GENERAL PROGRESS AT THE MUSEUM. 17 



the platform of the earlier temple and explored the founda- 

 tions, whereby the remains of a still more ancient structure 

 have been brought to light. A certain number of frag- 

 ments of sculpture, which supplement those already in the 

 Museum, have been recovered and, with the consent of 

 the Turkish Government, will be shipped to England. The 

 excavations will be prosecuted during a second season 

 in 1905. 



The building of the repository at Hendon for the storage 

 of newspapers and other printed matter has been completed; 

 and the fitting of book-presses is in progress and will be 

 finished in the course of a few months. 



The Second and Third Grseco-Roman Rooms have been 

 re-painted, and the sculptures in them have been re-arranged, 



The planing and polishing of the wooden flooring of the 

 Upper Floor of the Museum has been further extended to 

 various rooms. 



Among the more important additions to the several 

 Departments the following may be specially noticed : — 



The Department of Printed Books has acquired sixty- 

 seven English books printed before the year 1640, and has 

 added fifty-eight foreign examples to the series of Incuna- 

 bula. The British Museum collection of Incunabula, or 

 books printed before the year 1501, is now one of the 

 principal collections of the world. An edition, hitherto 

 unknown, of Tindal's New Testament, as edited by George 

 Joye, 1535, has also been purchased. 



The Department of Manuscripts has secured the auto- 

 graph MS. of Keats's " Hyperion," with numerous 

 emendations and additions in the poet's hand. 



To the Department of Oriental Printed Books and Manu- 

 scripts has been added the Nevill collection of upwards 

 of one thousand MSS. in Sinhalese and other Indian 

 languages, representative of Sinhalese literature in its 

 different branches. 



Mr. William Mitchell has presented to the Department of 

 Prints a large collection of printed books of the fifteenth 

 and sixteenth centuries containing woodcut illustrations in 

 fine condition. 



For the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, 

 a mastaha tomb of an official who lived in the reign of 

 Pepi II., king of Egypt, about 3200 B.C., has been purchased 

 in Egypt and is now erected in the Assyrian Saloon in the 

 basement of the Museum. Two fine collections of Egyptian 

 scarabs of the early periods have also been acquired. Among 

 the additions to the Assyrian Section is a tablet engraved 

 with a historical text of the reign of Tukulti-Ninib I., king 

 of Assyria, about 1275 B.C. 



133. B 



