ACCOUNTS OF BRITISH MUSEUM: 1840. 



The Egerton Manuscripts from No. 628 to No, 751 inclusive, have been arranged, bound, 

 numbered and stamped. 



The additional Charters and Rolls have been arranged and numbered from No. 1813 to 

 No. 4286 inclusive, and stamped from No. 1 to No. 1249, and from No. 1813 to No. 2561 

 inclusive. 



The whole of the Manuscripts in the old Royal Library have been numbered on the bind" 

 ings for local reference. 



The collection of Lord F. Campbell's Charters has been re-arranged in drawers. 

 Sixty-five of the Cotton Manuscripts injured by the fire of 1731 have been inlaid or re- 

 paired, and rebound. 



Seventy-nine rolls of Papyrus, Egyptian, Coptic and Greek, have been unrolled and laid 

 down, and the greater part framed or bound under glass. 



A portion of a Greek Psalter written on Papyrus, and consisting of 32 leaves, has been 

 similarly preserved. 



The following are the additions to the Department in the year ending 25 December 1839. 

 To the General Collection : — 



Manuscripts - - - - - - - - -143 



Charters, Rolls and other documents ----- 5,711 



Papyri - >..-.__- 48 



To the Egerton Collection : — 



Manuscripts --------- 29 



Among the Manuscripts, the following appear most deserving of special notice : — 



A Portolano, written and coloured on vellum, by Grazioso Benincasa of Ancona, in 1467. 



Six volumes, containing a collection of the religious books of the Druses, in Arabic. 



A volume containing coloured plans of English and Foreign fortified cities, executed about 

 the year 1650. 



A volume containing collections of Sir Julius Csesar, relating to the Admiralty, Chancery, 

 Exchequer, Star Chamber, &c., in the reign of James the First. 



A volume with numerous fine illuminations, containing Anglo-Norman legends of Saints 

 and other pieces of poetry, written on vellum, about the year -1300. 



Three ancient Ethiopic Manuscripts on vellum, one of which contains the Psalter. 

 A Liturgical Hebrew Manuscript, written at the end of the 13ih century on vellum, with 

 numerous singular illuminations. 



Eleven original Commissions granted by the Doges of Venice, written on vellum, and illu- 

 minated in some instances with the portraits of the Doges, between 1498 and 1644. 



Forty-eight autograph Letters of Charles VIIL of France ; Louis XIL of France, and 

 Anne his Queen ; Gaston de Foix ; Pierre de Bourbon ; Villers de LTsle Adam, Grand 

 Master of Malta ; Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, &c. 



Histoire en vers de la Fondation de I'Abbaye de Saint Martin des Champs, written on vellum 

 at the close of the lith century, with several valuable pen drawings. 



A Manuscript written in the Cingalese character on plates of silver. 



Another, written in a character resembling the Cingalese, on a plate of gold. 



A very considerable number of Charters and other original documents, illustrative of man- 

 ners and customs, as also of the intercourse between England and France, particularly Nor- 

 mandy, from the 13th to the 16th century. 



Among the Papyri are 12 or 13 stated to be historical, and probably written above 13 cen- 

 turies previous to the Christian era ; they are said to relate to the conquests of Rameses the 

 Great, and to be of the highest interest. 



Department of Printed Books. 



Of the collection of printed books heretofore placed in the old house, and containing 

 in round numbers 165,000 volumes, 47,000 volumes had been already removed to the new 

 library on the 23d June 1838, and placed on the shelves destined for them; 128,000 volumes 

 were either untouched or in a more or less forward state of preparation for immediate 

 removal. At the end of 1839 about 12,000 volumes remained still in the old house, each 

 of the works being, however, ticketed, and so far ready to be removed. 



The locality of the books, and the number of rooms in which they are placed, being now 

 totally different from what it was before, it has become necessary to alter every one of the 

 press marks, and to substitute new ones for each of them ; first, in the work itself ; second, 

 on each of the transfer tickets ; third, in the copy of the catalogue used in the library ; 

 fourth, in the copy of the catalogue kept in the reading rooms. Between June 1838 and 



101. B the 



