ACCOUNTS, &C, OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



(c.) Boards having to be inserted in the general series to represent rolls or volumes 

 placed elsewhere, 261 such have been made during the twelvemonth. 



(d.) 1,895 Maps, in 2,521 sheets, have been entered for the binder, and 713 Maps, in 

 3,941 sheets, including some entered in the previous year, have been returned from the 

 binder bound and mounted. 



(e.) An incorporation has been made into 3 copies of the Catalogue of 7,416 Titles, 

 necessitating the removal in each copy of 6,104 titles, and the addition to each copy of 

 240 new leaves. 



(/.) The number of Atlases returned to their shelves from the Reading Room was 

 421, the number of Maps 1,406, making a sum total of 1,827. 



(^.) The number of Stamps affixed to maps was 6,072. 



II. Additions : — (a.) The number of Maps which have been received by the Copyright 

 Act is 225 (in 1,158 sheets); 21 Atlases and 7 Parts of Atlases have been acquired by 

 Copyright. 140 Volumes and 2,399 maps (in 6,913 sheets) have been obtained by pur- 

 chase, and 2 volumes and 1,390 maps (in 1,457 sheets) have been presented. 



The most notable acquisitions of the year are : — A Photograph of the superb Mappe- 

 Monde, made at Venice in 1457-59, at the instance of Prince Ptenry the Navigator, and 

 at the expense of his uncle King Alfonso V., by Fra Mauro of the Camaldolese Convent 

 of San Michele di Murano, and on account of which a medal was struck in his honour 

 by the Republic, describing him as " Cosmographus incomparabilis." 



Also a photograph copy of a celebrated Atlas, in 10 sheets, executed at Venice in 1436, 

 by Andrea Bianco, who was subsequently employed on the map of Fra Mauro already 

 mentioned. One of the special points of interest in this Atlas is, that it is the earliest 

 containing the full delineation of the island of Antillia, supposed by Formaleoni and others 

 to indicate America. 



Also a map of Zurich in 6 sheets, of the date of 1576, made by Josua Murer and 

 Christoph Froschower, the printer, showing the old printing-house of his uncle Christoph 

 Froschower, from which issued the earliest complete Protestant Bible in Swiss (German) 

 patois, 1524-29. 



R. H. Major. 



Department of Manuscripts. 



1. The preparation of a Class-Catalogue of the Manuscripts has made progress as 

 follows : — 



(a.) The distribution into divisions of subjects of existing descriptions of the Manu- 

 scripts has been continued, and the arrangement of the sHps for the several classes of 

 Latin Classics ; Service Books in Greek, Latin, and modern languages ; and Theology, 

 in Latin and the modern languages ; commenced in the previous year, has been completed, 

 and the slips laid down on sheets. 



{b.) The slips of description for the classes of Greek Classics and profane writers, with 

 Commentaries in various languages ; Greek Lives of Saints ; Greek Theology ; Transla- 

 tions In various languages of Greek Classics ; Poetry ; Fiction ; Geography ; and Impres- 

 sions of Seals ; have been arranged and laid down during the year. 



(c.) The slips belonging to the classes of Civil and Canon Law; Law of England ; 

 General History and English History ; Topography ; and Biography ; are In process of 

 arrangement. 



{d.) Twenty-nine volumes of Arthurian Romances, In French, and 13 volumes of 

 poetical works of Lydgate, have been fully described for the classes of Fiction and 

 Poetry. 



{e.) The third and part of the second volume of the printed Harleian Catalogue, and 

 part of the Catalogue of the Royal Collection, have been revised by the manuscripts, for 

 the correction of dates and references, and the supply of omitted articles. 



2. The following manuscripts have been described for the Catalogue of Additions, viz. :— 

 Additional MSS., 22,599 to 22,641, acquired in the year 1858; 22,963 to 23,211, 

 acquired In 1859; 27,959 to 27,962, acquired in 1868 ; 27,963 to 28,048, and 28,096 to 

 28,191, the latest acquisition In 1869 ; and Egertou MSS., 2,074 to 2,104, the latest 

 acquisition in 1869. 



3. The additional Charters and Rolls 17,429 to 18,024, acquired in the year 1869, have 

 been described for the Catalogue of Charters. 



2-1 A B 4. Previous 



