[H]. This world-renowned vase appears to have been a cinerary urn, as it was filled with ashes, and the remains of bones were discovered within it. It was enclosed in a marble sarcophagus, which was in a sepulchral vault at a place called “Monte Grano.” According to some accounts, the time of the discovery was at the close of the sixteenth century, whilst others assert that it was dug up by order of Pope Urban VIII.(Barberini) between 1623 and 1624. The sarcophagus was placed at the entrance of the Museum Capitolinum, and the vase in the Barberini Palace, where it remained for more than a century. It was at last purchased by Mr. Bayers, who parted with it to Sir William Hamilton. On the 10th of September, 1784, it was exhibited at the Society of Antiquaries, London. The Duchess of Portland subsequently purchased it, and from her it derived its title. It was deposited in the British Museum in 1810 by His Grace the Duke of Portland. The vase is still exhibited, the innumerable fragments[fragments] having been put together by the late John Doubleday, an Assistant[Assistant] in the Museum.
These commenced on the 30th of June, and we append a letter from Panizzi to Lord Rutherfurd, dated from Ischl on July 28th:—
“Here I am from Vienna on my way to Venice. I am not going to the Modenese regions. You shall hear a great deal about that and other matters on my return. Sir Robert Gordon (Ambassador), though a Scotchman and a Tory, has behaved with the very greatest kindness to me, and has acted with great energy. I have done all he wished, which was in every respect what I wished, and I believe him as pleased with me as I am with him. Yesterday and to-day I have been among the most beautiful scenery I ever saw in my life—even including Scotland.”[Scotland.”]
The time, thus allowed, was not dedicated altogether to private enjoyment, most probably quite the reverse. Panizzi went abroad with the intention of visiting the leading libraries of Germany, taking on his way to Vienna, Stuttgart, where the famous Psalter[[I]] of 1457 was said to be for sale. It had been discovered in 1842 in the Library of the Collegiatstift, at Eichstädt, in Bavaria, by the antiquarian, J. Hess, through whose interest it was transferred, in 1843, to Stuttgart in exchange for another rare volume, the “Acta Sanctorum.” The Keeper of the Printed Books was, as it may easily be imagined, eager to purchase the volume, and on the 11th of June he wrote the following report:—“Mr. Panizzi has the honour to report that a copy of the First Psalter (1457) not long since discovered, and now in the Royal Library of Stuttgart, may be obtained for the British Museum, if what Mr. Panizzi has heard may be relied upon. It is said that the Government of Würtemberg might be disposed to part with it to a Public Library, but to no one else. Mr. Panizzi intends visiting Stuttgart partly for the purpose of seeing this volume—the most important by far, as well as the rarest of all early monuments of typography.”
[I]. The book is of great importance. It was printed in Mentz, by Fast and Schœffer. It is the first printed Psalter; the first book printed with a date; and containing the first specimens of printing in colours, as shown in the initial letters. A copy, bequeathed by Mr. Grenville, is now to be seen in the King’s Library, British Museum.
The recommendation of Panizzi was that the sum of six hundred guineas should be offered, for, to use his own words: “The copy now in the Royal Library at Paris, wanting six leaves, sold by auction in 1817, for 12,000 francs, or £480. It is made up of two copies, and is otherwise objectionable. The funds of the Royal Library at Paris being then low, Louis XVIII. himself paid the above price, and presented the volume to that institution.”
It is hardly necessary, though the volume did not find its way to the British Museum, to say that the Trustees did not hesitate a moment to sanction the purchase for the sum recommended.