ACCOUNTS, &:C., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



(5.) Many important and valuable additions have also been made in early English and 

 French literature. In this respect, advantage lias been taken of the recent Corser sales, 

 and also of such oiiijortunities as offered for private purchase, to supply deficiencies in the 

 collection of early English books. In French literature, many choice purchases Avere 

 made at the sale of M. Potier, of Paris. 



W. B. liye. 



Depaktment of Maps, Charts, Plans, and Topographical Drawings. 



I. Cataloguing and Arrangement : — [a.) The number of Titles (including both main 

 titles and cross-references), written for the Catalogue of Maps and Charts during the 

 year, amounts to 5,471 ; those transcribed fourfold for insertion to 11,581. 



(Z».) Press-marks have been applied to 1,3GS maps and 4,408 titles. The number of 

 small hand-slips written for press-marks is 1,856, and boards having to be inserted In 

 the general series to represent rolls or volumes placed elsewhere, 288 such have been 

 made during the twelvemonth. 



(c.) 1,149 Maps, in 4,055 sheets, have been entered for the binder, and 76 volumes, and 

 659 Maps in 1,381 sheets, have been returned from the binder, the former bound and the 

 latter mounted on card; 23 volumes have received separate letterings. 



(cZ.) An incorporation has been made Into 3 copies of the Catalogue of 10,684 Titles, 

 necessitating the removal in each copy of 14,390 titles, and the addition to each copy of 

 818 new leaves, and 18 new volumes. 



(e.) The number of Atlases returned to their shelves from the Heading Room was 

 460, the number of IMaps 2,075, making a sum total of 2,535. 



(/.) The number of Stamps affixed to maps was 3,325. 



II. Additi'ms: — («.) The number of Maps which have been received by the Copyright 

 Act Is 435 (in 2,257 sheets), and 52 Atlases and 30 Parts of Atlases have also been acquired 

 by Copyright. 169 Volumes and 1,593 Maps, In 8,248 sheets, have been obtained by 

 purchase, and 48 Maps, in 67 sheets, have been presented. 



The most notable acquisitions of the year are : — A Photograph copy, made expressly 

 for the Trustees, of one of the most precious portulani in the world, knov/n as the Portu- 

 lano Mediceo in the Biblioteca Laurentlana In Florence. It is of the date of 1351, and 

 Is the oldest known series of maps in existence Avhich throw any light upon the history of 

 medieval geographical discovery. It is upon the evidence of tliis portulano, combined with 

 collateral history, that Mr. IMajorhas been able to prove that the Azores and the Madeira 

 gi"Oup, which latter had been previously supposed to have been first discovered In 1418- 

 20, by the sailors of Prince Henry the Navigator, had. In fact, been discovered more 

 than a century earlier by Portuguese ships, under the command of Genoese captains. 



A large collection of plans and views of Towns, among which some highly interesting 

 wood-cut views of towns In the 16th century, viz., Lubeck, Ratlsbou, Venice, and Aden, 

 the last representing the storming of that place by Albuquerque in 1513, and executed 



at Antwerp very soon after that event. 



R. 11. Blajor. 



Department op Manuscripts. 



The preparation of a Class-Catalogue of tlie Manuscripts, by distribution of descrip- 

 tions in the existing catalogues of the several collections Into divisions of subjects, has made 

 the following progress : — 



Under the division of Greek Manuscripts, description slips of Historians, Geo- 

 graphical and Medical writers. Inscriptions and Epistles, have been arranged and laid 

 down. 



Under tlie division of Law, the descriptions of Manuscripts in the sections of Civil 

 and Canon Law, Including Councils, have been verified by tlie manuscripts, revised 

 and finally arranged and laid down. Those of the sections of Statutes of the Realm, 

 Parliamentary History and Proceedings, and English and Foreign National Law, 

 have also been arranged and laid down. 

 27 2. B Under 



