22 ACCOUNTS, ETC., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



1G04, an application common enough in MS., but almost 

 unknown in print; Davila's " Istoria delle guerre Civili di 

 Francia," in a French translation, magnificently bound by Le 

 Gascon for Gaston, Duke of Orleans; "The Irish Post Chaise " 

 third edition, 1813, a guide book used by Shelley on his second 

 visit to Ireland in 1813, with his autograph in two places. 



Donations. — The principal donations of the past year have 

 been three sets of colonial newspapers extending from 1877 

 to 1882, and from 1885 to 1888, two presented by the Royal 

 Colonial Institute and one by the Colonial Office ; a very 

 extensive collection of excerpts from newspapers respecting the 

 Special Commission for inquiry into crimes and outrages com- 

 mitted in Ireland, presented by Henry Cunynghame, Esq., 

 Secretary to the Commission ; a large collection of postage 

 stamps, presented by Hubert Haes, Esq. ; a set of Queensland 

 official documents from 1863 to the present time, presented by 

 the Government of Queensland ; and a beautiful edition of the 

 musical compositions of Frederick the Great, presented by 

 H.I.M. the Emperor of Germany. 



The other chief additions to the collection of Music have 

 been a copy of the " Delphin de Musica " by Luis de Narbaez, 

 printed at Valladolid in 1538, a book of the utmost rarity ; 

 a number of rare part-books of madrigals, canzonets, etc., 

 published at Venice between 1596 and 1608 ; and a collection 

 of 137 musical works, mostly printed in this country in the 

 17th and 18th centuries, which includes the scarce first 

 edition of " Parthenia, or the Maydenhead of the First 

 Musick that ever was printed for the Virginalls," generally 

 considered to be the first music printed from copper plates in 

 England. 



Acquisition of the Bagford Collection of Titlepages, etc., 

 by exchange with the Department of MSS. 



One of the most important additions to the Department 

 during the past year has been eff*ected by exchange. It 

 consists of 73 volumes, and portions of 17 other volumes, 

 containing a large number of titlepages, curious advertise- 

 ments, proclamations, interesting papers relating to the 

 City of London and the Post Office, book-plates, specimens 

 of paper, and many fragments of books printed by Gutenberg, 

 Caxton, Machlinia, Wynkyn de Worde, Rood, Pynson and 

 other early printers, amounting in all to about 18,500 pieces, 

 forming part of the collection made by John Bagford, known 

 as " the biblioclast," about the beginning of the eighteenth 

 century. These have been transferred from the Department 

 of Manuscripts, where they have hitherto been deposited on 

 account of their having been originally acquired along with 

 the Harleian MSS., in exchange for the manuscripts collected 

 by the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville, which, however, will 

 continue to be kept in the Grenville Library. 



R. Garnett. 



