DEPARTMENT OF PRINTED BOOKS. 19 



7. Ordinarium Sacri Ordinis Heremitarum, Mexico, 1556. 

 A book of the greatest rarity, not more than two other copies 

 being known. Its paramount interest, however, is not 

 derived from its rarity, but from its containing what is, in all 

 probability, the first music ever printed in the New World ; 

 it appearing almost impossible that any of the Mexican books 

 prior to this in date, enumerated and fully described by 

 Icazbalceta, should have contained music. 



This remarkable acquisition was made at the sale of the first 

 portion of the Heredia Library, at Paris, in May last, when, 

 besides liturgies and music to be hereafter mentioned, the 

 following books of exceptional interest were purchased for the 

 Museum. The exceedingly rare Spanish translation of Boethius, 

 printed at Toulouse by Heinrich Meyer, 1488 ; the first col- 

 lection of laws promulgated by Ferdinand and Isabella, 1486 ; 

 a splendid edition of the Fuero Real, Burgos, 1541 ; Privilegio 

 de la ciudad de Alcala, 1564, printed in a small form, to faci- 

 litate the production of the charter by citizens claiming the 

 privileges conferred by it; Gonzales Lente, Dos privilegios e 

 prasrogativas, &c., Coimbra, 1557, an exposition of the special 

 privileges conferred upon women by the laws of Portugal 

 Estatutos Generales de Barcelona, Mexico, 1585, not mentioned 

 by any Mexican bibliographer. 



At the Destailleur sale, which took place in Paris in May, 

 were purchased two exceedingly rare editions of Rabelais, the 

 " Oeuvres," Paris, 1555, and the " Vie inestimable du Grand 

 Gargantua," Lyons, 1537 ; the former in a beautiful binding, 

 with the ciphers of Louis XIII. and Anne of Austria. These, 

 with the subsequent acquisition of an almost unique copy of 

 the edition of the " Oeuvres " printed at Troyes in 1556, 

 have greatly enriched the Museum collection of the works of 

 Rabelais, previously very defective. On the same occasion 

 were bought " Libro de letras historiadas," [Zaragoza, 1555], 

 said to be the only early Spanish book containing a Dance 

 of Death ; Boyer de Nimes, Histoire des Caricatures de la 

 revolte des Fran^jais, Paris, 1792, rare and unfinished, having 

 been interrupted by the progress of the Revolution ; and 

 unique and most beautiful vellum copies of Amyot's transla- 

 tion of Longus's Daphnis and Chloe, Paris, 1803, and of 

 Pascal's works, Paris, 1803 ; both with numerous plates in- 

 serted, and the Longus accompanied by the original edition, 

 also on vellum, of the fragment discovered by Courier in the 

 Laurentian Library. The collection of Pascal's works in the 

 Museum has also received a most important accession by the 

 purchase of a set of the original issues of the " Lettres Pro- 

 vinciales," clandestinely printed, brought together under a 

 collective titlepage, bearing the imprint, Cologne, 1657, and 

 accompanied in this copy by a collation of all the original 

 editions made by the late M. J. H. Basse. 



Among other remarkable foreign books obtained during the 



year are to be enumerated Lyden Jhesu Christi and Leven 



0.108. B 2 Jhesu 



