NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.
The Antiquarian Gleanings in the North of England, being Examples of Antique Furniture, Plate, Church Decorations, Objects of Historical Interest, &c., drawn and etched by William B. Scott, Government School of Design, Newcastle, which has just been completed, is a valuable addition to the numerous works which have been published of late years illustrative of archæology in its most picturesque aspect. It will be seen from the title that Mr. Scott has not confined himself to any one class of objects; in some cases historical associations having determined his choice; in others, the rarity of examples of the object illustrated; in others, their intrinsic beauty. The Chair of the Venerable Bede, and the Swords of Cromwell, Fairfax, and Lambert, belong to the first of these divisions; as the Nautilus Cup set in gold, and the Ivory Cup, both the property of Mr. Howard of Corby, belong to the last: and so much taste and skill has Mr. Scott shown in the whole of the thirty-eight plates, as quite to justify the hope expressed by him, that in all of them the connoisseur and the artist will find something worthy attention.
We have before us two books to which we desire to direct the attention of our readers. The first is A Manual of Ecclesiastical History, from the First to the Twelfth Century, by the Rev. E. S. Foulkes, M.A., the main plan of which has been borrowed from Spanheim, and the materials principally compiled from that writer, Spondanus, Mosheim and Fleury, Gieseler, Döllinger, and others, respecting whom, however, Mr. Foulkes states, "I believe I have never once trusted to them on a point involving controversy without examining their authorities." "Let nobody," he elsewhere observes, "think that he can fairly know Church History from reading a single modern historian, whether Protestant or Roman Catholic; the only way of getting a correct view, unless a person should have time to consult the originals, is to read two opposite writers, side by side, and balance one set of facts against the other. Yet even so it is hopeless to get a true appreciation of past times except through cotemporary writings; I have therefore appended to the catalogue of modern historians a few of the principal cotemporary works, disciplinary, doctrinal, and historical, from age to age down to the end of the twelfth century, which would be a far more trustworthy clue to the real sentiments of the times than could be gained from a more modern source, and could not, I think, fail to be a corrective to narrow misapprehensions, and a great help to the student whose wish it is to be fair and candid." These extracts from Mr. Foulke's preface (which contains brief notices of the principal modern writers on the subject) sufficiently explain the nature of his very useful and carefully compiled volume.
The other, Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible, Abridged, Modernized, and Re-edited, according to the most recent Biblical Researches, by T. A. Buckley, B.A., is addressed to a wider class of readers, and in its preparation general utility has been the main object; while in the remodelling which this popular and useful work of Calmet has here undergone, care has been taken to purify it from the Rationalism with which all the later editions have been charged, and to supply its place by such copious additions and alterations from the most recent biblical researches, so as to make the present edition rather a new book than a reprint of an old one; and deserving of that extensive circulation which its extremely moderate price is calculated to procure for it.
The Principles of Chemistry illustrated by Simple Experiments, by Dr. J. A. Stöckhardt, Professor in the Royal Academy of Agriculture at Tharaud, having been extensively adopted as an introductory work in the Schools of Germany, in consequence of its convenient classification and its clear and concise elucidation of principles, and explanation of chemical phenomena, it was translated into English at the recommendation of Professor Horsford; and a reprint of it from the American edition forms the new volume of Bohn's Standard Library. It is illustrated with numerous engravings, and as the necessary apparatus for performing most of the experiments in it is extremely small, the book will no doubt soon become a popular one.
The Chetham Library, Manchester, will shortly receive a valuable addition to its literary treasures by Mr. Halliwell's donation of his extensive collection of Proclamations, Ballads, and Broadsides, which, we are informed, extends to upwards of 2500 articles, including many of great rarity, and a few probably unique. Amongst the latter are two curious black-letter ballads, printed in the year 1570, unnoticed by all bibliographers, and not to be found in the useful and interesting Extracts from the Registers of the Stationers' Company, recently published by Mr. Collier; but the greater portion of the collection belongs to the latter half of the seventeenth, and commencement of the eighteenth century, most of the ballads being reprints of much older copies.
We are requested to remind such of our readers as are members of the Archæological Institute that the Salisbury volume will be ready next week.
CATALOGUES RECEIVED.—J. Petheram's (94. High Holborn) Catalogue 127., being 8. for 1851, of Old and New Books; J. Gray Bell's (17. Bedford Street, Covent Garden) Catalogue Part 27. of Valuable and Interesting Books, Manuscripts, Prints, Drawings, &c.; W. Pedder's (10. Holywell Street) Catalogue Part 7. for 1851 of Ancient and Modern Books; B. Quaritch's (16. Castle Street, Leicester Square) Catalogue No. 35. of Books in European Languages, Dialects, Classics, &c.
BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES
WANTED TO PURCHASE.
POPE'S LITERARY CORRESPONDENCE. Vol. III. Curll. 1735.
ALMANACS, any for the year 1752.
MATTHIAS' OBSERVATIONS ON GRAY. 8vo. 1815.
SHAKSPEARE, JOHNSON, AND STEVENS, WITH REED'S ADDITIONS. 3rd Edition, 1785. Vol. V.
SWIFT'S WORKS, Faulkner's Edition. 8 Vols. 12mo. Dublin, 1747. Vol. III.
SOUTHEY'S PENINSULAR WAR. Vols. V. VI. 8vo.
JOURNAL OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF DUBLIN. Vol. I. Part I. (One or more copies.)
THE ANTIQUARY. 8vo. Edinburgh, 1816. Vols. I. and II.
HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF TWICKENHAM, being the First Part of Parochial Collections for the County of Middlesex, begun in 1780 by E. Ironside, Esq., London, 1797. (This work forms 1 vol. of Miscell. Antiquities in continuation of the Bib. Topographica, and is usually bound in the 10th Volume.)
RITSON'S ROBIN HOOD. 12mo. London, 1795. Vol. II. (10s. will be given for a clean copy in boards, or 7s. 6d. for a clean copy bound.)
DR. JOHNSON'S PRAYERS AND MEDITATIONS.
ANNUAL OBITUARY AND BIOGRAPHY. Vol. XXXI.
THEOPHILUS AND PHILODOXUS, or Several Conferences, &c., by Gilbert Giles, D.D., Oxon, 1674; or the same work republished 1679, under the title of a "Dialogue between a Protestant and a Papist."
PECK'S COMPLETE CATALOGUE OF ALL THE DISCOURSES WRITTEN BOTH FOR AND AGAINST PAPACY IN THE TIME OF KING JAMES II. 1735. 4to.
*** Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, carriage free, to be sent to MR. BELL, Publisher of "NOTES AND QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.