Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 6.djvu/179

 NOTICES OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS. 91 Literature of Europe. The spirit with which they earnestly devoted them- selves to this object is not more deserving of commendation, than that conscientious accuracy, combined with the utmost perfection in artistic reproduction of these curious designs, which has invariably been showoi in their publication. The seiies which tlieir valuable project comprised, was however of limited extent ; and Mr. Boutell, already known by the publica- tion of a richly illustrated manual of information on the subject, and encouraged by the impulse of increasing interest in Sepulchral Brasses, has undertaken a more extended assemblage of specimens, at a cost rendering it available to every class of Archaeological inquirers. We must express the hope, that the spiiited antiquaries, whose more costly publication to which we have adverted had tended much to draw attention to tliis class of remains, may have foxind the wider circulation of Mr. Boutell's works, calculated as they are to extend the taste for monumental antiquities, conducive to increasing patronage of the admirable " Series." The almost exclusively national character of Sepulchral Brasses in England, a class of antiquities of which ver}' few examples have escaped the ravages of time or popular commotions in foreign lauds, might suffice to justify the production of a second and more extended assemblage of specimens. In the numbers of the attractive work now before us, and of which the illustrative portion of the first volume is just completed, the perfection to which engraving on wood has been earned is strikingly shown. The amount of information conveyed in moderate compass, and at a most trifling cost, renders this collection of examples of costume, of decorative design and of heraldry, highly acceptable. We are enabled, by Mr. Boutell's obliging per- mission, to convey to our readers by the beautiful woodcuts here annexed, singularly interesting as examj^les of costume, a more perfect notion of the character of his work than could be expressed by any eulogy. The minute and faithful exactness with which the smallest details are reproduced is a most valuable quality in these portraitures : their variety is striking ; selected, in great part, from memorials hitherto unknown or imperfectly engraved, each number of ]Ir. Boutell's collection might form the text of a monogi-aph on Medieval Costume in its three great divisions, — Military, Ecclesiastical, and Secular. Numerous brasses and memorials incised on stone, still lie unheeded in the more remote village churches of England. We hope that our readers will readily lend their aid in communicating notices or fac-similes ; scarcely a year passes without some instiince occurring of destioiction or depredation. No complete assemblage of these singular productions of early chalcography has been deposited in any public collection, and it is only by the careful comparison of numerous examples of every class of Middle Age design, faithfully portrayed, as in the series judiciously selected by Mr. Boutell, that their full value as connected with the history of ai't can be appreciated.