Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/526

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. 11. DEC. 23. wie.

-originals of the early fifteenth century. Here is a large folio vellum page, bearing four very fine -wax seals, inscribed with a commercial treaty between Henry V. and the Duke of Burgundy at -Calais, Oct. 12, 1416, to be had for no more than 13?.: whilst another, concerning a commercial treaty bi-tween England and Flanders, with the of six ambassadors attached to it, belonging 1.. the previous reign, costs 21. less. The com- piler of these Catalogue* supplies brief bio- graphical and historical mites to his pieces some excellent and most useful, some of them, we think, of a rather too naive type ; and we wonder, for .\aiuple. that it is still thought consonant with the dignity of the sort of work these Catalogues .in general present to remark of Philip II. of Spain: "Married 'Bloody' Queen Mary of England." An original Bull of the great Pope Innocent III. is something worth having for 251. It has the leaden Papal seal, and concerns the excommunica tion of the burgesses of St. Omer for wrongs towards a monastery, its date being 1202. We noticed an autograph letter of James II. is Duke of York to Pepys, with Pepys's own hand in endorsement (Oct. 5, 1677), 151. ; that letter of Dr. Johnson's to Fanny Burney (Nov. 19, 1783 : " Have we quarreled ? ") which Fanny 3t ts out in her diary, and which she endorsed " F. B. flew to him instantly and most gratefully," offered for 3U. 10s.; and that pathetic letter written bj Edmund Kean in his last illness which brought his wife to his side to nurse him (Dec. 6, 1832), 251. Among several other good Kean letters is one of about nine years earlier from that same injured wife in vain offering reconciliation. It is to be had for six guineas ; and if Edmund and Mary Kean know about all this, how odd it must . seem to them !

Mr. Reginald Atkinson, whose Catalogue No. 22 has lately come to our hands, has several learned works by modern editors which students may like to hear of : thus, the 1910 edition of the Paston letters, cheap at 11. Is. ; Prof. Wright's ' English Dialect Dictionary,' with Supplement,

6 vols. (1898-1905), 11. 10s. ; Skeat's ' Chaucer ' (1894-7), 6L 6s. ; and the facsimile of the First

Quarto Shakespeare done under Dr. Furnivall's supervision (1881-91), 131. 13s. Collectors of original drawings are offered some good things in sets of water-colours and pen-and-ink sketches made for the illustrations of sundry publications principally for children of Grant Richards. Among old books Mr. Atkinson has ' Biblia Sacra Latina,' in gothic letter, printed at Venice (1478), 51. 5s. ; and a ' Boccaccio ' printed at Venice (Valgrisi, 1555), 31. 3s. The list of Autographs contains many good items, and we were interested to observe that a letter of two pages, dated last year, by Mr. Joseph Conrad to Mr. Arthur Symons is already in the market and may be expected to fetch 21. 12s. Qd. There are autograph scores of five songs by Sir Henry Bishop all signed by him at the top with the date 1835 to be had for 21. 2a. ; a collection of some five hundred signatures of historical personages belonging to the period c. 1684 to c. 1780, 51. 5s. ; a " holograph " poem of four stanzas signed by William Morris, written on the same sheet with one of six lines signed by Christina Knssetti (1874), 21. 2s.; and a MS. of Christina Rossetti's, with a note of hers to Ingram dated 1883, 11. lls. 6d. We may further mention three good sets of ' Works ' : Stevenson, ^wanston Edition (1911-12), 12L 12s. ; Synge

(1910), 31. 15s. ; and those of Mr. W. B. Yeats (1908), 31. 15s.; and an original water-colour drawing of the 'Plains of Waterloo' made. ;:p- parently, soon after the battle, and a collection of 54 Japanese prints depicting scenes in the Russo-Japanese War, each for 31. 3s.

M' .-.srs. Ellis begin their Catalogue No. 165 with an article on ' British Armorial Bindings,' of which they have an important collection running to 445 vols. and exhibiting over 380 stamps, among which are nearly 250 not recorded in Mr. Davenport's work on that subject (1909). The collection is for sale en bloc. In the body of the Catalogue appear three or four items which may tempt the more opulent collector : such, for example, is an early thirteenth-century Psalter of 150 leaves, having six full-page miniatures, and many and various minor decorations. The character is gothic, and, though no direct in- dication is given as to the country from which it comes, we gather it is Dutch or Flemish. It belonged at one time to the Carthusians of Buxheim. In the way of fifteenth-century work there are a missal according to the vise of Utrecht, with good decorated borders, 84/. ; and a Flemish 'Horse,' having two full - page miniatures, six large illuminated initials, and 29 smaller ones, with many other decorations, 3151. A very interesting item is Nicholas Jensen's ' Macrobius,' the " editio princeps " in Roman letter (1-172), 175Z. Later work is also represented, and wo marked a first edition of Goldsmith's ' Good- Natured Man ' (1768, 101. 10s.) ; and Dr. T. F. Dibdin's ' Bibliographical Decameron ' (1817, 121. 12s.), which may serve as specimens of it.

(To be concluded next week.)

The Athenmim now appearing monthly, arrange- ments have been made whereby advertisements of posts vacant and wanted, which it is desired to publish weekly, may appear in the intervening weeks in 'N. & Q.'

to (Eomspotttais.

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

EDITORIAL communications should be addressed to " The Editor of ' Notes and Queries' " Adver- tisements and Business Letters to " The Pub- lishers " at the Office, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, E.G.

MR. G. W. G. BARNARD- Forwarded.

MR. S. A. GRCNDY-NEWMAN. Many thanks. We should like to have it.

MR- JAMES HOOPER. For " that blessed word ' Mesopotamia ' " see 11 S. i. 369, 458 ; ii. 253.

MR. W. H. Fox. Notes upon the opening of King John's tomb will be found at 11 S. ix. 63, 155, 257. The story of the fish caught with maggots taken from the shroud is given at the last reference.

CORRIGENDUM. P. 475, col. 1, 1. 10 from foot, f or " Manby " read Manly.