Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/294

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 8. m. APRIL H, 1917.

interval of nine years. The first is in extenso ; the second in a resume. The other paper is Mr. Gordon Crosse's discussion of ' The Real Shake- speare Problem.' It is lively and sound and offers a more or less new line of argument against the " Anti-Stratfordians." The rest of the number deals with current problems, and at the present moment at least in regard to Russia and America verges already towards being out-of-date.

ONE of the best things which the April Cornhill contains is a paper by Julia Cartwright on that most amiable and many-sided personality, William De Morgan. His special knack in story- telling on the one hand, and on the other the unusual variety of his experiences, make one wish he had left an autobiography, or better, a full diary. His life and his pen were alike of the right quality for such a work. Meanwhile these pleasant pages are very acceptable. Mr. P. J. Salmon writes rather amusingly about ' Signs and Notices on the Western Front ' ; " Hallow-E'en " gives us scenes of hospital life in a sketch entitled ' On Night Duty ' ; and there is an article by Mr. Boyd Cable. But probably this number will be most valued for a " talk " between Coleridge and John Frere one of the Cambridge " Apostles." This was discovered by Miss E. M. Green in a MS. volume now in the possession of John Frere's daughter. Coleridge discourses on the state of religion, politics, and poetry at the end of 1830, and as an example of his conversation these notes were indeed worth giving to the world.

BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES.

MESSRS. MAGGS have sent us their Catalogue No. 354, which describes over a thousand items belonging to English history and literature of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. It is a representative collection, and several of the books ' are worthy a place among the more precious treasures of a good library. Thus, there are both a second and a fourth folio Shakespeare ; the former in a binding by Riviere and offered for 175Z., and the latter a tall copy, bound in morocco offered for 105L An interesting item is a copy of the rare Elizabethan play, attributed to Heywood, ' Nobody and Somebody ' ; a small quarto, now in a binding by Riviere, it was printed for John Trundle in 1606, 631. Interesting also is a copy of the first edition of Izaak Walton's ' The Lives of Dr. John Donne,' &c., which the author presented to his daughter Anne Hawkins, and afterwards, it would appear, to the Bishop of Winchester (1670), 42Z. Eighteen- small octavo volumes, comprising a complete set of the first editions of Richardson's novels, bound in calf by Riviere, are to be had for llOi. Other most attractive first editions are ' The School for Scandal,' in a clean and tall copy (Riviere's binding), 42J. ; the first folio edition of the ' Collected Works of Ben Jonson,' 95L ; and the first collected edition of Pope's works, 851. This last was in the first instance given by Pope to his friend Jonathan Richardson, who has filled many of the margins with variorum readings. We may also mention the following as examples of somewhat less expensive books : ' The Gentle- man's Calling,' a first edition (1660), bound by Riviere, 51. 5s. ; a translation by Meredith Hanmer

of Eusebius, Socrates, and Euagrius, published in 1607, in its contemporary English calf binding, 71. 10s. ; and a MS. volume, folio, lettered ' King's Letters,' containing official copies of letters of William III. to sovereigns of Europe all in Latin, and dated from 1695 to 1701, 10Z. 10*.

Students of early nineteenth-century history may be particularly recommended to give some attention to Messrs. Henry Sotheran & Co.'s new Catalogue (No. 768) of autograph letters. It includes an important collection of 506 letters, of which 390 were written and signed by Lord Melbourne, and 116 were addressed to him, the majority by Lord John Russell. These illustrate most of the events of the years 1835 to 1840, and the extracts and particulars set out in the Catalogue give a good general idea of their contents. The price of the collection is 300L Another important series is that of the literary and political MSS. of Lord John Russell. Among them are drafts of several important documents, several poems of considerable wit, several good letters, and some ' Juvenilia.' The series is offered piecemeal, as is also a collection of about forty early letters of Queen Victoria. Among single items we noticed taking a few from a number marked for their unusual interest a letter of Lord Durham (dated Quebec, Oct. 12, 1838), giving his reasons for his resignation of the Governorship of Canada, 81. 8s. ; a set of questions relative to the British hold of Australia, drawn up with somewhat sinister intent by Napoleon III. in 1853, 211. ; and a long letter of Macaulay's, dated April, 1858, discussing resolu- tions respecting the Council of India, the Jewish Question, and some other things, Gl. 10s. It should be noted that good letters will also be found under the names of Palmerston, Peel, and Grey.

Mr. George P. Johnston of Edinburgh has sent us his ' Catalogue of Curious Old and Rare Books,' which describes about 450 books of a wide range of interest. The best, perhaps, are the specimens of early printing, and by no means the least attractive is the volume (with dates between 1566 and 1582) containing Scottish Acts of Parliament of James I. -James V., Mary, and James VI., 151

Messrs. Myers's ' Clearance Catalogue,' No. 215 is largely modern, though we noticed a number o: old books which should certainly attract collectors of such things. The prices are, as stated moderate.

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