24 ACCOUNTS, ETC., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



first Transylvanian printer ; Vertot, " Revolutions de Portugal," 

 and " Revolutions de Suede," printed by Renouard on vellum, 

 1795, two of the most beautiful of modern vellum books ; an 

 unique vellum copy of the Bibliotheque Gothique in twenty- 

 eight parts, including Villon's Grand and Petit Testament, and 

 other works of similar period and character, printed with 

 special type for the Prince of Essling, 1868-74 ; " La Re- 

 publique Fran9aise," Gambetta's organ, from 1871 to 1887. 



The most striking acquisition in early English literature is 

 one of extraordinary interest, being a unique black letter 

 ballad on the accession of Queen Mary, signed T. W., and 

 printed by Roger Madeley, a typographer otherwise un- 

 known. It must have been written and printed between 

 Northumberland's committal to the Tower, July 25th, 1553, 

 and Mary's entry into London on August 3rd. Its poetical 

 merit is very small, but it is a valuable testimony to the state 

 of popular feeling. Another important production of the 

 early English presSj though the text is Latin, has been 

 acquired in John Constable's Epigrams, printed by Pynson in 

 1520. Only one other copy is known, that in the Bodleian, 

 from which the imperfections of the Museum copy have been 

 made good in facsimile. Great interest also attaches to 

 Archbishop Parker's form of thanksgiving for the deliverance 

 of Malta from the Turks, 1565, which makes no allusion to 

 any doctrinal differences between Roman Catholics and 

 Protestants. A very rare and interesting book has been 

 acquired in William Hunnis's " Hyve full of Hunnye," 1578, 

 a metrical rendering of Genesis. With it may be named 

 " Treatise concernyng divers of the Constitucyons, "printed 

 by Thomas Godfray [1532] ; Guevara, Dial of Princes, first 

 English edition : Erasmus, Complaint of Peace, 1559 ; A true 

 Relation of the Vanquishing of the town Olinda, Amsterdam, 

 1636 ; Sampson, Warning to take heed of Fowler's Psalter, 

 1578 ; The Gentlewoman's Jewel, 1624. Among remarkable 

 acquisitions of later date are King's " Devotions of Con- 

 fraternity of Rosary," with special prayers against the great 

 plague of 1665 ; the first edition of Dryden's first play, 

 " The Rival Ladies," 1664, so rare that its existence has been 

 disputed ; and first editions of Wycherley's " Love in a 

 Wood," Farquhar's "Stage Coach," and Vanbrugh's "Relapse," 

 the last two believed to be unique. In modern poetry, besides 

 the valuable acquisitions described under the head "Donations," 

 ar.e to be mentioned Charles Lloyd's poems on the death of 

 his grandmother Priscilla Farmer, Bristol, 1796, with con- 

 tributions by Coleridge and Lamb, a work of the greatest 

 rarity ; Landor's Latin translation of his Gebir, Oxford, 1803 ; 

 his even rarer " Terry O'Hogan," 1836 ; and one of a very 

 small number of copies of the Earl of Ly tton's " King Poppy," 

 circulated among friends about 1875, an'-', diff'ering in almost 

 every line from the poem as eventually published. 



Purchases 



