"I further said that if they determined on having a surface printed series not combined with embossing they must allow me to point out what I considered to be a fatal error in all Messrs. De La Rue's designs, and this was the introduction of a lined background, the lines of which were almost coincident with the lines of shading in the head. The merit of Bacon's design was that he had a light head thrown up by a dark background, and I could scarcely point out an instance where surface-printed stamps had not either a solid background or none at all, like the Hungarian of 1872. As they would possibly not like a solid background I suggested to them to adopt a standard profile of the Queen's head, and for all the stamps up to 1s. to reduce it by photography to the size of the head on the 2d., and for those above they might reduce it to a larger size, so as to keep the same likeness through all, and to put it on a plain white ground, and I sent them a 2d. from which I had removed the lined background like as I have done in the 1d. annexed. "That if they would excuse my making a further suggestion it would be that for all the stamps up to 1s. about four colours would suffice, if the framings were made different and distinctly visible, ... thus:-- ------------+------------------+-----------------+----------- { ½.| pink {1d.| blue { | {6d. Green { 1½d.| like the {2d.| like the { 2½d. | olive {9d. { 3d.| present 5s. {4d.| 2s. { 5d. | {1s. ------------+------------------+-----------------+----------- "I have had a very courteous reply from Mr. Jeffery, thanking me much for the letter, and saying he would lay it before the Committee at the next meeting. "I forgot to mention one thing I said. That I knew that stamp collectors were not regarded with too much favour by the authorities, who were inclined to regard them as too curious and desiring to look into mysteries into which even angels were forbidden to look, but that they ought to take a very different view, for we were the greatest protectors against forgeries of stamps that they could have. Not one came out, but was immediately denounced in the publications circulating amongst collectors and the forger's trade stopped. "I have written you a long lot of twaddle, but I have tried to sound the trumpet of the Philatelist--what Bunhill Row will think I do not know nor care; I said their manufacture was good--the best--but that the least said about their designs and colours the better. I also said that as to the lettering I agreed with you that it was practically useless _if_ the stamp was properly obliterated and the saving slips done away with.