Page images
PDF
EPUB

Psalm 77. 17, 18, &c. Licensed according to order. London, printed by H. Hills, in Blackfryars, near the water-side."

I place these books on the table for inspection, and proceed to enumerate some others that I have seen, but which I cannot now turn to for making any more detailed reference. Mr. WALFORD then read a number of titles of curious and rare books, among which were, "Harington (Sir John), An Apologie, 1, Or Rather a Retractation; 2, Or Rather a Recantation; 3, Or Rather a Recapitulation; 4, Or Rather a Replication; 5, Or Rather an Examination; 6, Or Rather an Accusation; 7, Or Rather an Explication; 8, Or Rather an Exhortation; 9, Or Rather a Consideration; 10, Or Rather a Confirmation; 11, Or Rather all of them; 12, Or Rather none of them. 1596." "Stirry (Thos.) Rot among the Bishops, or a Terrible Tempest in the See of Canterbury set forth in Lively Emblems to please the Judicious Reader, 1640"; a satire against Archbishop Laud. "A certain Relation of a Hog-faced Gentlewoman, called Mistris Tannakin Skinker, who was born at Whirkham on the Rhyne. . . 1640." "March of the Lion, or the Conclusion of the War between Dunce and the Dunces. containing the progress of the Golden Savage from the Bedford Coffee House in search of new quarters. 1752."

2. Books I have not seen :-Among the books enumerated by Mr. WALFORD were, "Joyfull Newes out of the newe founde world, wherein is declared the rare and singular virtues of diverse and sundrie Herbes, Trees, Oyles, Plantes and Stones, by Doctor Monardus of Sevill, Englished by Jhon Frampton, 1577." "Plattes (Gabriel), A Discovery of Subterraneall Treasure, viz., of all Manner of Mines and Minerals, from the Gold to the Coale, Art of Melting, Refining and Assaying of them, etc., 1639." "Griffin (Lewis), The Doctrine of the Asse, an account of their Principles and Practice, in whose behalf the complaint was written, that it may serve for advice to others; whereunto is added, Balaam's Reply and the Author's Reply, 1661." "A Dialogue concerning Decency

1751."

[ocr errors]

3. Books I should like to see:-Among the books mentioned by Mr. WALFORD were, "Avenar (Dr. John, Professor at Witeberge [sic.]), The Enemie of Securitie, or a Daily Exercise of Godlie Meditations, for the Profit of all Persons of Anie State or Calling, translated by Thomas Rogers, 1583." A Purge for Pluralites, shewing the Unlawfulnesse of Men to have Two Livings: or the Downe-fall of Double Benefices; being in the Clymactericall and fatall yeare of the proud Prelates, but the year of Jubilee to all poor hunger-pinch'd Schollers, 1642." "Bland (J.), Essay in Praise of Woman, a Looking-glass for Ladies to see their Perfections in. Edinburgh, 1767." "Cupid and Hymen, or a Voyage to Isle of Love and Matrimony, containing a diverting Account of their Inhabitants, with the Bachelor's Estimate of Expenses, and the Married Man's Answer to it, by John Single, of Gray's Inn, 1742."

[ocr errors]

4. Books I never expect to see :-Regarding these books I will be

vain enough or sanguine enough to hope that they may constitute a constantly decreasing number. Accident rather than design seems to help one respecting them: they turn up unexpectedly in the most unlikely places. While the number thus seems to be steadily decreasing, it is in fact rather rapidly increasing, in the sense that while we know nothing of the actual existence of a book, we are necessarily indifferent about seeing it; but, from the moment that we do get to know that it was once a veritable fact, we are put upon our mettle, and we do not readily abandon hope. One's literary acquaintance here come in of great service-not to beg or to borrow, but to cast about for us. We constitute them into a corps of skirmishers, to search for, verify, and, perchance, produce to our vision that which without them we should at least have a lessened chance of seeing. I have the good fortune to possess several such friends; they fall within the category of Burton's Book-hunter-they are mighty book-hunters. I name one as a sample-Mr. Samuel Timmins. In the trade they are legion. But, notwithstanding the aid of such friends, I own to a misgiving if I shall ever see the following, or any considerable proportion of them :-" Churcheyarde (Thos.), The Miserie of Flaunders, Calamitie of Fraunce, Misfortune of Portugall, Unquietness of Ireland, Troubles of Scotland, and the blessed state of England. 1579." 'Fraunce (Abraham), The Lawyer's Logike, exemplifying the Præcepts of Logike by the Practise of the Common Lawe. 1588." "The Counter-Scuffle, whereunto is added the Counter-Rat, written by R. S. 1670." "The Miraculous Power of Clothes, and Dignity of the Taylors, being an Essay on the words' Clothes make men.' Translated from the German. Philadelphia, Mentz, MDCCLXXII."-Mr. WALFORD then exhibited a number of curious titles from booksellers' catalogues, and concluded as follows:-The foregoing falls very far short of what I had intended my paper to be, or perchance of what it might have been, if time and freedom from my tormentor (gout) had permitted. I trust it may prove sufficient as a text upon which to found a discussion anent special collections, of tracts more particularly. I had intended myself to found upon it some remarks upon the peculiarities of title-pages at different periods of our book history. This must, however, be preserved for another occasion, when time shall have permitted a more complete examination of the subject.

[ocr errors]

DISCUSSION.-Referring to the reprinted tract, Mr. WILSON said that a great many books of the kind were published in this country during the settlement of the American colonies, and that probably this work had appeared in England under a slightly different title. -Mr. WALFORD said that the entry in the Museum catalogue is of this book with the imprint, Philadelphia.-Prof. JEVONS then, in reference to title pages, said that there was a general character about contemporary titles, so that it was possible to get within fifty years of the publication of the work, from the style of the title-page.

-Dr. SELIGMANN said that in Germany, attention was paid to the character of the type and paper of undated works.—Mr. WILSON observed that there were some reprints in the last century which were difficult to distinguish, especially when the paper had been much exposed.-Mr. GARNETT mentioned a work by Bernardino Ochino in the British Museum Library, which was in such good condition, that it would appear to be much later than its true date. Books likely to get their possessors into trouble would be better taken care of. Mr. STEVENS said that a few years ago it was found that the Nuremberg Chronicle was not "o. p." and eight copies, unbound and uncat were sent to a London bookseller.-Prof. JEVONS thought that it would be well if the Association were to take up the matter of publication of books without a date, a practice which had extended to some important works, and would hereafter cause much trouble. -Mr. WILSON said that with earlier books, many dates could be ascertained from Mr. Arber's transcript of the Stationers' register, but at present such reference would be too laborious in most cases until the publication of the index.-Prof. JEVONS said that the question of rare tracts was a very interesting subject. Future generations would do much more with them than was done at present, and whole masses of literature would be reprinted, so that anything that tended to preserve even a single copy was important. A large proportion of the books entered in the Stationers' register had already perished.-Mr. STEVENS said that many of them never appeared. Books were often entered some years before publication, and in some cases there had been a provisional entry of books which were never published at all.

A vote of thanks to Mr. WALFORD for his interesting paper, was then carried unanimously.

Among the donations laid on the table, was a copy of the Ronalds Library Catalogue of Works relating to electricity and magnetism, presented by Mr. A. J. FROST, the editor.

The discussion of the resolution as to Parish Registers, (see pp. 22 and 40.) was resumed, when the importance of the subject, and the necessity of some provision for the better preservation of these ancient records were fully recognised, but fears were expressed that a difficulty would arise from opposition on the part of those at present interested in search fees, and the further consideration of the resolution was adjourned until the next meeting.

The library of the Corporation of London, at Guildhall, hitherto closed at 2 p.m. on Saturdays, is now open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. every week day.

Le Livre for last month admits the necessity of fixing upon a new mode of indicating the size of books, now that paper is no longer made by hand on a mould which cannot exceed certain dimensions. But, allowing that all books above 30 centimètres may be regarded as folio, those of 25 as quarto, &c., it insists that there is no need to replace these familiar designations by capital letters likely to be mistaken for unintelligible contractions.

QUERY.

READING-ROOM TABLES.-Can anyone recommend an improved table for public reading-rooms, in which much writing is done, in place of the long flat-topped tables so generally in use, and which are apt to cause dyspepsia in a student who bends over them for any length of time? Reading-desks, to stand to, may or may not be advisable, but they are not always convenient. Of course it is a desideratum that they should not hide the readers from the superintendent of the room.-B. C. O.

NOTICES OF BOOKS AND LIBRARY REPORTS.

Dun Echt Observatory Publications. Classification Scheme, and Index to the same, of the Library of the Observatory; by Lord Lindsay. Dun Echt, 1879. La. 4to, 28 pp.

Lord Lindsay read a paper before the Association in May 1879, describing the classification, which embraces the departments of mathematics, astronomy, and physics. It is partially based upon Mr. Melvil Dewey's decimal system, with the classing extended to four figures of decimals. The index is very extensive, referring to about 1650 subject-headings.

A Bibliography of Printing, with Notes and Illustrations. Compiled by E. C. Bigmore and C. W. H. Wyman. London, B. Quaritch, 1880. Sm. 4to, pp. xii., 449. Vol. I. (A-L.)

Messrs. Bigmore and Wyman are to be congratulated on the first instalment of their laborious and useful undertaking. The titles (though somewhat too brief)appear to be carefully drawn up, and the notes convey much interesting information in a readable manner. The printers' marks might have been increased in number, to the exclusion of some illustrations of a less special interest. The modern literature of printing is better represented than older books, and among the omissions is the important paper of Mr. W. H. Allnutt on the spread of printing throughout England, published in the report of the Oxford meeting of the Associa tion, pp. 101-3, 157-63.

The report of the Wednesbury Free Library, 1879, (Mr. A. Cotgreave, lib.) states that the revival of trade has tended to decrease the issue of books. "The decrease is principally in works of fiction, borrowed from the lending department, the issue of higher class literature from the reference department, having, on the contrary, been nearly double that of last year."

The report of the Plymouth Free Library, 1879, (Mr. W. H. K. Wright, lib.) contains a curious table of the ages of borrowers (not being burgesses), by which it appears that there were enrolled in 1879 no less than 429 under the age of 15, compared with 63 of 60 years and upwards.

London: TRÜBNER & CO., Ludgate Hill. Single Numbers, Threepence each. Annual Subscription, post free, 3s. 6d.

MONTHLY NOTES

OF THE

Library Association

of the United Kingdom.

MR. TEDDER has addressed to the Council the following letter:Athenæum Club, July 1, 1880.

Gentlemen, I regret to have to inform you that I am at last forced, very unwillingly, to resign my post as one of your honorary secretaries. From the foundation of the Library Association to the present time, it has been a great pleasure to me to have been able to devote all my leisure to the work and interests of the Association, but duties connected with my own library and other undertakings, will make it impossible for me to give the same attention in future to the affairs of the Association, and I therefore feel it my duty to retire in favour of some less busy member.

I remain, Gentlemen, yours very faithfully, HENRY R. TEDDER. The Council of the Library Association of the United Kingdom.

This letter having been read at the meeting of the Council on July 2, the following resolution was unanimously passed :—

Resolved, "That the Council receive the resignation of Mr. Tedder with the utmost possible regret, and tender him their sincerest thanks for the invaluable services rendered by him to the Association, from its foundation until now." Mr. Tedder's resignation did not come before the Council unexpectedly, as he had given unofficial notice of his intention at the June meeting. Although Mr. Tedder finds it impossible to continue to act as Secretary, we believe that he will, as a private member, continue to take an active and useful part in the work of the Association. The nomination of a colleague with Mr. E. C. THOMAS, the other honorary Secretary (who may be addressed at 13, South Square, Gray's Inn, W.C.) is deferred.

Arrangements for the approaching annual meeting at Edinburgh are in progress, and an influential local committee are making active preparations to ensure an interesting meeting. The following gentlemen form the committee :-Principal Sir Alexander Grant, Bart.; Professor P. G. Tait; Professor E. J. G Mackay; Bailie Colston; Dr. H. D. Littlejohn; Treasurer Harrison: Dr. William Smith; Dr. G. W. Balfour; Mr. A. Buchan; Mr. T. C. Archer, Vice Dean J. A. Crichton; Mr. A. Blair; Mr. W. Nelson; Hon. J. W. Moncrieff, W.S.; Mr. C. G. Macrae, W.S.; Mr. J. Henry, S.S.C.; Treasurer, Mr. W. F. Dickson, W.S.; Joint Secretaries,

« PreviousContinue »