ACCOUNTS, &C. OF BRITISH MUSEUM. 



IX. — PROGRESS made in the Cataloguing and Arrangement of the Collections, 

 and Account of Objects added, in the Year ending 25 December 1842. 



Department of Manuscripts. 



The Catalogue of the Sloane Manuscripts has been prepared partly, in copy, from 

 No. 3,631 to No. 4,083. 



The General Index to the Annual Lists of Additions, from 1836 to 1840 inclusive, has 

 been completed, and placed in the printer's hands. 



The List of Additions for 1841, is partly prepared for press. 



The Index to the Additional Charters, Nos. 1 — 1,249, has been completed. 



One hundred and sixty-nine Arabic Manuscripts have been described for the General 

 Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts. 



The first volume of the Catalogue of Maps, Plans and Topographical Drawings has been 

 printed off, and also pp. 1 — 128 of the second volume. 



A Catalogue of the Manuscript Music has been made and printed. 



The Additional Manuscripts have been arranged and numbered, from No. 12,133 to 

 No. 12,558 inclusive, and stamped from No. 12,133 to No. 12,401. 



The whole of the Additions for 1841 have been press-marked and located. 



The Additional Rolls and Charters have been stamped from No. 4,893 to No. 5,860 in- 

 clusive. 



The Cecil and Burghley Papers, in 114 volumes, have been repaired and re-bound. 



The Collection of Maps and Plans contained in MS. Cott. Aug. I., vols. i. ii., with the 

 Supplement, have been cleaned, repaired, mounted, and accurately described. 



Three of the valuable Cottonian Manuscripts on vellum, damaged in the fire at Ashburnham 

 House in 1731, have been flattened, inlaid, bound, and rendered available for literary 

 purposes. 



Fifteen of the injured Cottonian Manuscripts on paper have been inlaid and re-bound ; 

 and seventeen Harleian, seventy-two Sloane, and above four hundred of the Additional 

 Manuscripts have been repaired or re-bound. 



The whole of the Manuscripts of King George the Third have been re-numbered, press- 

 marked, and, where necessary, bound and repaired. 



The Additions made to the Department in the year are as follows : 

 To the General Collection, — 



Manuscripts, about -------- 1,770 



Charters and Rolls -------- 17 



Original Seals --------- 9 



To the Egerton Collection, — 



Manuscripts ---------15 



Among the Manuscripts may be specified — An extensive collection in the Javanese, Bugis 

 and Malay languages, illustrative of the Literature of the Indian Archipelago. — Thirteen 

 volumes of original Papers and Letters, which formed part of the collection of Sir Julius 

 Caesar, Master of the Rolls in the reign of James the First. — A beautiful copy of Demos- 

 thenes, in Greek, written on vellum, of the fifteenth century. — A valuable Manuscript of 

 Dante, on vellum, illustrated with a profusion of coloured drawings, of the fourteenth cen- 

 tury. — Eleven exquisitely finished folio sheets of miniature paintings, intended to illustrate 

 the genealogies of the Royal Houses of Portugal and Spain, apparently executed by the best 

 Flemish artists in the early part of the sixteenth century. According to the opinion of many 

 excellent judges, these paintings, for freedom and variety of design, and beauty of colouring, 

 are equal or superior to any works of a similar character that have proceeded from the 

 pencils of the most celebrated miniaturists of the Italian and Flemish Schools. — The whole 

 of the Papers and Correspondence of the late Marqness Wellesley, during the period he 

 was Governor-General of India, from 1798 to 1805, forming a series of about 1,400 volumes. 



The number of deliveries of Manuscripts to Readers in the Reading Room (exclusive of 

 those persons who consult illuminated volumes for purposes of art, autographs, etc., in the 

 rooms of the Department), amounts, during the last twelvemonth, to 19,727. 



Department of Printed Books. 



I. Arrangement of the Library. — 1. The addition of a third mark to each article, so as 

 to individualize it, has been completed ; the number of shelves so marked in the New Library 

 amounts to 3,123; besides 32 shelves in the select cases, and 96 in the presses in the 

 King's Library, recently fitted up and filled with pamphlets, or with works removed to new 

 places, to make room for the pamphlets. 



106. B 2. Of 



