the 13th century. Both of these are from the collection of the late Duke of Sussex, and are described by Dr. Pettigrew in "The Bibliotheca Sussexiana."— 3. An English Ms. on paper, being a new metrical version of the book of Job, by George Sandys,'about 1620. This manuscript is also from the Sussex collection, and a description of it occupies six pages in Pettigrew's "Bibliotheca Sussexiana." Mr. Pettigrew says, "I presume this Ms. to be an original transcript of Sandys's beautiful paraphrase upon the book of Job. I have made diligent search and inquiry to meet with some Ms. or autograph of the author... to satisfy myself on this point, but in vain." Bib. Suss. Vol. I. Part 1. p. CCLII. In the department of printed Bibles are, 1. Latin Vulgate, large folio, printed at Basil, 1470. This is believed to be the oldest printed Bible in this country, excepting Mr. Lenox's Mazarine Bible. Mr. L. has numerous other copies of the Latin Vulgate printed before the year 1500. 2. Also Servetus's Bible, being Pagninus' Latin version, with notes by Servetus, 1542. Only a few copies were saved from the flames. Biblia Germanica, folio, printed at Augsburg, 1477. This edition is particularly described by Dibdin in his Bibliotheca Spenceriana, Vol. I. page 50. Mr. L. has numerous other German Bibles of the fifteenth century, some of them containing very curious, rude and grotesque engravings.-3. Erasmus' Greek Testament, first edition, and the first Testament ever printed, Basil, 1516; also the first Greek Bible, printed by Aldus at Venice, 1518, and the first Greek Testament printed in England, as well as the first one printed in the United States.-4. Polyglott Psalter, Genoa, 1516, being the first polyglott work ever published, and containing the first Arabic ever printed. This work contains a remarkable note to Psalm 19: 4. Columbus is made to boast that he was the person appointed by God to fulfil the prophetic exclamation of David; also the Psalterium Quincuplex, Paris, 1509, and several others. Of English Bibles, 1. Wickliff's New Testament; four different editions, being all that have ever been printed. — 2. Tyndale's New Testament, an early black letter copy, and various more recent editions. — 3. Coverdale's Bible and Testament.-4. Matthew's [alias John Rogers] Bible, 1549, and another, 1551.-5. Cranmer's Bible; several early black letter editions.-6. The Genevan version; numerous editions. — 7. The Bishop's Bible; first edition 1568, and several others.-8. The Douay [or Roman Catholic], 1st ed., 1609, and many others.-9. King James' first edition, and many of the most remarkable subsequent editions including those of 1638 and 1660, containing Bishop Chase's "Notable Corruption;" the Vinegar Bible of 1716, etc. Our view would be quite incomplete were we to omit a notice of the immense and inestimable collection belonging to the well known publishers and booksellers, Messrs. Little and Brown of Boston. During the 1850.] Report of Committee of House of Commons. year 1849, this firm have published what are equivalent to 65,000 octavo volumes; have imported at least 75,000 volumes, of which 55,000 were English, the remainder French, German, etc.; and have at present a retail stock of about 80,000 volumes, including the law department. In this collection are embraced many works of great value and comparative rarity, e. g. Sylvestre Palaeographie Universelle, 4 vols. folio; Piranisi Oeuvres Complete, 29 vols. folio; Delphin edition of the classics, 185 vols. 8vo; Il Vaticano; an Historical account of St. Peter's Church at Rome, 8 vols. folio; 900 engravings from the Vatican Museum; Macklin's superb edition of the Bible; Gould's Birds of Europe; Audubon's Birds of America, 4 vols. folio; the Benedictine Historians of France, 20 vols. folio; the Byzantine Historians, 32 vols. folio; Walton's Polyglott, 8 vols. calf, a superb copy; the great French work on Egypt; the collection of Historical works on France in 60 vols. quarto, published by the French government; Didot's edition of Greek authors; Stephens's Thesaurus; Lemaire's ed. of the classics, 142 vols. fol., etc. We are happy to add that a catalogue of this great collection is soon to be published. In this connection, we will subjoin a few facts gathered from the REPORT ON PUBLIC LIBRARIES, "from the Select Committee on Public Libraries," appointed by the British House of Commons, and printed in August, 1849. It is a folio of 317 pages, and contains copious Minutes, tabular views, etc. The committee were Lord Ebrington, Sir H. Verney, Sir John Walsh, the Lord Advocate, and Messrs. Ewart, Brotherton, Kershaw, Thicknesse, Wyld, M. Milnes, Charteris, G. A. Hamilton, Bunbury, D'Israeli, and Mackinnon. Sixteen sessions were held. Among the gentlemen examined were M. Guizot, M. Van der Weyer, the Belgian Ambassador, Mr. Edward Edwards, one of the librarians of the British Museum, and a most intelligent witness, Mr. Henry Stevens, the well known American bibliographer, Mr. Maitland, solicitor general of Scotland, M. Libri, professor at Pisa, etc. The Report is full of invaluable information concerning the social and literary condition of the people of different countries in Europe and in regard to the various means employed to elevate that condition. We now propose to select a few of the more important facts. We may make further use of this Report hereafter. The principal libraries of the capital cities of Europe are as follows: Name. Paris National † When founded. London, British Museum† 1753 1550 Number of volumes. 600,000 446,000 187 435,000 412,000 Average annual addition of vols. 12,000 10,000 2,000 30,000 1,000 Tübingen, Munich, Göttingen, Breslau, Oxford, Bodleian, Heidelberg, Cambridge, Bologna, Prague, Vienna, Leipsic, 1661 Turin, Louvain, Dublin, Upsal, Erlangen, Edinburgh, 465 ? 1760 The libraries marked thus † are entitled by law to a copy of every book published within the States to which they respectively belong. Of the 435,000 vols. in the British Museum, at least 200,000 have been presented or bequeathed. The rapid increase of the Paris National Library since 1790 is to be mainly attributed to the suppression of convents, and to the confiscation of the property of emigrants and rebels. The oldest of the great libraries of printed books is probably that of Vienna, and is said to have been opened to the public as early as 1575. The town library of Ratisbon dates from 1430; St. Mark's library at Venice from 1468; the town library at Frankfort from 1484. The chief university libraries are as follows: 1736 1811 1597 1562 1703 1484 1690 1777? 410,000 313,000 300,000 200,000 200,000 187,000 180,000 170,000 150,000 150,000 150,000 150,000 133,500 120,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 1777 1544 1730? 1436 1639 1601 1621 1743 1582 5,000 1,800 360,000 vols. 250,000 220,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 166,724 150,000 130,000 115,000 112,000 110,000 110,000 105,000 104,239 100,000 100,000 90,854 1850.] Libraries of Great Britain. 189 The Göttingen, Prague, Turin and Upsal libraries are lending libraries. Those of Göttingen, Oxford, Prague, Cambridge, Dublin and Turin are legally entitled to copies of all works published within their respective States. The small library of the university of Salamanca is said to have been founded in 1215. The library of Turin dates from 1436, that of Cambridge from 1484, Leipsic 1544, Edinburgh 1582, the Bodleian 1597. The annual expenditure of the Tübingen library is about £760, of Göttingen £730, of Breslau £400, of the Bodleian £4000. PRINCIPAL PUBLIC LIBRaries of GREAT BRITAIN. Aberdeen, King's College, 34,000 12,000 12,000 166,724 35,000 30,000 20,000 10,000 104,239 17,600 12,000 9,815 31,000 148,000 90,854 50,000 58,096 12,000 10,000 435,000 35,500 17,000 3,000 24,000 19,900 220,000 50,000 30,000 30,000 18,000 15,000 10,000 51,265 4,500 1,771,493 of volumes of MSS., 60,042 are reported. The number in the Red Cross Library in London, stated above at 17,000, according to the librarian's testimony, is about 30,000 vols., including bound tracts and ser mons. According to the Report of the Committee France contains Belgium Prussia 107 Public Libraries. 14 44 Austria, with Lombardy and Venice, 48 Saxony 6 Bavaria 17 Denmark 5 Tuscany Paris Brussels Berlin Vienna Milan Dresden Munich Copenhagen 9 7 2 -- 2324236 66 66 66 It is stated that there is only one public library in Britain, the Chetham in Manchester, equally accessible with the numerous libraries abroad. The libraries of France, says M. Guizot, "are accessible in every way; the library is open to every person who comes to read, and the books are lent to every one who is a known person in the town." There are now five libraries in Great Britain, the British Museum, Bodleian, Cambridge University, Advocates in Edinburgh, and Trinity College, Dublin, which are entitled to receive a copy of all publications in the kingdom. Six other libraries, formerly entitled to the privilege, now receive in lieu of it, altogether, £2,800 per annum. There are 73 towns in Ireland, containing an average population of 2,300, in which there is no bookseller's shop. A large part of the statistical facts in the Report of the Committee were communicated by Edward Edwards, Esq., of the British Museum. Their general correctness, so far as relates to Germany, was vouched for by C. Meyer, German Secretary of Prince Albert. We find in the "Halle Allgemeine Literatur Zeitung," for July 1849, a communication by Julius Petzholdt, making some corrections of Mr. Edwards's statements in relation to the libraries in the kingdom of Saxony. Mr. E.'s statistics were first published in the London Statistical Society's Journal. |
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