ACCOUNTS, &C. OF BRITISH MUSEUM. 



2. The number of parts of volumes is 8,178; of which 94 were presented, 3,752 pur- 

 chased, and 4,332 received by copyright. To these are to be added 194 volumes of 302 

 Newspapers, 13G of which are published in London, and 166 in the provinces, received from 

 the ofhce of Stamps and Taxes, and considered as copyright. 



3. The Maps and Charts amount to 495, including Maps, Plans, Sections, etc. of Rail- 

 ways. Of these, 237 were presented, 229 purchased, and 29 received by copyright. The 

 Railway Rlaps and Plans were accompanied by 749 printed documents, such as Pro- 

 spectuses, etc., of which 394 were presented, and 355 purchased. 



4. The number of volumes of Music added to the Library amounts to 155; one of which 

 was presented, and 154 pixrchased. 931 detached pieces of Music also have been received 

 by copyright ; and likewise 858 parts of works, 47 of which have been purchased, and 811 

 received by copyright. Of the Music thus added, 1,033 are complete works ; one of which 

 was presented, 101 purchased, and 931 received by copyright. The total number of 

 musical articles of which an account is taken is 1,944. 



5. The whole forms a total of 23,831 articles of which an account is taken j among these 

 there are 12,107 complete works, 881 of which works have been presented, 7,630 pur- 

 chased, and 3,596 received by copyright. 



Among the remarkable objects purchased, the following deserve particular mention : — 



Two editions of the Ars Moriendi, considered by Heineken the second and fifth engraved 

 on wood ; and also a set of copperplate engravings for the same work, probably executed 

 in the fifteenth century, and unknown to bibliographers. 



The Bull of Indulgence granted by the authority of Pope Nicholas V. to those who should 

 contribute in aid of the King of Cyprus against the Turks; a document which bears the 

 date of 1455, two years anterior to 1467, the year of the earliest dated printed book. 

 This copy of the Bull is the only one known of this edition. 



A collection of nine ancient Bulls of Indulgence circulated in England between the 

 years 1480 and 1526. 



Columbus's Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella, announcing the discovery of America, 

 supposed to be printed at Rome in 1493. This copy is of the edition held by some writers 

 to be the second, and by others the first. 



The Diurnale, or Liber Precum, on vellum, printed by Schonsperger, at Augsburg, in 

 1514, probably for the Emperor Maximilian ; the identical copy from which Panzer took 

 his description, and the only perfect one known. 



The Mozarabic Breviary, on vellum, printed at Toledo in 1502, of which no second copy 

 is known, and only 35 are said to have been printed on paper. 



The collection of English Ballads, in three volumes folio, formerly belonging to Lord Oxford, 

 and afterwards to the Duke of Roxburghe, comprising nearly 1,200 articles, and forming pro- 

 bably, when united with those previously in the Museum, the completest collection in existence. 



A volume of ancient French Farces, printed between the years 1540 and 1550, 64 in 

 number; by far the greater part unique, not more than 50 of any kind being previously 

 known to exist in different collections, and many of them not corresponding with those in 

 this volume. 



The first editions of Shakspeare's Lucrece, and of his Sonnets; also some interesting early 

 editions of his Venus and Adonis. 



IV. Binding. — The number of volumes bound amounts to 8,830; that of those repaired 

 to 214, besides 456 Maps mounted. 



V. Reading Room Service. — 1. The number of books returned to the shelves of the 

 General Library from the Reading Rooms is 114,471 ; to those of the Royal Library, 

 11,636 ; to the closets, in which they were kept for the use of the readers from day to day, 

 82,864 ; together, 208,971, or 715 per diem. Adding to this number that of the volumes 

 returned to the shelves of the Reading Rooms, about 110,000, the whole amounts to 

 318,971, or about 1,100 volumes per day. 



2. The number of readers has been 64,434 ; on an average, 220 per day, the Reading 

 Room having been kept open 292 days. Each reader, therefore, consulted on an average, 

 about five volumes daily. 



Department of Natural History. 

 Mineraloqical Branch. 



Since the last Annual Report of the Keeper, the arrangement of the collections under 

 his care has been uninterruptedly proceeded with, and as expeditiously as existing circum- 

 stances would permit, considering that the duties performed do not consist merely in regis- 

 tering and placing specimens to be added to the mass of objects, but frequently require 

 closely examining and studying new accessions previously to their being arranged in their 

 proper places. 



The entries in the General Catalogue exceed 2,000. 



151. A 4 Care 



