NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.
A History of the Articles of Religion: to which is added a Series of Documents from A.D. 1536 to A.D. 1615; together with Illustrations from Contemporary Sources, by Charles Hardwick, M.A., is the title of an octavo volume, in which the author seeks to supply a want long felt, especially by students for Holy Orders; namely, a work which should show not the doctrine but the history of the Articles. For, as he well observes, while many have enriched our literature by expositions of the doctrine of the Articles, "no regular attempt has been made to illustrate the framing of the Formulary itself, either by viewing it in connection with the kindred publications of an earlier and a later date, or still more in its relation to the period out of which it originally grew." This attempt Mr. Hardwick has now made very successfully; and it is because his book is historical and not polemical, that we feel called upon to notice it, and to bear our testimony to its interest, and its value to that "large class of readers who, anxious to be accurately informed upon the subject, are precluded from consulting the voluminous collectors, such as Strype, Le Plat, or Wilkins." Such readers will find Mr. Hardwick's volume a most valuable handbook.
A practical illustration that "union is strength," is shown by a volume which has just reached us, entitled, Reports and Papers read at the Meetings of the Architectural Societies of the Archdeaconry of Northampton, the Counties of York and Lincoln, and of the Architectural and Archæological Societies of Bedfordshire and St. Alban's during the Year MDCCCL. Presented gratuitously to the Members. Had each of these Societies, instead of joining with its fellows, put forth a separate Report, the probability is, it would not only have involved such Society in an expense far beyond what it would be justified in incurring, but the Report itself would not have excited half the interest which will now be created by a comparison of its papers with those of its associate Societies; while, with the reduced expense, the benefit of a larger circulation is secured. The volume is one highly creditable to the Societies, and to the authors of the various communications which are to be found in it.
Messrs. Puttick and Simpson (191. Piccadilly) will be engaged on Monday and two following days in the Sale of a Library rich in works on every branch of what is now known as Folk Lore and Popular Antiquities, and which may certainly, and with great propriety, be styled "a very curious collection." The mere enumeration of the various subjects on the title-page of the Catalogue, ranging, as they do, from Mesmerism and Magic, to Celestial Influences, Phrenology, Physiognomy, &c., might serve for the Table of Contents to a History of Human Weakness.
Books Received.—Neander's History of the Planting and Training of the Christian Church by the Apostles, translated from the third edition of the original German by J. E. Ryland, is the fourth volume of the Standard Library which Mr. Bohn has devoted to translations of the writings of Neander; the first and second being his Church History, in two volumes, and the third his Life of Christ.—Cosmos, a Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe by Alexander Von Humboldt, translated from the German by E. C. Otté, vol. iii., is the new volume of Bohn's Scientific Library, and completes his edition of the translation of the great work of the Prussian philosopher.
Catalogues Received.—Adam Holden's (60. High Street, Exeter) Catalogue Part XXXI. of Books in every Department of Literature; J. Wheldon's (4. Paternoster Row) Catalogue Part III. for 1851, of a valuable Collection of Topographical Books; J. Rowsell's (28. Great Queen Street) Catalogue No. XLIII. of a select Collection of Second-hand Books.