Dr. A. Harkavy, of the Imperial Library of St. Petersburg, has completed his examination of the newly found Hebrew manuscripts of several books of the Old Testament, and at the request of the Imperial Russian Academy of Sciences he has communicated to that body the results of his labours in a report in German, entitled “Bericht an die Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu St. Petersburg.”
The Queen, it is said, is taking no little interest in a new book compiled by Mr. Harold Boulton, Mr. Malcolm Lawson, and Miss Annie Macleod, which will bear the title of “Songs of the North.” The book will be fully illustrated by the leading Scottish artists. A Gaelic translation is in hand, and the Queen has graciously given express permission that the book should be dedicated to herself.
Mr. F. Danby Palmer has just published, in a thin quarto volume, “The History of the Tolhouse at Great Yarmouth,” of which some account, together with an illustration, has been given in these pages (see ante, pp. 1-5). The work has been written by Mr. Palmer in the hope of assisting the effort now being made to preserve an ancient building, for many ages connected with the history of his native town, of events connected with this municipal structure from the thirteenth century to the present time.
The August number of the Century contains the first of a series of three papers by Mr. W. J. Stillman, recording the experiences of a classical expedition undertaken for that magazine. Mr. Stillman’s object was to trace the wanderings of Ulysses, as described in the “Odyssey,” and to identify, as far as it is possible to-day, the localities visited by the Ithacan king. The articles will be illustrated by Mr. Fenn, from photographs and sketches made by Mr. Stillman.
The annual festivities in honour of St. James were on the point of terminating on Sunday, July 27, at Santiago, in Spain, when a telegram was received from Rome by the Archbishop, announcing that the Sacred Congregation had declared the bones found about four years ago under the high altar of Santiago Cathedral to be truly those of the Apostle, Spain’s patron saint, ineffectually sought for hitherto since they were concealed, from fear of Moorish raids, in the foundations of the cathedral in the year 1100, by Gilmirez, the first Archbishop.
The complete renewal of the leaden envelope of the dome of St. Peter’s Church, in Rome, has just been completed. It has occupied twelve years, and has cost over 200,000 lire (£8,000). The original covering was applied to the dome in an imperfect fashion, which made continuous repairs a necessity. The total weight of the new cover is given at 354,305 kilogrammes; and if it were spread out flat it would occupy an area of 6,152 square metres, or about an acre and a half. In stripping off the old plates, three of them were found to be of gilded copper.
Some interesting items of theatrical history are contained in the rings which Mr. Irving wears as Malvolio. One is engraved, “Formerly the signet-ring of David Garrick. Henry Irving, from Edwin Booth, 1881.” Another is the celebrated enamel ring, with head of Shakespeare, which Garrick used to wear, and which he bequeathed to his butler, and which was afterwards presented to Mr. Irving by Lady Burdett-Coutts. And still another signet is thus inscribed—“Tyrone Power, to his friend Harley, 1830.”
An embellished copy of Baskett’s edition of the Bible, printed at his press at Oxford in 1817, and known as “The Vinegar Bible,” was included among the rarities sold last month at Messrs. Sotheby’s rooms. The volume had inserted in it some 750 additional plates relating to architecture, natural history, &c. In the same batch of books was a copy of Buck and Daniel’s Cambridge Bible, 1638, in which the curious misprint in Acts vi. 3, “Ye [for we] may appoint” was for the first time printed.
The following articles, more or less of an antiquarian character, appear among the contents of the magazines for August: Edinburgh Review, “The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon,” and “The Chiefs of Grant;” Church Quarterly, “The Church in Old London;” Quarterly Review, “Peter the Great,” and “Greek Archæology;” Art Journal, “Castelfranco and its Altar-piece, by Giorgione,” “The Western Riviera, Nice,” and “The Isle of Walcheren;” Cornhill, “Some Literary Recollections;” English Illustrated Magazine, “Winchester,” and “Cutlery and Cutlers at Sheffield;” Temple Bar, “Westminster School.”
Catalogues of rare and curious books, all of which contain the names of works of antiquarian interest, have reached us from Mr. C. Golding, Colchester (chiefly topographical of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries); Mr. H. Lowe, 89, New-street, Birmingham; Messrs. Reeves & Turner, 196, Strand; Mr. W. Withers, Leicester; Mr. W. P. Bennett, 3, Bull-street, Birmingham; Messrs. Wyllie & Son, Union-street, Aberdeen; Mr. J. Salkeld, 314, Clapham-road, S.W. (including a large number of books from the libraries of the late Sir G. Bowyer, Mr. Joseph Payne, and others); Messrs. Jarvis & Son, 28, King William-street, Strand, W.C.; Mr. Loescher, Turin.