One of the most important facilities to be acquired by a beginner in the art of change ringing is that of ropesight, the ability to pick out the next bell to be followed in the changes. The choice of this word by Jasper Snowdon to be the title of his textbook on basic change ringing, the most influential elementary text that has ever been published, was thus most appropriate.

The second son of the vicar of Ilkley, Yorkshire, he was born in 1844 and learned to ring in 1861. However, he soon gave it up and did not recommence until 1870, when he formed the Ilkley Amateur Society. Although a fine practical ringer, it was through his writings that his name became so well known to the Ringing Exercise. In the 1870s a number of important articles appeared in the pages of Church Bells. His first book, published in 1877 in conjunction with Robert Tuke, was a transcript, with commentary, of the records of the Union Scholars of London. In 1878 he published A Treatise on Treble Bob Part I, with Part II appearing in June the next year.

At the time that Ropesight was written, there were only two basic textbooks for beginners available, those written by Troyte (see Essay No 4 and Update) and Changeringing Disentangled, written by the Rev Woolmore Wigram. In 1879 Jasper Snowdon was asked to recommend a textbook for a band of learners but on carefully looking over these two books realised their shortcomings. He therefore decided to write a suitable elementary text based on his own experiences, the first pages of which were written on 15 September, and the Preface on 1 November. The first completed copies were received from the printers on 15 November, only two months after the book had been conceived. It differed from previous texts in that it was devoted solely to Plain Bob, using this as the means of teaching the basic principles of change ringing. Costing 1s (5p), it was first advertised in Church Bells on 15 November, where there was comment on the necessity for such a book. A fortnight later Henry Dains, then Master of the Royal Society of Cumberland Youths, published a letter of support. The virtues of the book were more extensively extolled in a review in the issue of 13 December (Appendix) and such was the demand that the print run of 500 copies was sold out by April 1880.

In a letter that appeared in Church Bells on 10 April Snowdon stated that he hoped to bring out another work on the best-known methods, and at the same time issue a second edition of Ropesight, and in a second letter in Church Bells on 29 May he asked for criticisms of the book that he might improve the clarity of explanation. This second edition - which cost 1s 6d (7½p) post free - was ready in October 1880, before what became Standard Methods (to be dealt with in a future essay). The book had been rewritten, much being added to the earlier chapters and to the chapter on seven and eight bells, and was again much praised in a review in Church Bells. (It is worth noting that in 1882 Troyte added a chapter on Plain Bob to the fourth edition of his Change Ringing, evidently as a result of the success of Ropesight.) The length of the print run of the second edition of Ropesight is not known, but it is likely to have been more than the first edition, and so it remained in print for somewhat longer: it was not until July 1882 that Snowdon announced in Church Bells that the book was effectively out of print and that there were plans for a third edition. This took longer to prepare than the second edition and was not reviewed in Bell News until 2 June 1883. Although it was 14 pages longer than the second edition the price remained the same.

Jasper Snowdon died in 1885 and when a fourth edition of Ropesight appeared in 1891 it was stated to be 'revised and corrected by Wm Snowdon' - a younger brother. For this edition William Snowdon added a chapter on Striking and in the fifth edition of 1900 added a chapter on Rope Splicing. A chapter on Proof of Bob Major was added to the sixth edition of 1910, and with this the book assumed the form in which it is familiar today.

William Snowdon died in 1915, but Ropesight and other books in the Snowdon series continued to be published and distributed by his widow, Mrs Laura Snowdon, with much help from her daughter, Miss Margaret Snowdon. Distribution was taken over by Margaret Snowdon for the ninth edition of 1936 although the Preface was written by Mrs Laura Snowdon, who, sadly, became blind at about this time. She died in 1941 at the advanced age of 91. Margaret Snowdon died in 1962 and Ropesight could have become defunct, but a thirteenth edition was published by Christopher Groome in 1970 and a reprint in 1975.

A list of the various editions of Ropesight is given below. There are copies of all but the first edition in the CC Library, and I am indebted to Fraser Clift for the loan of a copy of this edition to help in the preparation of this Essay. In general the copies of the earlier editions have been well used, and certain of the CC Library copies have lost their outer covers. The typical outer cover associated with Ropesight, based on a drawing of two ringers that appears inside the book (Fig 1), was certainly in use from the third edition onwards, but whether the second edition had such a cover I am unable to say. The cover of the first edition was the same as the title page (Fig 2).