ACCOUNTS, ETC., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 15 



By the death of Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks, k.c.b., 

 the British Museum has entered into possession of one of the 

 most important bequests of recent times. The particulars of 

 the collections thus bequeathed are set out in the reports of 

 the Keepers of the Departments of British and Mediaeval 

 Antiquities and Ethnography and of Prints and Drawings 

 (p. 45) ; but it should be here recorded that this bequest 

 is only the conclusion of a long series of benefactions. Sir A. 

 W. Franks having from his earliest connection with the 

 Museum periodically made valuable gifts to the Trustees 

 of objects of interest, not only to his own Department, but 

 also to other Departments of the British Museum. 



Sir A. W. Franks entered the service of the Trustees in 

 1851, and held the office of Keeper of the Department of 

 British and Mediaeval Antiquities and Ethnography from 

 1866 to 1896, when he resigned. In 1892 he was elected 

 President of the Society of Antiquaries, and thus became also 

 an official Trustee of the British Museum. 



Among the more important acquisitions of the year is a 

 further series of Egyptian sculptures of great antiquity, 

 supplementing those which were purchased in 1896. A most 

 striking portrait statue of an Egyptian official named An- 

 Khef t-Ka, of the Fourth Dynasty, was presented by the Egypt 

 Exploration Fund, and is a prominent object among the 

 remains of the Early Empire, exhibited at the northern end 

 of the Egyptian Gallery. The most valuable addition of 

 literary interest is a papyrus, unfortunately much mutilated, 

 of the first century B.C., containing poems of the Greek poet 

 Bacchylides, the contemporary of Pindar; the text has been 

 forthwith published, together with a photographic facsimile 

 of the papyrus. Several books of rarity were purchased at 

 the Ashburnham sale, including the " Doctrinal of Sapience," 

 printed by Caxton in 1489. A further series of correspondence 

 and papers of Admiral Viscount Nelson has been purchased, 

 supplementing the collection acquired in 1895. 



Gifts of Museum publications, including reproductions of 

 prints and drawings by old masters, and electrotypes of British 

 historical medals, have been made to Free Public Libraries, 

 Local Museums, and Art Schools throughout the United 

 Kingdom. 



The following are the publications issued by the Depart- 

 ments at Bloomsbury during the year : — 



Continuation of the General Catalogue of the Library, 

 quarto, 17 parts, viz. :— Bible, Part II. ; Scotland ; Shake- 

 speare (William;; Squabb-States of the Church; T-Tan 

 'Houm ; Tani-Tayliie ; Taylor-Templars ; Temple-Thaarup ; 

 Thabaud de Latouche-Thiaut ; Thibaldeo-Thomlinson ; Thorn- 



