ACCOUNTS, &C., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



i: 



himself for 40 years in collecting the theological writings of the 16th century, as 

 materials for two historical works which he contemplated, and had gathered together an 

 assemblage of Keformation literature quite unique in its kind. The present purchase 

 comprehends the printed books of this collection, so far as they Avere wanting in the 

 Museum Library, and consists of about 2,000 works. It comprises the controversial 

 writings of the Reformers in the original editions, the articles, confessions of faith, and 

 formularies of the various Churches, the confei'cnces and disputations between different 

 religious parties, psalters, hymnals, tmd service books. Some of the books are unique, 

 and others are of the greatest rarity. Several are presentation copies to distinguished 

 men, with autographs or marginiil notes of the Reformers. Rich as the Museum is in 

 the literature of the Reformation, this acquisition will add to the Catalogue many works 

 even under the names of Luther, Calvin, and Melanchthon; whilst in the case of Bucer, 

 Bullinger, Carolostadt, Osiander, Bugenhagen, and others less known, the additions are 

 very considerable. The collection is particularly rich in materials for the history of the 

 Anabaptists, comprising about 100 works of this class, many of them of great rarity, as, 

 for instance, a complete series of the extremely rare writings of Thomas Miinzer, the 

 Anabaptist leader who headed the revolt of the peasants in 1525. Of the writings of 

 Caspar Schwenckfeld, his friends and opponents, there is a more complete series than can 

 be found in any other library. A book of some interest both to English and French 

 readers is the very rare "Forme de Police ecclesiatique instituee a Londres en I'Eglise 

 des Fran9ois," 1561, composed by N. des Gallars, the friend and secretary of Calvin, 

 ■who was pastor of this church, then located in the chapel of the hospital of St. Anthony, 

 in Threadneedle Street. This book is bound up with two others in a volume which be- 

 longed to the president De Thou, and has his arms stamped on the covers. 



IV. Two donations of importance have been added to the collection of Sanskrit books. 

 One is a copy of the magnificent fac-simile edition from valuable manuscripts of the 

 Mahabhashya of Patanjali, including the commentary af Kaiyyata and Nagojibhatta's 

 gloss upon the latter, recently published in six large folio volumes by the Indian Govern- 

 ment. Of this work, with wliich, according to the highest authorities, no other in the 

 whole range of the unprinted literature of India can at all compare in importance, no 

 complete manuscript copy was knoAvn to exist in any public library of India or Europe. 

 The present edition consists of 50 copies intended principally for distribution amongst 

 the great Princes of India The other donation is a present from the Rajah of Burdwan 

 of 1 1 volumes, containing the commencement of an edition of the two national epic poems 

 of India, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, in Sanskrit and Bengali. A considerable 

 number of Sanskrit books have been purchased during the past year, in order to make 

 the Sanskrit Catalogue, which is now being printed, as complete as possible. 



An addition has been made to the Arabic collection by the purchase of a great number 

 of works printed at Cairo, Bulak, and Algiers. 



V. Three illustrated works of great interest and value, formed by the late Mr. 

 Percival: — 



1. The most extensive is an illustrated History of Surrey, which comprises a copy of 

 ■ Manning and Bray's Surrey, illustrated by the insertion of water-colour drawings, prints, 



maps, and plans, manuscripts, portraits of eminent j^ersons connected with the county, 

 views of localities, edifices and old manor houses, pedigrees and heraldic insignia of 

 families. The illustrations include upwards of 2,350 original drawings, many of them 

 made expressly for the work, and most of them in water-colours, together with more than 

 1,300 engraved portraits. 



2. Historical collections relating to Sadler's Wells and its vicinity, from the building 

 of the first theatre there by Sadler in 1683. They comprise historical documents, 

 pamphlets, broadsides, an extensive series of playbills and advertisements, many hundreds 

 of engraved views, portraits, and autograph letters from celebrated managers, actors, and 

 performers of all sorts, including a large number of letters of Gi'imaldi. 



3. Collections for the history of the Parish of St. Pancras. This work consists, of a 

 copy of the printed history of the parish from Nichols's " Bibliotheca Topograj)hica," 

 illustrated by thousands of cuttings from newspapers, tracts and magazines ; together 

 ■with views of houses, churches, theatres, streets, and interiors, many of which have no'W 

 disappeared, as well as engraved portraits of celebrated persons connected with the district. 



VI. Eight broadside pnoclamationsof the Emperors iNIaximilian and Charles V., bearing 

 dates from 1515 to 1523. The earliest, which is dated Inspruck, 28th Sept. 1515, is 

 directed against those German subjects who had taken service with the King of France, 

 (Francis I.), without whose aid the Emperor thinks the King would not have conquered 

 Milan. Another prohibits the use of self-firing guns (Piichssen so sich selbst ziinde), by 

 either horse or foot soldiers. Thisis dated Augsburg, 1518, and is so rare that Beckmann, 

 in his "History of Inventions," appears to have doubted of its existence. Under the 

 article "Guns," he writes : " It has often been asserted that fire-tubes, Avhich took fire 

 of themselves, were forbidden first in Bohemia and Moravia, and afterwards in the whole 

 Geinian Empire, under a severe penalty, by the Emperor Maximilian I.; but I have not 

 found any allusion to this circumstance in the different police laws of that Emperor. 



177- A 4 VIL A collection 



