Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/641

 u» 8. iv. DEC. so. 1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 531 CATALOGUES OF MSS. (10th S. iv. 368, 415, 436.) MR Q- F. T. SHERWOOD, in bringing forward this subject, says, "The catalogues of MSS. in the British Museum and other big libraries fail in that they are practically inaccessible because the price is too high." To this point 1 will confine my reply. Three years ago, finding that I had to make extensive use of the Additional and Egerton MSS. at the British Museum, and that time was a great matter to me in my search, I applied to the authorities at the Museum for information as to whether or not there was any chance of another edition being pub- lished of the Catalogues, with their Indices of these MSS., which were next to impossible to obtain in the public market. I mentioned at the same time that each year I read about 300 catalogues received from second-hand booksellers resident in all parts of England and Scotland ; that during twenty years or more I had met with only two volumes ; that even the second-hand prices for them were very high ; and that several of the early volumes were out of print, arid had been so for many years ; and asked whether, as their published prices were quite prohibitory,they would be reprinted at a cheaper rate. lu reply my attention was drawn to the fact that the Trustees had recognized agents for the sale of their publications, as shown in a printed list which was sent to me. The list was dated June. 1902, and upon referring to p. 10 thereof I found that the Index to the Additions 1783 to 1835 ; that a further Index (period not stated !) ; and that all the seven volumes from 1836 to 1881 (cost- ins when issued 11. 4s., without including the Index 1783 to 1835, the price of which is not stated !) are therein stated to be "Out of Drint" ; that the volume for 1882-7 costs l is., and that the volume for 1888-93 (the last date given) costs l. 5s., or together 21. 6s., which must be added to the "d. 4s., making Ql 10s And even that large cost carries one only up to 1893, or nine years behind the date of the list (June, 1902). I pointed out these curiosities to the autho- rities, and received a reply stating that " there had not yet been occasion to consider thi ouestion of reprinting the out-of-print volumes the number of copies placed in various public libraries in the kingdom and abroad, besides those in private hands, having apparently sufficed for the information of students in general, &c.; and further that " it is possible that th earlier volumes may^e re-edited rather than reprinted some day." . . In 1903 a further volume, 1894-9, was issued at Zl. 8s., or 6*. dearer than any of the previous volumes ! Why should these volumes be charged so much more highly than, for instance, the various publications of the Public Record Office, the parliamentary publications, the Charity Commissioners' Reports, the His- torical MSS. Commission Reports, each and all of which have excellent indices? The published prices of these volumes are entirely prohibitory to nine-tenths of the readers at the British Museum If they were sold at a moderate price, like the other books I have mentioned, I cannot but think that many persons would purchase them, and thereby save themselves very consider- able and valuable time by consulting them at home, instead of at the Museum, to find out what they require. To those living in the country the saving of time would be, as MR SHERWOOD observes (p. 415), incalculable, to say nothing of the saving of the expenses which would of necessity be incurred in going to the Museum to consult them. If the Indices only to these volumes were o be sold separately at a cheaper rate, they would be of the utmost use, and save an in- finity of time, trouble, and expense to the itudent. Cannot the Trustees see their way to assist not only the large and growing number of readers who make use of the British Museum library, but also the still larger searching public, towards the speedy attainment or. labour involved would be simply reprinting what is already in print; the cost compara- tively trifling, if confined to the reprinting of the Indices alone. C. MASON. 29, Emperor's Gate, S. W. PUNCH, THE BEVERAGE (10* S. iv. 401,47v). —The derivation suggested by MR. U 8. MOUNT at the first reference is beset with too many difficulties to admit of ready acceptance. But, before proceeding further, I would take this opportunity of adding to the quotations given in Hobson - Jobson three more from seventeenth-century tra- vellers :— 1668. "They Ithe Dutch in Ceylon circa 16451 tlaoinake yet another drink, which they call pMSffoTthfi they take brandy and water an eaual quantity of each, item sugar, and 30 or more lemons^ from which they are wont to extract the nir» but it is not so wholesome as the former ' the composition of which he has vender Behr, ' Uiarmrn.' 53.
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