GENERAL PROGRESS AT THE MUSEUM. 15 



The principal additions to the collections are noticed below 

 in the reports of the several Departments ; but a few of the 

 more important may be specially mentioned here. 



In the Department of Printed Books the principal purchases 

 have been in the category of Incunabula, in order that the 

 Catalogue of Early Printed Books, now in course of preparation, 

 may be as complete as possible. Fifty-nine books printed 

 in the XVth century, and 85 English books printed before 

 1640, have been acquired during the year. Among the latter 

 were 18 Year Books of the reign of Edward IV. ; among the 

 former, a copy of the valuable Zinna Psalter, printed at the 

 expense of the emperors Frederick III. and Maximilian I. in 

 1495. Of later books may be mentioned the only work of John 

 Milton which was not hitherto in the Library ; and a complete 

 set of the bulletins of the Revolutionary Tribunal at Paris for 

 1793 and 1794. The Department also received by donation a 

 Catalogue of the Indian collection of Arms and Armour at 

 Sandringham, presented by Her Majesty Queen Alexandra in 

 pursuance of the wishes of His late Majesty King Edward VII. ; 

 vols. I-VI. of the Bibliotheca Lindesiana, presented by the 

 Earl of Crawford, K.T. ; and a complete set of the publications 

 of the Kelmscott Press, presented by Mrs. William Morris. 



The Department of Manuscripts acquired a considerable 

 number of historical papers (chiefly from the sale of a further 

 instalment of the Phillipps Library), notably the original 

 MS. of Sir James Melville's Memoirs, 1559-1594; the Letter 

 Book of the Commissioners for Scotland in London, 1645- 

 1646 ; 61 letters of Lord Bolingbroke, 1740-1750 ; corre- 

 spondence of Lord John Russell, 1819-1860; and letters of the 

 Duke of Wellington to J. W. Croker, 1832-1852. The most 

 important acquisition of this kind, however, was the original 

 autograph Trafalgar Memorandum, written by Lord Nelson on 

 the 9th of October 1805, to explain the tactics which he 

 intended to adopt on meeting the allied fleets of France and 

 Spain ; this, having been bought for a large sum by Mr. B. M. 

 WooUan, of Tunbridge Wells, in 1905, passed (in accordance 

 with an agreement made by him with the Trustees) into the 

 possession of the nation as a free gift on his death in December 

 1909. Another valuable gift was the original diary of George 

 Romney, recording sittings for portraits, 1776-1795, which was 

 presented by Mr. T. Humphry Ward. 



The Department of Oriental Printed Books and Manuscripts 

 received a valuable collection of Coptic papyri (including 

 considerable portions of the Gospel of St. John) by gift from 

 Mr. Martyn Kennard. The principal purchase was a very fine 

 MS. of the Samaritan Pentateuch, with the Aramaic and Arabic 

 versions in parallel columns, written about the year 1200. 



The Department of Prints and Drawings was exceptionally 

 fortunate in the generosity of benefactors during the year. 

 The bequest of Mr. George Salting included works, many of 



