DEPARTMENT OF MSS. 29 



20. Acquisitions. — The number of Manuscripts and Docu- 

 ments acquired during the year are : — 



General Collections of MSS. - - - - lOH 



Rolls and Charters ----- 2,393. 



Detached Seals and Casts - - - - 346 



Papyri -------- 170 



Egerton MSS. ------ 8 



. Egerton Charter ------ 1 



The acquisitions during the past year have been of unusual! 

 interest and importance. 



The fine collection of Greek papyri already in the Depart- 

 ment has been further enriched by the results of Prof. Flinders 

 Petrie's discoveries in the Fayyum, which include portions of 

 Euripides' lost play of " Antiope " and of Plato's " Phnedo," 

 both written in the third century B.C., and consequently 

 the earliest known manuscript remains of Greek classical 

 literature. These, with one hundred and ten other Greek 

 papyri of a valuable nature, and of the same date, were 

 presented by Jesse Haworth, Esq., and E. Marty n Kennard, 

 Esq. 



The Centenary Exhibition in the King's Library in 1894 

 of works and relics of Edward Gibbon, the historian, led to 

 the purchase, early in 1895, of his will, bills for books, and a. 

 catalogue of his library written on the backs of playing-cards, 

 all of which are autograph. These were obtained from 

 Mons. W. de Charriere de Severy, of Lausanne, a descendant 

 of W. de Severy, Gibbon's friend and co-executor. Subse- 

 quently, the Trustees also acquired from the Earl of Sheffield 

 the whole of the autograph MSS. of Gibbon which had 

 belonged to his grandfather, the first Earl, the historian's 

 most intimate friend. They include six autobiographical 

 sketches with variations, five journals, ten miscellaneous 

 works, and six volumes of correspondence, together with 

 correspondence of the first Lord Sheffield and others. 



By a special grant of Parliament, the Trustees purchased, 

 in the course of the year, from Viscount Bridport, the greater 

 portion of his large collection of the papers and corre- 

 spondence of Admiral Viscount Nelson, in sixty volumes, 

 comprising upwards of six thousand letters, together with 

 eight autograph diaries and a quantity of miscellaneous 

 matter. 



0.97. Among 



