NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.

When Mr. Murray commenced that admirable series of Guides which form the indispensable companion of those restless spirits who delight with each recurring summer—

"To waft their size to Indus or the Pole,"

he first sent his Schoolmaster abroad; with what success those who have examined, used, and trusted to his Continental Handbooks best can tell. Whether Mr. Murray is now actuated by a spirit of patriotism, or of moral responsibility under the remembrance that "charity begins at home," we neither know nor care; since our "home-staying" friends, as well as all who visit us, will benefit by the new direction which his energy has taken. Among the first fruits of this we have Murray's Handbook for Modern London, which did not need the name of our valued contributor MR. PETER CUNNINGHAM at the foot of its preliminary advertisement to show the mint in which it was coined; for it is in every page marked with the same characteristics, the same laborious research—the same scrupulous exactness—the same clear and distinct arrangements, which won such deserved praise for that gentleman's Handbook for London, Past and Present. Any visitor to London, be he mere sight-seer or be he artist, architect, statist, &c., will find in this neatly printed volume the most satisfactory replies to his inquiries.

The Handbook to the Antiquities in the British Museum, being a Description of the Remains of Greek, Assyrian, Egyptian and Etruscan Art, preserved there, by W. S. W. Vaux, Assistant in the Department of Antiquities, has been compiled for the purpose of laying before the public the contents of one department of the British Museum—that of antiquities—in a compendious and popular form. The attempt has been most successful. Mr. Vaux has not only the advantage of official position, but of great practical knowledge of the subject, and abundant scholarship to do it justice; and the consequence is, that his Handbook to the Antiquities in the British Museum will be found not only most useful for the special object for which it has been written, but a valuable introduction to the study of Early Art.

There are probably no objects in the Great Exhibition which have attracted more general attention than the Stuffed Animals exhibited by Herrmann Ploucquet, of Stuttgart. Prince and peasant, old and young, the pale-faced student deep in Goethe and Kaulbach, and the hard-handed agriculturist who picked up his knowledge of nature and natural history while plying his daily task,—have all gazed with delight on the productions of this accomplished artist. That many of these admirers will be grateful to Mr. Bogue for having had daguerreotypes of some of the principal of these masterpieces taken by M. Claudet, and engravings made from them on wood as faithfully as possible, we cannot doubt: and to all such we heartily recommend The Comical Creatures from Wurtemburg; including the Story of Reynard the Fox, with Twenty Illustrations. The letter-press by which the plates are accompanied is written in a right Reynardine spirit; and whether as a memorial of the Exhibition—of the peculiar talent of the artist—or as a gift book for children—this pretty volume deserves to be widely circulated.

BOOKS RECEIVED.—Neander's General History of the Christian Religion and Church, vol. iv., is the new volume of Bohn's Standard Library; and it speaks very emphatically for the demand for cheap editions of works of learning and research that it can answer Mr. Bohn's purpose to issue a translation of such a book as this by the great ecclesiastical historian of Germany in its present form.

The Stone Mason of Saint Pont, a Village Tale from the French of De Lamartine, a new volume of Bohn's cheap series, is a tale well calculated to stir the sympathy of the reader, and to waken in him thoughts too deep for tears. It must prove one of the most popular among the works of imagination included in the series; as its companion volume, Monk's Contemporaries, Biographic Studies of the English Revolution, by M. Guizot, must take a high place among the historical works. M. Guizot describes his Sketches as "constituting, together with Monk, a sort of gallery of portraits, in which persons of the most different character appear in juxtaposition;" and a most interesting study they make—not the less, perhaps, because, as the author candidly avows, "in spite of the great diversity of manners, contemporary comparisons and applications will present themselves at every step, however careful we may be not to seek them."

CATALOGUES RECEIVED.—W. Dearden's (Carlton Street, Nottingham) Catalogue Part I. of Important Standard and Valuable Books; J. Petheram's (94. High Holborn) Catalogue Part 125., No. 6. for 1851, of Old and New Books; Joseph Lilly's (7. Pall Mall) Catalogue of a very Valuable Collection of Fine and Useful Books; F. Butsch's, at Augsburg, Catalogue (which may be had of D. Nutt, 270. Strand) of a Choice and Valuable Collection of Rare and Curious Books; Edward Tyson's (55. Great Bridgewater Street, Manchester) Catalogue, No. 1. of 1851, of Books on Sale.

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES
WANTED TO PURCHASE.

*** Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, carriage free, to be sent to MR. BELL, Publisher of "NOTES AND QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.