178 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»"i S. No 87., Aug. 20. '57. 



trouss^. Ce jargon est ancien : et au rapport du Pr^sidant 

 Fauchet (livre 1,, De I'Origine des Chevaliers, ch. i.), il a 

 commenc^ du»tans de Charles VI. on de Charles VII., 

 duquel tans, il dit eu avoir vu des Ballades et des Rimes. 

 11 y a un Dictionnaire de ce jargon, intitule Le Jargon, 

 ou langage de I' Argot reform^, comme il est prSsentement en 

 usage parmy les bans pauvres : tire et recueilli des plus 

 fameus Argotiers de ce temps : itnprimd a Troye chez Ni- 

 cholas Oudot. Et dans ce Dictionnaire, le mot de narquois 

 est explique par celuy de soldat." 



The Fr, argu (obs.) is " fin, subtil, ruse ; " said 

 to be from Lat. argvtus. The Bas Bret, argu is 

 " debat." If argot is from the Celtic, query Bas 

 Bret, var, oar, and coad, coed in Welsh, ar and 

 coed, whence argoed, which is (says Owen) "a 

 surrounding wood, and that many places, from 

 their being situated amidst woods, are called 

 Argoed." But see Menage under " Ergo-glu," 

 " Ergot," and "Ergoter" Also Roquefort {Gloss.) 

 under " argu," et seq. R. S. Chaenock. 



Gray's Inn. 



Surname " Deadman" (2"'^ S. iv. 128.) — I 

 think I can satisfy your correspondent as to the 

 origin of the surname Deadman, which he con- 

 jectures may have been applied in the first instance 

 to a gravedigger ; a very unsatisfactory guess by 

 the way. 



I know a person vulgarly called by the same 

 name, which I thought an unaccountable one, till 

 I found his name was in fact Debenham : I have 

 heard him called Deadmew? or Deadman^ Simi- 

 larly I know a family commonly called Bradman ; 

 they spell their name Bradnam; it ought most 

 likely to be Bradenham. Debenham is a parish in 

 Suffolk ; Bradenham a parish in Norfolk. 



Without some such elucidation as this there is 

 but little doubt that had the origin of the name 

 Bradman been required, some one would have 

 suggested that the first of the name was a nail 

 worker, a maker of brads. 



Corruptions of names are strange, and strange 

 too are sometimes the attempted corrections of 

 corruptions. I have seen inscribed over the shop 

 of a tradesman the name Bacchus, undoubtedly 

 the right name would be Backhouse, often pro- 

 nounced Back-US. 



In the same town might be seen the name Ba- 

 laam, which should, I conceive, have been spelt 

 Baylham, for in the same county there is a parish 

 of the latter name. 



Can any of your correspondents explain the 

 name 2'otman ? Is it not most probable that it 

 should (on the same principle as the first two 

 names mentioned) be Tottenham? 



A good deal has been writ about the name Anne, 

 as applied to a man, and as a surname : did none 

 of the inquirers know that there was a King of 

 the East Angles named Anna f Bramble. 



NOTES ON RECENT BOOK SALES. 



A very important collection of early English Bibles and 

 Testaments, Liturgies, Psalters, and portions of the Scrip- 

 tures and old English literature, was sold by Messrs. 

 SoTHEBY & Wilkinson, on Aug. 20, 21, 22, 1857. We 

 confine ourselves in the present article to the biblical 

 literature : 



109. Bible and Holy Scriptures conteyned in the Olde 

 and Newe Testament, translated according to the Ebrue 

 and Greke and conferred with the best translations, with 

 most profitable annotations, &c., woodcuts, maps, &c. 

 Olive morocco extra, gilt edges, hy F. Bedford (No. 25. 

 of Lea Wilson). Geneva, Rouland Hall. 1560. 10/. 10s. 



First and most rare edition of the famous " Genevan 

 Version " {dedicated to Queen Elizabeth'), better 

 known as " the Breeches Bible," on account of the 

 quaint translation of Genesis vii. 7., which however 

 was anticipated by-Caxton in his Golden Legend, 

 printed in 1483 (folio 27). 



110. Bj'ble (The Whole), that is the Holy Scripture of 

 the Olde and Newe Testament, faythfully translated into 

 Englyshe, by Myles Coverdale, and newly oversene and 

 corrected. Black-letter, extremely rare (No. 19. of Lea 

 Wilson). Prynted for Andrewe Hester. 1550. 28/. 10s. 



The first quarto edition of Coverdale's Bible in a nearly 

 perfect state, is quite as rare as the folio edition of 

 1535. It was printed at Zurich, by Christopher 

 Froschover in 1550, and had 18 preliminary leaves 

 in the type of the text, containing brief summaries 

 of every chapter in the Bible, but without Preface 

 or Dedication ; and it contained also three leaves of 

 table at the end. A perfect copy in this state is pre- 

 served in the Public Library at Zurich, from which 

 a facsimile of the title has recently been taken and 

 inserted in this copy. It has the device of Froschover 

 (frogs climbing a tree), as well as his name. No 

 copy with these 18 leaves is known in this country, 

 and but one, we believe, in America. On coming to 

 England Froschover's title and preliminary leaves 

 were cancelled, and the edition was issued by Hester 

 in 1550, with eight preliminary leaves in the form of 

 this copy, containing a new title, list of books, dedica- 

 tion to Edward VI., and preface, copied with slight 

 variations from the first folio edition of 1535, though 

 in the preface Coverdale interpolates an important 

 historical sentence showing the date when he went 

 abroad to print the first edition. Hester's eight 

 leaves were again cancelled, and the book was issued 

 by Richard Jugge in 1553, with 12 preliminary 

 leaves, being a reprint of the eight by Hester, and 

 with four additional leaves containing an Almanac 

 and Calendar. A facsimile of Jugge's title is also 

 inserted in this copy. It is doubtful whether Hester 

 and Jugge cancelled also the three leaves of table. 

 At all events, they are so rare that few collectors 

 have seen them. They are added to this copy in 

 facsimile. 

 112. Bible (The) containing the Old and New Testa- 

 ment, with Apocrypha. Black-letter, very rare (No. 32. 

 of Lea Wilson), wants title and preliminary pieces before 

 the end of Letanie (A 8), and the two leaves of table, else 

 good copy with the exception of having a few of the 

 margins pieced, red morocco super extra, gilt edges, by 

 F. Bedford. Ihon Cawood. 1569. G/. 

 No perfect copy of this edition is known. The present 

 is not mixed with any leaves from the other two of 

 this date, as is usually the case. 

 114. Bible (The), containing the Old and New Testa- 



