ACCOUNTS, &C. OF BRITISH MUSEUM. 



Not to interrupt the general outline of what has been purchased, no special mention has 

 been made, excepting in the case of Dati's poem, of individual works, so very rare as to 

 deserve special notice, which have been added to the Library. A few will be now enume- 

 rated. 



Among the books belonging to the Barrett and Maskell Collection may be mentioned the 

 Missal for the Diocese of York, printed at Rouen in 1517, of which no other copy is kno^vn ; 

 the first edition of that of Salisbury, also printed at Kouen in 1492; the Missal of Salisbury, 

 printed at Paris in 1527 ; the Breviary for the same Church, likewise printed at I'aris in 

 1531 ; the Dominican Missal, printed at Venice in 1492; and Psalter, printed hy Giunta at 

 Florence, 1507. These last four volumes are all on vellum, and on vellum likewise are 

 about fifteen Horse of various dates, printed between the end of the fifteenth and the beginning 

 of the sixteenth century. Nor ought "A Supplicacyon for the Beggers " to be omitted ; it 

 purports to be a Petition of the impotent Beggars to Henry VIII., pressing him to do away 

 with all religious corporations who interfered with the Beggars' legitimate calling by impo- 

 verishing the nation. It seems to be printed in 1524 or 1528, and the only copy known 

 of such an edition of this singiilar document ; from this very copy was re-printed Mr. 

 Maskell's edition of 1845. 



Among the volumes purchased at Paris, the " Canzonete" of Justiniano, supposed to be 

 printed at Venice in 1471, one of the first books ever printed in Italian, and the very first 

 in the Venetian dialect, deserves notice ; a copy of the Cortepiano, by Castiglione, Florence, 

 1531, is very interesting as well as amusing and instructive, for having t!,e original manu- 

 script corrections and alterations prescribed by the Inquisitor Hosati ; the " Aparati de le 

 Noze" of Constantino Sforza, printed at Vicenza in 1475, is a very early specimen of dra- 

 matic entertainment; and an edition of the Orlando Innamorato of 154'-i, must be noticed, 

 having hitherto escaped bibliographical researches. It is at the Libri sale that the " Epistolse 

 Gasparini Pergamensis," printed at Paris about 1470, have been procured, a volume of 

 considerable importance in the history of printing, being the first that ever issued from a 

 French press. Of the first three editions of Dante's poem, printed in 1472, the British 

 Museum twelve months ago possessed only that of Foligno, which forms part of the Royal 

 Library ; the Grenville Library added to the national collection a copy of that of Mantua ; 

 and from Germany has been procured a copy of that of Jesi, the rarest of them all. Having 

 regard to the beauty of the copy, and to the press from which it issued, the copy of Climacus, 

 " Scala spiritualis," on vellum, printed at Alcala in 1505 with the same type as that of the 

 Mozarabic Breviary, deserves notice ; and on account of its former possessor as well as of 

 the very fine condition of this very handsome copy, the Bible printed at Cambridge in 1674, 

 in two vols, fob, and belonging to James II., ought not to be omitted. 



During 1847, the greatest additions to the Library, in point of number, of both volumes 

 and works, as well as of their importance, have been by presents ; one, of the collection of 

 Chinese books of the late Robert Morrison, Esq., presented by the Secretary of State 

 for the Foreign Department in 1846, but transferred to the Library the following year; the 

 other, of the library of the Right HonourableThomas Grenville, which was likewise bequeathed 

 in 1846, but was not removed to the Museum till February 1847. Both these additions 

 deserve special notice. The Chinese Collection amounts to 11,509 volumes, containing 476 

 distinct works, 34 of which are on statistics or law, and 79 on geography. Among the 

 former are the Hwuy teen sze le, or complete account of the various branches of administration 

 by which China is governed, some of the 221 volumes of which are unfortunately deficient; 

 the Ping poo tsih le, or regulations respecting the army and navy, in 32 volumes; the Shang 

 yu and Yuh che wan, two collections of the imperial ordinances, one in 84 volumes, and the 

 other in 78 ; the Hing ming teaou le, or ordinances of the reigning Emperor, Taou Kwang, 

 in 20 volumes. Among the latter are several local histories, including that of Ningpo, in 

 10 volumes ; of Chusan, in 8 ; of the province of Fuh-keen, in 55 ; of Amoy, in 6 ; and three 

 different accounts of the Loo Choo Islands, one in 4, another in 6, and the third in 1 2 

 volumes. The collection of Chinese literature already in the Museum was singularly deficient 

 in specimens of the Drama, but has by this donation received an accession of 31 different 

 collections of tragedies, comedies and operas, extending to 188 volumes. The works on the 

 Buddhist religion are also numerous, and there is a copy of the Shanseen tung keen, or account 

 of all rehgions, in 21 volumes. In other departments of literature many articles of interest 

 occur, and in particular the Teen yih ko shoo muh king poo, or account of the library of 

 Ning-po, in 8 volumes. 



With the exception of the collection of his Majesty George the Third, the Library of the 

 British Museum has never received an accession so important in every respect as the collec- 

 tion of the Right Honourable Thomas Grenville. It is impossible to give an idea of its 

 magnificence within the short space allowed to a statement of the present description ; to 

 appreciate it fully, such a collection must be seen and examined at leisure, and the more it 

 is examined, the more will it be appreciated. Formed and preserved with the exquisite taste 

 of an accomplished bibliographer, with the learning of a profound and elegant scholar, and 

 the splendid liberality of a gentleman in affluent circumstances, who employed in adding to 

 his library whatever his generous heart allowed him to spare from silently relieving those 

 whose wants he alone knew, this addition to the National Library places it in some respects 

 above all libraries known ; in others it leaves it inferior only to the Royal Library at Paris, 

 An idea may be formed of the literary value of Mr. Grenville's library by referring to its 

 pecuniary value ; it consists of 20,240 volumes, forming about 16,000 works, which cost 

 upwards of 54,000 L, and would sell for more now. 



139. B Even 



