DEPARTMENT OF PRINTED BOOKS. 23 



more importance than any other except the first, having 

 appeared with a greatly improved text which was followed in 

 later editions. The Dutch Old Testament of 1518, the Stras- 

 burg New Testament of 1522, the Geneva New Testament of 

 1553, and an English New Testament of 1578, are also 

 valuable accessions to the collection of Bibles. 



The acquisition of the fourth German Bible is paralleled by 

 that of a Liturgy belonging to a group of special interest 

 alike for their extreme rarity and their influence upon the 

 English Liturgy, but until now entirely unrepresented in the 

 Museum. This is the group of the seven editions of the first 

 recension of the Quignon Breviary, all published between 

 February 1535 and July 153G, and so completely obliterated 

 by the second recension, of which upwards of seventy editions 

 were published previous to its suppression by Pius V., that 

 copies of any of them belong to the greatest rarities of 

 liturgical literature, and are almost confined to public 

 libraries. The copy acquired by the Museum is of the second 

 edition, Venice, 1535. No other copy of this is known except 

 that in the possession of Dr. Wickham Legg, and used by him 

 in the reprint of the Breviary executed at the expense of the 

 University of Cambridge ; and even this wants a sheet, 

 while the Museum copy is perfect. On the same occasion 

 was purchased a service-book believed to be unique, the 

 Vigiliae Defunctorum of the Church of Cologne, printed on 

 vellum at Cologne by Ludwig von Renchen about 1485. Im- 

 portant acquisitions have also been made in the Breviary of the 

 Church of Braga, Salamanca, 1511, the only one of Portuguese 

 use ever printed ; and a Greek Horologium, Zanetti, Venice, 

 1546, unknown to Legrand. 



Three of the purchases in general literature are of very 

 special interest : — 



1. The second edition of Boccaccio's Decameron, printed at 

 Mantua by Georg and Paul de Butzbach for Petrus Adam de 

 Michaelibus. Only five copies are known, and one of these, 

 the Althorp copy, is very imperfect. This, like the copy of 

 the editio iirincei^s recently acquired by the Museum, was in 

 the Sunderland library. It is one of the first two books 

 printed at Mantua. 



2. The "Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles," printed at Paris for 

 Antoine Verard between 1480 and 1490, and differing from 

 the edition of 1486. The Museum did not previously possess 

 any early edition of this celebrated book. 



3. A vellum copy of the index of Petrus de Bergamo to the 

 works of St. Thomas Aquinas, Bologna, 1472 ; a valuable 

 acquisition in every way, but especially interesting to the 

 Museum, from its having been associated, as shown by the 

 binding, with the Museum copy of the edition of St. Thomas' 

 works printed at Eome in 1570, one of two copies of the 

 . 0.97. largest 



