14 ACCOUNTS, ESTIMATES, OCC. OF THE iiUIXISH MUSEUM. 



in pursuance of the laws of English Copyright ; 105 were received under the Inter- 

 national Copyright Treaties, and 11,772 were acquired by purchase. 



(c.) The number of sets of Newspapers received from the Inland Revenue OlBces of the 

 United Kingdom, was 1,145. Of these, 131 were published in Scotland, 138 in Ireland, 

 238 in London, and 638 in the rest of England. 48 volumes and 26 numbers of old 

 Newspapers, belonging to 16 different sets, were presented, and 59 volumes and 403 

 numbers, belonging to 26 different sets, were purchased. 



(d.) 2,121 pieces of Music were acquired, each piece complete in itself, of which 1,527 

 were received by English, and 576 by International Copyright, and 18 were purchased. 



Of 779 portions of musical works in progress, 473 were received by English, and 306 

 by International Copyright. 253 works of Music of greater extent than single pieces were 

 also acquired, comprising 25 by English and 66 by International Copyright, and 

 162 by purchase. 



(e.) The number of distinct works comprised in the 42,331 volumes and pamphlets, and 

 33,403 parts of volumes already mentioned, amounted, as nearly as could be ascertained, 

 to 38,208. Of these, 681 were presented, 7,576 were acquired by English and 1,111 

 by International Copyright, and 28,840 by purchase. 



5773 articles were received in the department, not included in the foregoing 

 enumeration of volumes and parts of volumes, comprising Playbills, single pieces of 

 Music, Broadsides, Songs and Ballads, and other miscellaneous items ; the addition of this 

 number to those already given produces a total of 81,507 articles received in the department. 



(/".) The number of stamps impressed on articles received was altogether 262,653. 



(VI.) Among the acquisitions of the department during the twelvemonth, two are 

 especially worthy of notice, a number of specimens of elegant binding, presented by the 

 executors of the late Felix Slade, Esq, f.s.a., in compliance with his will, and a select 

 collection of Japanese books formed by the late Dr. Von Siebold, author of the great work 

 on Japan entitled " Nippon," and acquired for the Museum by purchase from his son. 



The specimens of binding from the Slade collection are 23 in number, chiefly of foreign 

 execution, and afford examples of the style of Padeloup, Dusseuil, Derome, and other eminent 

 binders. One of the volumes, an edition of Paulus ^mylius, De gestis Francorum (Paris, 

 1555, 8vo), is a beautiful specimen of the French style of the period, with the sides 

 and back richly ornamented in the Grolier manner. An Italian translation of the works 

 of Horace (Venice, 1581, 4to), is of French execution, richly tooled, and bears the arms 

 of Henry III. of France. A folio volume of the "Reformation der Stadt Niirnberg" 

 (Frankfort, 1566,) which is a magnificent specimen of contemporary German binding, 

 formerly belonged to the Emperor Maximilian the Second, whose arms are painted on the 

 elegantly goffered gilt edges. An edition of Ptolemy's " Geographicae Narrationis libri 

 octo " — (Lyons, 1541, fol.) — affords a fine illustration of the Italian style of about that date. 

 The copy of a French translation of Xenophon's Cyropsedia, by Jacques de Vintemille 

 (Paris, 1547, 4to) appears to have been bound for King Edward VI., of England, 

 whose arms and cypher are on the sides, while the rose is five times worked in gold on 

 the back. 'A volume of Bishop Hall's " Contemplations on the Old Testament " (London, 

 1626, 8vo) in olive morocco contemporary English binding, has the Royal arms in the 

 centre of the sides, and appears to have been the dedication copy of King Charles the 

 First. It is proposed to exhibit some of the most beautiful specimens comprised in Mr. 

 Slade's valuable donation, in one of the select cases in the King's Library. 



The collection of Japanese books was one of two formed by Dr. Von Siebold during his 

 residence in, and visits to, Japan. The first of these collections, which is now at Leyden, 

 und of which a catalogue was published in 1845, was long considered as beyond comparison 

 the finest of its kind out of Japan and China ; but the second, now in the Museum, is 

 much superior. That at Leyden comprises 525 works, that in London 1,088 works, in 

 3,441 volumes. It contains specimens of every class of literature : cyclopedias, histories, 

 law-books, political pamphlets, novels, plays, poetry, works on science, on antiquities, 

 on female costume, on cookery, on carpentry, and on dancing. It abounds in works 

 illustrative of the topography of Japan, as, for instance, one, in 20 volumes, on the secular 

 capital Yeddo, and two, in 11 volumes, on the religious capital Miaco ; collections of 

 views of Yeddo and of the volcano Fusiyama, &c. &c. There are also several dictionaries 

 of European languages, testifying to the eagerness with which the Japanese now pursue 

 that study. The Museum was already in possession of a second edition of an English 

 dictionary published at Yeddo in 1866, in which the lexicographer, Hori Tatsnoskay, 

 observes in the preface, "As the study of the English language is now becoming general in 

 our country, we have had for some time the desire to publish a pocket dictionary 

 of the English and Japanese languages, as an assistance to our scholars," and adds that 

 the first edition is " entirely sold out." These dictionaries may now assist Europeans to 

 study the language of Japan, and it is believed that the Japanese Library now in the 

 Museum will afford unequalled opportunities for the study of its literature. 



Thomas Watts. 



