Feb. 8. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



101 



ON CATALOGUES OF BOOKS. 



A series of notes on the utility of printed cata- 

 logues of public libraries may seem to be a 

 supeitluity. It may be said, Who ever denied it f 

 Relying on a official document, I can assert that 

 it has been denied — in defiance of common sense, 

 and the experience of two hundred and fitly years! 



At such a time, it behoves every lover of litera- 

 ture to declare himself, and to furnish his quota 

 of facts or arguments corrective of this upstart 

 parailox. It is under the influence of that senti- 

 ment that I submit, for consideration in the proper 

 quai'ter, some short extracts from my bibliogra- 

 phic portfolios. Bolton Coenet. 



" The forwardness of your catalogue [of the 

 public library at Oxford] is very good tidings. ... I 

 would ill treat you to mt'ditate upon it, how it may be 

 performed to both our credits and conlents." — Sir 

 T/tomns BoDLEY to T/in. Jurnes, c. 1604. 



" Habes, benigne lector, catalogum librorum, eo 

 ordine dispositum, quo in celeberrima Oxoniensi 

 bibliotheca coUocaiitur ; opus diu multumque deside- 

 ratum, et jam tandi-'ui editum." — Thomas James, 1605. 



" Quamprimum benignis academicorum suffragiis 

 in bibliotbecarium eleclus essem, videremque justum 

 bibliothecse public;e catalogum ab omnibus desiderari, 

 ego ut gratiis litatum irera, me protinus accinxi ad 

 conlieiendum proprio marte novum catalogum." — 

 Thomas Hvde, 1674. 



" The general use of catalogues [of books], and 

 the esteem they are in at present, is so well known, 

 that it were to waste paper to expatiate on it." — 

 Gerard Langbaine, 1688. 



" Quelles obligations la republique des lettres 

 n'a-t-elle pas aiix Anglais, d'avoir donn6 les catalogues 

 des livres que renCerinent leurs bibliotheques ! Celui 

 d'Oxford est d'une utilite reconnue, par le grand 

 nombre de livres qu'il contient, et par I'ordre alpha- 

 betique qu'on leur a donne." — Jourdan, 1739. 



Catalogues of books are of great use in literary 

 pursuits . . . We mean not here to enter into all the 

 conveniencies of a more improved catalogue, for it 

 would require a volume to display them.' — ]VUliam 

 Oldvs, 1 74.3. 



" Solebat [sc. Rubnkenius] baud exiguam sub- 

 seclva; operas partem tiibuere perlegendis catalogis 

 librorum, sive per auctiones divendtndorum, sive in 

 bil)li()thecis publicis servatorum ; unde factum est, ut 

 rariorum cognitionem librorum, jam in Bergeri dis- 

 ciplina perceptam, continuo augeret." — Dan. Wytten- 

 BACH, 1799. 



" Le ))remier besoin de" I'homme de lettres qui 

 entreprend un ouvrage, est de coniioitre les sources 

 aux()uelles il peut puiser, les livres qui out traite di- 

 recteuient ou indlrecteinent le sujet qui I'occupe." — 

 S. CuAiU'CN ite III limhMe, 1812. 



" La bihliotlie<iue [savoir, la bibliothe(iue royale 

 ^tablie a Brnxelles] aura deux catalogues : I'un 

 alphabetique, I'aulre systematiquc. Dans I'interet de 

 la science, le catalogue sera impriuie, en tout ou en 

 partie." — Lkoi-oi.h, rot ties Ililyes, 1837. 



" Le catalogue est I'inventaire et le veritable palla- 



dium d'une bibliotheque. L'impression des catalogues 

 est toujours une chose utile, sinon indispensable. 

 . . . La publicite est, en outre, le fiein des abus, 

 des negligences, et des malversations, I'aiguillon du 

 ziile, et la source de toute amelioration." — L. A. Con- 

 STANTIN, 1839. 



" I.,a publication d'une nouvelle edition com- 

 plete du catalogue de la bibliotheque du roi [de 

 France], serait, sans donte, le plus grand service qu'on 

 put jamais rendre a I'histoire litteraire ; et nous ne 

 regardons pas cette entreprise comme impraticable." 

 — Jacques Charles Bkunet, 1842. 



" M. Merlin pense avec moi, et c'est quelque 

 chose, que les justes plaintes formees contre I'adminis- 

 tration de la bibliotheque royale [de France] cesseront 

 des I'instant oii Ton aura rcdige et public le catalogue 

 general des livres imprimis." — Paulin Paris, 1847. 



i^innr §.oXti. 



The " JVi)ite?-'s Tale." — As Ma. Payne Collier 

 is making inquiries as to the origin of Shakspeare's 

 Winter s Tale, perhaps he will allow me to call his 

 attention to an oversight he has committed in his 

 edition of Greene's Pandosto, in the series called 

 Shakspeare's Library. In a note to the intro- 

 duction, p. ii., Mr. Collier says, 



" Some verbal resemblances and trifling obligations 

 have been pointed out by the commentators in their 

 notes to the Winter s Tale. One of the principal in- 

 stances occurs in Act IV. Sc. 3., where Florizel says : 

 " ' The gods themselves. 

 Humbling their deities to love, have taken 

 The shapes of beasts upon them : Jupiter 

 Became a bull and bellow'd ; the green Neptune 

 A ram, and bleated ; and the fire-rob'd god, 

 Golden Apollo, a poor humble swain. 

 As I seem now. Their transformations 

 Were never for a piece of beauty rarer, 

 Nor in a way so chaste.' 



" ' This,' says Malone, ' is taken almost literally from 

 the novel' — when, in fact, the resemblance merely 

 consists in the adoption by Sbakspeare of part of the 

 mythological kno^vledge supplied by Greene. ' The 

 gods above disdaine not to love women beneath. 

 Phoebus liked Daphne ; Jupiter lo ; and why not I 

 then Fawnia?" The resemblance is anythmg but 

 literal." 



It would appear, however, that the passage cited by 

 Mr. Collier is not the one referred to by Malone. 

 Mr. Colliers passage is at p. 34. of his edition 

 of the novel; the one Malone evidently had in 

 view is at p. 40., and is as follows : — 



" And yet, Dorastus, shaine not at thy sbcpheard's 

 weede : the heavenly godes have sometime earthly 

 thoughtcs. Nuptiuie became a ram, Jupiter a bul, 

 Apollo a shepheard ; they Gods, and yet m love; and 

 thou a man, appointed to iove." 



Inscribed Alms-dish. — 1\viVQ is an alms-dish (?) 



