DEPARTMENT OF PRINTED BOOKS. 21 



of England and Wales and in the Channel Islands ; 270 in 

 Scotland, and 203 in Ireland ; 16 volumes of an old news- 

 paper have been purchased; 194 sets, containing 21,569 

 numbers of foreign and colonial newspapers, together with 

 36 parcels of foreign and 31 volumes of colonial newspapers 

 have been presented ; 84 sets, containing 12 volumes and 

 22,626 numbers of modern foreign and colonial newspapers, 

 have been purchased ; and 10 sets, containing 1,319 numbers, 

 have been received by colonial copyright. 



(/) The number of distinct works comprised in the 26,929 

 volumes and pamphlets, the 64,285 parts of volumes, the 

 1,166 maps and the 4,022 pieces of music already mentioned, 

 amounts, as nearly as can be ascertained, to 30,335. Of 

 these, 5,666 were presented, 17,167 acquired by English 

 copyright, 728 by colonial copyright, 352 by international 

 exchange and 6,422 by purchase. 



{g) 3,492 articles have been received in the Department 

 not included in the foregoing paragraphs, comprising 

 broadsides. Parliamentary Papers, and other miscellaneous 

 items. The addition of this number to those already given 

 produces a total of 104,398 articles received in the Depart- 

 ment in the course of the year. 



Acquisitions of Special Interest. — The number of remark- 

 able books acquired during 1897 has been less considerable 

 than usual, but several of the acquisitions have been of the 

 very highest importance. 



One of the most important acquisitions has been a series of 

 89 autotype facsimiles of printed proclamations of the 

 Sovereigns of England from Henry VII. to Philip and Mary, 

 made, by permission of the Society of Antiquaries, from 

 the collection, in most cases consisting of unique documents, 

 in the Society's Library. To convey an idea of the importance 

 of this collection, it will suiSce to state that it contains thirty 

 of the proclamations of Henry the Eighth, comprised in the 

 Earl of Crawford's list in the " Bibliotheca Lindesiana," the 

 Museum, until the reception of the facsimiles, having had only 

 six ; and that every known proclamation of Queen Mary 

 exists as an unique document at the Society of Antiquaries, 

 with the exception of one, likewise unique, recently purchased 

 by the Museum. 



Five of the books acquired during the year are of exceptional 

 bibliographical interest. They are : — 



I. The " Doctrinal of Sapience," printed by William Caxton, 

 in 1489, purchased at the sale of the first portion of the Earl 

 of Ashburnham's library, a fine copy, perfect with the 

 exception of two leaves supplied in facsimile. It need not be 

 said that the acquisition of a Caxton by the Museum or any 

 public library is a very infrequent occurrence. With the 

 exception of two bought respectively in 1883 and 1890, and 

 fragmentary leaves, some belonging to books otherwise 



