The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-11 00:00:00

erbtrb Mbition

SUN OFFICE, Seven o' Clock.

QUEEN'S BENCH.-(THIS DAY.)
(Before Mr. Justice ERLE and a SpecialL.:.uxtiry.2
CO.
PIRATING COPT -BOOKS.--SOUTER V. DARiIE
Sir Frederick Thesiger, Mr. Watson, and Mr. Ogle ap-
peared for the plaintiff; and Mr. Sergeant Talfourd, Mr.
Knowles, Mr. Peacock, and Mr. Warren for the defence.
This was an issue directed to this Court by the Court of
Chancery to try whether a series of copy-books which had
been published by Messrs. Darne and Co., school-booksellers,
were or were not an infringement of a series of copy-books
called " Foster's Copybooks," of which the plaintiffs, Messrs.
Souter and Co., school-booksellers in Fleet-street, are the
proprietors.
The defendants had pleaded that "Foster's Copy Books"
were not original, that there was no novelty in them.
Sir FREDERICK TRESIGER haring opened the case, and
characterised it as one of considerable importance to the
scholastic community, the following witnesses were called to
support the plaintiff's case, that the invention was perfectly
original :
Mr. R. E. Branston, en engraver and printer, in St.
Andrew's-hill, Doctor's Commons, deposed that he had pre-
pared the plates for printing the copy-books of Mr. Foster,
and that he was engaged upon them several years, during
which time he was in constant communication with Mr.
Foster. The books comprised a system of teaching writing
from the earliest to the more advanced stages. The plates
were for letter-press printing. He never saw any copy books
of a similar nature until they were brought to him by Mr.
Foster. 500,000 or 600,00 had been printed. He considered
it a very great improvement in the mode of teaching writing.
The first series was published four years ago. First saw
Darnell's book about two years ago, and found it a copy of
Foster's system.
Cross-examined—Never saw faint lines printed in the
same way. Never saw pencil lines drawn by a master.
Mr. Law said be published the first series for Mr. Souter,
in 1E41; 450,000 of the whole series had been sold up to
Christmas last. Alterations had been made from time to
time in the various editions.
Mr. William Aitcheson said he had been actively occupied
in teaching writing for twenty years, and had examined
the various works and systems of wilting which had
been published in this country, and in France,
Germany, and Spain. Although he might have found
individual points in the various systems he examined, yet
he did not find any entire system resembling Foster's, which
possessed the principle of ;;tiding the pupil, by light lines, of
frequent repetitions, the c,radual withdrawal of the ex-
amples, and the application of diagonal lines, denoting the
size, shape, and slope of the letters; diagonal lines had
been used in former systems, but only equi-distant
across the page, but they would not guide the pupil
as to the proper distances of the different parts of the letters;
there were also alternate tracings or lines leaving blanks for
the pupils to fill up.
In cross-examination a number of systems on the tracing
principle were submitted to the witness. He admitted that
they evinced the principle of diagonal lines, and flues to
guide the formation and size of the letters, with alternate
l'nes. The witness was cross-examined at great length on
the book published by the defendants and the books pub-
lished by the plaintiffs. It appeared that the defendants'
book did not follow the other so nearly as to come under the
defeition of a fac simile, so far as the course of the examples
IW2 I concerned.

Ile- examined—The great novelty of Foster's system WC3,
that the lines compelled the pupil to make the letters
,pro-
perly—neither too la-ge nor too small. It might be defined
as a combination, into a practicul system, of all the rm-
provements that had been made from time to time. The
systems of Nelly, Fergu 30, end Well (on which the NitneFs
was examined) were not much used in schools.
Mr. Josh. Hill, a schoolimister at Brentford, and the Rev.
/Ir. Thomas, head Rifting-master of Christ's Hospital, spoke
to the great value of Mr. Foster's system—especially the
elementary portion, the first; but they considered the system
a compilation of elements which had previously existed.
Dry aelr's W 93 a copy, as nearly as possible. They thought
Foster's diagonals, denoting the exact shape of the letters,
Ins a very importsnt peculiarity. The tame thing Tres in
Dal a ell's copy-books.
Mr. Foster himself stated that he had bren engaged in
teaching writing during the last twenty years; that he had.
travelled over the continent and America, teaching vidm-
vestigating in his progress the various systems of teaching
which prevailed in the parts he visited.
Mr. Sergeant TALFOURD then addressed the jury for the
defendants, and contended that the copy-books of Dir. Foster
contained no new invention y that the s 3 stem of tracing the
characters in faint lines had been pursued by va..
rious teachers for years; that it had even been sug-
gested by Locke ; and would the jury, by a verdict
for the plaintiff, set up Mr. Foster as the universal
teacher of writing, as the great inventor of an entirely new
system, when it had been shown that he had simply gathered
fogether and published the improvements of others. No
ch.ubt it was of great importance to Mr. Fester to get a
favot,ahle verdict, and to exclude others from following
up and acting upon the suggestion of Locke,
who
said the proper way to teach a boy writing was by
the master tracing the characters m feint red ir,k
lines. Mr. Foster, and those who had preceded bin)
had done nothing more. He hated they would not so fa;
forget their duty as to state to the world that Mr. Foster was
coin led to be considered as the inventor of this system of
writing. The Learned Serger'it concluded a poweiiul address,
by submitting that their verdict would be for the defendant.
Witnesses were called for the defence, and the case wet ad-
journed until toomorrow.