages which would otherwise have to be abandoned as undecipher- able. Moreover, that availability can be made permanent by the collaboration of the fluorescence cabinet and the photographic camera. Finally, within the last few months a further progressive step has been taken by the acquisition of a microfilm camera. This, like the photostat apparatus, was obtained from America, being the latest and most up-to-date model hitherto produced. The compactness and convenience of microfilms are such that their popularity will increase enormously in course of time, so that this latest addition to the Library's technical equipment will undoubtedly play no small part in the essential task of making its contents available to those whom circumstances may deprive of the means of direct access to them. Gildas Tibbott.