Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/27

 10 s. x. JULY 4, 1908.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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be used. Unequal as all the plays are in execution, they contain, taken together, a body of fine poetry, which no lover of our literature can afford to miss. Confronted with a lyric like "Roses, their sharp spines being gone," we may say that, if this is not Shakespeare's, it is worthy of him.

There are thirteen facsimiles of title-pages re- printed. The play which lacks such adornment, 'Sir Thomas More,' is not the least interesting. It was first printed in 1844, and is here re-edited from the Harleiaii MS. 7368 in the British Museum. Lines 1 172, in Act II. so. iv., have been attributed with the greatest confidence to Shakespeare, nor can we, in view of their wonderful quality, be astonished at the suggestion, which is very different from the wild imaginings of many scholars concern- ing these ' Apocrypha. Dyce first transcribed this play from the MS., and since it has now crumbled away or become indecipherable, a number of words and lines have to be taken on his authority alone. The MS. is in several hands, and one of these has been assigned to Shakespeare himself, but we view what some would regard as satisfactory evidence on such points with the gravest suspicion. A note by Mr. Spedding on the question in 'N. & Q.' (p. xlviii) is referred to as "4 'N. & Q.,' x. 227." Here 4 means " 4 th Series." We cannot go into the details of the disputed authorship set forth in the introduction, but we are pleased to see recognition of the admirable work of our contributor Mr. Charles Crawford, and of a veteran in the field of Shakespearian scholarship, Mr. P. A. Daniel. Mr. Brooke usually writes well and clearly, but we must protest against such a phrase as " her really revolt- ing wishy-washiness," used of Emilia in * The Two Noble Kinsmen.' We presume that the absence of " Valingford" from the list of characters in ' Faire Em ' is a slip on the part either of the MS. or the editor.

BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES. JULY.

THE number of Catalogues we received during June was exceptionally large, but those dated July already go far beyond them.

Divinity takes the lead in Mr. Baker's List 527, which contains a copy of Gallandus's ' Bibliotheca Graeco-Latina Veterum Patrum,' Venetiis, 1765-88, 14 vols., folio, a beautiful set, whole bound in calf, 381. ; a set of the ' Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology,' 88 vols., half -morocco, 81. 8s. ; Paz's ' Opera Spiritualia,' 1623, 3 vols., folio, calf, 81. 10s. ; the first 10 vols. of Pezius's ' Bibliotheca Ascetica Antiquo - Nova,' 12mo, vellum, very rare, 9Z. 10s. (the two missing vols. contain Nicolai de Argentina on the Canticles) ; and the Wy cliff e Bible, Oxford, 1850, 4 vols., imp. 4to, 4. There is a fine clean specimen of the great London Polyglott, 8 vols., folio, in the original rough calf as published, including Castell's ' Lexicon/ 1657-69, 161. 16s.

Mr. Richard Cameron's Edinburgh Catalogue 222 is, like all his lists, full of works of Scottish interest. We note the first Edinburgh edition of Burns, 1787 new calf, 3?. 15s. ; the Complete Works, 6 vols. large paper, 1877, 21. 18s. ; and Walker's mezzo tint after the Nasmyth portrait, 21. 2s. Views o Edinburgh include Grant's and Drummond's. Under Hogg is an amusing autograph letter, Edinburgh April 23rd, 1815, referring to a forthcoming cele bration of Shakespeare, 1L 15s. There are a num ber of Scotch trials, works on Scottish songs and ballads, &c.

Mr. Fred. Cleaver's Bath Catalogue 6 contains- Titsingh's ' Illustrations of Japan,' Ackermann, 1822, 21. 17s. 6d. ; a copy of the " Fireside" Dickens, 23 vols., cloth, as new, 41s.; Reid's 'Concordance to Burns,' 9s. ; and a collection, ' Mr. Mathews at Home,' &c., and 'The Theatrical Olio,' the five works in one volume, 21. 5s.

Mr. Bertram Dobell has in his Catalogue 164 a good tall copy of the first edition of 'Robinson Crusoe' (it contains the two leaves of advertise- ments at end) ; also first edition of * The Farther Adventures,' 1719. The two vols. are bound in evant by Riviere, 1001. Under Coleridge is a set }f the original numbers of The Friend, I/. 12.$. Among other first editions are 'The Reliques of father Prout,' 1836, 2 vols., original cloth, 21. 5s. - r ?rynne's ' Player's Scourge,' 1633, 6/. 6s. ; Leigh aunt's ' Men, Women, and Books,' 1847, 11. Is. ; col- ected edition of Lamb's Works, Oilier, 1818, 2vols. r 2mo, boards, 4?. 4s. ; also works of Tennyson r Swinburne, and Thackeray.

Mr. Dobell's previous Catalogue, which reached us too late for notice among June lists, contains the irst edition of ' Killing noe Murder,' 11. 12s. This was printed clandestinely, and is said to have struck such a terror into the mind of Cromwell as to ren- der the concluding part of his life miserable. The rare edition of 1624 of Bacon's ' Essaies,' 12mo, calf, is 81. 8s. ; and first editions of all the volumes of ' Tristram Shandy ' (vols. i. and ii. without any im- print), 9 vols., 1760-67, 13J. 13s. Milton's first pamphlet, ' Church Discipline,' 1641, bound in morocco by Riviere, is 317. Masson says of the close of this, "It is a passage of prose poetry to which I have found nothing comparable as yet in the whole range of English literature." Another rare item is the first edition of Hakluyt, 1589, 42/.

Messrs. Drayton & Sons' Exeter Catalogue 193"- contains works under India, Ireland, Medical,. Natural History, &c. The general portion includes Fox-Davies's ' Heraldry,' 1905, 4Z. 15s. ; Turner's ' Liber Studiorum,' 2 vols., large oblong 4to, 4. 4s. ; Alken's Sporting Prints (42), 3J. 10s.; and Sarah Austin's 'Story without an End,' large paper, 1868, 21. 2s.

Messrs. Dray ton's Catalogue 194 is devoted to Theology. A copy of Hastings's ' Dictionary of the Bible' is priced 4Z. 18s. ; Smith and Wace's ' Christian Biography,' 3J. 3s. ; the first series of the ' Contemporary Pulpit,' 11 vols., 15s. ; andl 'Preachers' Homiletical Commentary,' 32 vols., New York, 1892-6, 4Z. 18s. There are lists under Kingsley, Lightfoot, Pusey, Vaughan, Westcott,. and others.

Mr. H. G. Gadney's Oxford Catalogue XXI. is a small one of recent purchases. ' Encyclopaedia of the Laws of England,' edited by Renton, with in- troduction by .Pollock, 12 vols., 1897-8, is 51. 10s.; Mrs. Jameson's 'History of Our Lord,' first edition, 2 vols., 11. 4.s.; Lord Leighton's ' Life and Work,' by Mrs. Barrington, 2 vols., royal 8vo, 1906, 11. 10s.; and Zeller's Works, 9 vols., 3/. 15s. Mr. Gadney has also a Short Clearance Catalogue of Theological Books.

Mr, William Hitchman's Bristol Catalogue 62 contains Burton's ' Arabian Nights,' 17 vols., 147. 14s.; and the " Mermaid " Series of Best Plays of the Old Dramatists, 10 vols., 11. Other items include ' Dutch Painters,' by Max Rooses, 12s. 6d.; Lang's 'Prince Charles Edward,' 11. Is.; 'Autobiography