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NOTES AND QUERIES. cii s. i. MAY 21, 1910.

The above are the suggestions which have been made by my correspondents. To them I would add :

10. Expenses would be incurred in pre- paring a suitable scheme and submitting it to the many thousands in the United Kingdom who are interested in genealogy ; therefore I would urge the desirability of forming a Preliminary Society (or Syndicate, if the Company basis is preferred) with the object of considering, preparing, and sub- mitting a scheme for the required Society. Such a Preliminary Society might consist of about fifty genealogists, each paying, say, a guinea towards these expenses, receiving back any unexpended portion of their subscriptions on formation of the Society itself. A circular signed by fifty genealogists, and issued to the genealogical public should convince any one that he was not being asked to join^ what is vulgarly called " a one-man show.' 1

Now that * N. & Q.* has opened its columns to this discussion, I would ask my corre- spondents to address their comments on the subject to it, and not to me, as already I cannot reply to all the letters I receive. CHAS. A. BERN ATI.

LONDON SIGN LISTS IN ' N. & Q.' THE following table is intended to serve as a reference guide to the various lists of London signs, which have appeared in ' N. & Q. 1 from its commencement to the end of the Tenth Series. I have arranged it in chronological order, giving the approxi- mate date of the earliest and latest sign in each list, with the nature (as Booksellers, Taverns, &c.) of the majority of signs referred to in every list. In regard to the latter classification I may say that, bearing in mind that " booksellers were publishers then, and the business was not, as now, divided n (to quote a recent writer in The Bazaar], I have not attempted to dis- tinguish between sign-lists referring to members of either of these allied industries, but have used the term " Booksellers '* in respect of both indiscriminately. General, 1558-79. 10 S. vi. 424. General, 1579-1639. 10 S. vi. 45. Booksellers, 1590-1713. 6 S. vi. 283, 302. General, 1603-25. 10 S. viii. 288. Booksellers, 1612-40. 6 S. iv. 4. Booksellers, 1623-1714. 6 S. iii. 404, 464 ; iv. 242. General, temp. Commonwealth. 10 S. xii. 203. General, 1660-90. 10 S. ix. 228. Taverns, &c., c. 1660-1700. 10 S. vii. 445. General, 1660-1723. 5 S. xii. 42. Taverns (Coaching Houses), 1680. 10 S. vm. 1. Taverns, &c., 1685. 10 S. xi, 102.

General, ? temp. Anne. 10 S. xii. 463. booksellers, 1737-43. 6 S. ii. 141. Taverns, &c., Aldersgate Ward. 1837. 10 S. xi. 102.

London Bridge. Booksellers, 1659-1754, 6 S. x. 163 ; 1660-1749, v. 222 ; 1670-1720, vi. 445, 465, 531 ; vii. 103 ; 1746-62, x. 237.

St. Paul's Churchyard.

Booksellers, 1515-87, 5 S. ix. 9-10 ; 1548-1733, xi. 94 ; 1593-1723, viii. 489 ; 1593-1763, viii. 461 ; 1611-52,. ix. 97.

The first list named is imperfectly referred > in the index to the volume in which it appears.

The list which I have classed as Book- sellers, 1623-1714, is an alphabetical list of London publishers carried down to 1834,

t 1714 is the last dated sign mentioned, apparently.

It will be seen that little or no interest was taken in this subject in the earlier Series, there being no sign list printed before the closing volume of the Fifth Series, so far as I can discover.

An article by MR. C. A. WARD in refer- ence to ' Numbering Houses l appeared at 7 S. ii. 21 ; it shows that houses began to be numbered generally in London between. 1760 and 1770. WILLIAM McMuRRAY.

JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY: UNIQUE ENGLISH CLASSICS.

BEFORE me lies a copy of a ' Catalogue of an Exhibition of Original Editions of the Principal English Classics, shown in the- Main Library from March to October, MCMX.' (see ante, p. 340). The Library is the John Rylands of this city, and the Librarian, Mr. H. Guppy, observes in his Prefatory Note to the Catalogue that "it will be noticed that of several of these works no other copy is known. '*

This statement justifies an indication of two of them in ' N. & Q.,' where their habitat will be both more widely known and chronicled in perpetuity. I transcribe the titles and notes as they appear in the Catalogue :

1 " Caxton (William). [Blanchardyn and Eglan- tyne.] [1489 ?] [Begin. : Prologue.] Sig. [fol. 1, recto :] Vnto the right noble puyssaut excellet pryncesse my | redoubted lady my lady

Margarete duchesse of So- | mercete | 1

[Fol. 2, recto, table of contents :] Here begynneth the table of the victoryous prynce | Blanch ardyn | sone of the noble Kynge of Fryse | ABC of Eglantyne Quene of Tormaday otherwyse called lorgoylleuse damours. whiche is to si the proude | lady in loue. | Sig. Aj. [recto, text HThe first chapitre of this present boke < teyneth how | Blanchardyn departed out of 1