All serious enthusiasts for Pictish culture are familiar with The Early Christian Monuments of Scotland by J Romilly Alien and Joseph Anderson, a mighty tome over four inches thick which, ninety years after its production, is still an indispensable reference source for students and scholars. The work was commissioned by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1890 and published in 1903 in a limited edition of 400 copies. Members may recall that Marianna Lines published a photocopy of a letter written by J R Alien to Joseph Anderson in PAS Newsletter 9. Winter 1991, 18-9, in whuch he suggested a photosurvey of sculptured stones. Marianna took the date of the letter to be 1901, but a close scrutiny and comparison of dates in edited out parts of the letter reveal that the date was in fact 1881, making the letter an even more significant part of the story of ECMS.

Now, a little more than one hundred years since the original commissioning, our member David Henry of Pinkfoot Press in Angus is producing a facsimile edition of ECMS. He tells me that because the original had generous margins and good-sized print he has been able to reduce the page size, and by splitting the contents into two volumes has produced a more compact easy-to-handle edition. The binding is such that the books will open flat, convenient for photocopying and carrying on field trips.

The new edition boasts a comprehensive introduction by that doyenne of Pictish scholars, Dr Isabel Henderson, whose book The Picts (published 1967) has, with more recent works, had such a tremendous influence on Pictish studies. Her wide-ranging critical appraisal exaamines the impact of ECMS, and interestingly explores the background and character of the two authors.

For this retired professional photographer, who has photographed more than two hundred of the stones, J Romilly Alien's story is fascinating. At one time I thought that he had done all the photography in ECMS, learning later that he co-ordinated the efforts of many professionals and amateurs around the country: indeed, he suggested that amateurs could play a maJor part in the project. He had some difficulty in finding photographers with the requisite skills, as he wrote in his report to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (PSAS XXVIII. 1893-94. 153) : "If it had been possible to find someone who combined a knowledge of archaeology with the skill of an accomplished photographer, and also was a man of resource in devising special expedients to meet each difficulty, he might have been entrusted to carry out the whole of the work". He continued wryly: "Unfortunately, however, such a person was not forthcoming". A century later I feel a little inadequate!

This publication of a facsimile edition of ECMS is a momentous event which has the blessing of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and merits the support of all serious students of Dark Age monuments, especially PAS members. David Henry is to be congratulated on his initiative in producing this edition, which is as meticulously produced as was the original It will be launched in October, appropriately in the heartland of the Picts, at the Meffan institute in Forfar, where Argus District Libranes and Museums Service will be putting on an exhibition based on the Angus stones, to coincide with the event.

Tom E Gray