I was delighted to see that the British Herpetological Society now has all issues of British Journal of Herpetology available with free access on its website. This is exactly the way a proper learned society should act and is in marked contrast to commercial scientific journal publishers and some scientific societies who know no better than to exist as parasites on the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge.
British Journal of Herpetology was launched by the newly formed society in 1948 and ran under that title until shortly after I handed over the editorship of the journal to Trevor Beebee in 1985. The change of title—to Herpetological Journal—had as I recall two aims: to ensure that the coverage was not just perceived as British amphibians and reptiles; submissions were not restricted to authors in Britain.
Access to the papers published in BJH had never been easy because the Society had relatively few sales to libraries. The journal was distributed to members but from the early years I suspect few copies have survived.
Apart from those wishing to consult the papers themselves, the additional material, the early membership list, for example, provides a fascinating insight into the development of interest in reptiles and amphibians in Britain and into what a good job those who founded the Society did in attracting members from such a wide range of backgrounds and interests—a topic I will return to in future articles.
