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NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. vn. F. as. ma.

American autographs of interest, notably a letter by Washington to Robert Gary & Co., his London agents, dated 1773, 681. ; and a letter of Capt. John Paul Jones's, an original draft of a com- munication addressed to James Hewes of Phila- delphia upon the corruption in the " Infant Navy " of America, dated 31 Oct., 1776, of which the price is 1501. An interesting curiosity is the sign manual, " Mary the quene," of Mary Tudor, stamped on an order of the date 20 Aug., 1554, '221. 10s. ; and among other items of historical interest we noticed a letter of James II. 's to the omte d'Bstree, dated London, 1673, 211. ; and one from Mary of Modena to De Lauzun, St. Germain, 1690, 25. No doubt most people will consider the 200 letters expressing sympathy with those who suffered in the earthquakes at Messina and Reggio in 1908 to be the cream of this collection. They are chiefly from the pens of well-known men of letters of different countries, but include also musical compositions and a few lines from two queens. Facsimile reproductions of the greater part of them were issued in a volume, And sold for the benefit of a fund in aid of the distress. These, the originals, are to be had for 1Q51. The price of a good letter by Sir Thomas Gresham to his son-in-law Nathaniel Bacon, 1579, is 602. ; and we must also mention a letter of Sir Edward Coke's concerning the Norfolk Assizes to Sir Nathaniel Bacon, High Sheriff of that county, dated 1607, 42Z. Of the letters of musicians the finest appears to be one by Beet- hoven to Charles Neate from Vienna, in French, on the subject of ' Schlacht bei Vittoria ' Sym- phony, dated 15 May, 1816, 68f.

M. MARTINUS NIJHOFF of the Hague has sent us an interesting Catalogue (No. 392) of Old and Valuable Books. In the section of American works we noticed H. R. Schoolcraft's ' Archives of Aboriginal Knowledge,' the most important work of its time on the Red Indians, in 6 vols., 1854-68, 400fr. A collection of Autos-da-fe, with the original edition of the ' Autodafe celebrado en Madrid, 1680,' as well as some 23 others belonging to the early eighteenth century, is offered for 150fr. A good item is a complete set (1889-1912) of Kokka, the monthly Japanese urt review, containing fine illustrations of works of art in museums, temples, and private collec- tions. Complete sets are rare: from No. 1 to No. 132 the periodical was issued only in Japanese ; from No. 133 onwards the text was Japanese, but titles and explanations were given in English ; from No. 182 an alternative English edition has been issued. There is added a booklet explaining the early numbers entirely Japanese. The price is 775fr. Another interesting series, for which l,900fr. is asked, is the ' Jahrbuch der Kunst- historischen Sammlungen des Allerhochsten Kaiser- hauses,' edited by Count Folliot de Crenneville, and later by Count zu Trauttmansdorff-Weins- toerg, Vienna, 1883-1911.

IN Messrs. Sotheran & Co.'s Catalogue 732 there are several sets of the works of French authors, among them Ren6 Basin's ' Romans,' in 16 vols., 31. 10s. ; Rostand's ' (Euvres Com- pletes Illustr^es,' 5 vols., bound, 4Z. 4s. ; and Guy de Maupassant's ' (Euvres Completes,' oZ. 17s. Qd. The sets of periodicals include Notes and Queries, complete from the beginning to April of last year, and with all the General

Indexes, 457. An interesting item is the ' Ohoix des Po&iies Originates des Troubadours,' in 6 vols., by Raynouard, with other 6 vols. of ' Lexiquc Roman, ou Diet iomia ire de la Langue des Trou- badours,' having at the end of each volume an inscription recording that the work was given to Mr. Standish Standish by Louis Philippe, 211. There is a delightful collection of works on Ireland, the most interesting being perhaps the scarce edition, issued by the Archaeological and Celtic Society in 1855-7, of ' Leabhar Imuiyn : the Book of Hymns of the Ancient Church of Ireland,' edited and translated by Dr. Dodd, with St. Adamnan's Life of St. Columba, with notes and dissertations by Dr. Reeves, 2 vols., 4Z. 4s. The ' Yellow Book of Lecan ' is also to be had, in the facsimile edition brought out c. 1880, for 21. 2s. We noticed, offered for 181. 18s., a copy of the best edition of Defoe, 20 vols., 1840-41 ; and a complete set of first editions of the works of George Eliot, 27 vols., 42/. A copy of the Tennyson ' Poems by Two Brothers,' in the original edition, costs 25?. There are four or five examples of Rowlandson's work, of which we may mention Combe's ' English Dance of Death*' 1815-16, for 15Z. 15s. ; and the ' Dr. Syntax's Three Tours ' for 12?. Some two score items come from the library of the late Andrew Lang, and one of them is a volume, in which are bound together ^Miss Braddon's ' Aurora Floyd ' and Gaboriau's ' Monsieur Lecoq,' which is lettered on the back " Andrew Lang's Distance Annihilators : These Twain Have Shortened Many a Mile" as pleasant a compliment surely as ever was paid to any writer. It is offered for ol. 5s.

[Notices of other Catalogues held over.]

ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for pub- lication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

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H. G. P. Sandhoe is a township in St. John-Lee parish, Northumberland, four miles from Hexham.