Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/461

 12 s. vni. MAY ?, i92i.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 379 ear, and we find it rather difficult to imagine | circumstances in which it would be really worth ! while to acquire a dialectal pronunciation by j getting up its phonetic formulae. We agree with every word anyone has ever said in praise of the " Lingua Scottica " it is a noble tongue and we congratulate any foreigner who masters it but we cannot believe it possible to capture, simply by means of the eye and the inward ear, that force and subtle natural quality which constitute its charm, and make, in truth, that for the sake of which anyone not born to it would trouble to learn Scots at all. The one true method is the frequentation of the Scotch and the easy, not over-earnest attention to Scots talk. For those who have no chance of this we believe that the usual literary conventions for the rendering of Scots, rough and limited though they are, suffice, and that more elaborate study would be waste of good time. However, if we allow what Messrs. Grant and Dixon must feel convinced of, that sounds can, ! in some useful and satisfactory degree, be imparted by the eye, and if there are, indeed, people ! who wish to acquire Scots though they have little j or no chance of learning it by a Scotchman's i speech, then we can only recommend this work as | excellent for its purpose. It consists, first, of a very careful setting out of the phonetics of the subject ; secondly, of what is called a " grammar," and, thfHly, of a reader consisting of about fifty pieces prose and verse very happily chosen. The Alphabet used is that~of the International Association, with which the authors justifiably assume some familiarity on the student's part. A more frequent use of keywords Would be an improvement nevertheless. The principal feature of the book is the Gram- mar, which may be described as a collection of ! instances and idioms grouped under parts of speech. To the lover of language it offers a feast. The dictionary reader will browse in its j pages with delight ; and that fortunate person j who savours phrases as rudimentary epigrams j will find an abundance of enjoyment, for the wit i and expressiveness of Scots an idiom where its peculiar logic is a noticeable quality gain in ! point' by being seen in this systematic, " gram- matical " setting. This is to say that the collection and the scheme are both deserving of the highest praise, and that this work is likely to be for many years the authority on the subject. The Scotch dialect includes numerous varia- tions. That of the Lothians, being the Scots of the old Scottish Court and of the main body of ' the population, has naturally been taken as the [ representative dialect for the present purpose, but a few texts in other speech have been added, | and some words and idioms from such included ; in the grammar. Traces of French in Scotch are always in- teresting, and we noticed one, if it be one, new to us : the call used by Ayrshire girls to their cows : proo, proo, prochimoo, which is supposed j to be a corruption of approchfz-moi. Dr. Dixon was first inspired with the idea ! of this manual by his experience when lecturing i on Scottish literature in America. In America we j should expect it to be of considerable service ; and : also as part of an actor's working library. BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES. ' Bibliotheca Incunabulorum ' is the title of MESSRS. MAGGS'S Catalogue No. 402. We have long been used to enjoy their catalogues, but this one we have enjoyed even beyond our wont. It is so lavishly illustrated as to be the nearest possible substitute for an examination of the books it describes, and the careful accounts which form the text are worth real study. Some 760 items are included, and among them are about half a hundred books of which only one copy is known and a score or so which are known in no more than two copies. The English works are few, but precious ; we may mention Caxton's ' Myrrour of the World ' (c. 1490 : 8751.) and ' Lyf of Saint Katherin of Sene ' (1493: 5002.), with Wynkyn de Worde's ' St. Jerome ' the ' Vitae Patrum ' {1495: 2002.). The French presses are represented by 68 books. The most magnificent example of Paris work is Gering and Rembolt's 'Missal' (1497) printed on vellum. The copy offered is from the library of Colbert, and 1,9502. is the price asked for it. Mentelin of Strass- burg printed, not later than 1463, as his second book, the second part of the ' Summa ' of St. Thomas Aquinas ; a copy of this in a nineteenth- century binding is offered for 2002. We noticed also St. Bonaventura's ' Quaestiones ' by the printer of ' Henricus Ariminensis ' (1472: 752.). The German books number over 120. Here, from Augsburg, are Aurbach's ' Summa de Sacra- mentis ' (1469: 2002.), Bamler's ' Buch der Kunst' (1477: 3752.), and Ratdolt's ' Chronica Hungarorum ' (1488 : 2502.), from Mainz, Schoef- fer's 'Clement V.,' on vellum (1471: 7502.), and from Nuremberg Creussner's delightful ' Zeitglocklein ' of Bertholdus (1493 : 1052.). The great bulk of the catalogue is, however, concerned with Italian incunabula, which number well over 400 and present a mass of matter much beyond what a short notice can do justice to. From Ferrara we have Rossi's St. Jerome ' Vita e Epistole ' (1497 : 2502.), and from Florence no less a' treasure than the great ' Homer ' of Bartolommeo di Francesco di Libri (1488 : 5002.). There is a copy of de Lignamine's ' Quintilian ' (Rome, 1470 : 2502.), and from Plannck's press at Rome come Carvajal's ' Oratio ad Alexandrum VII.,' and the ' Oratio ad Inno- centium VIII. de Obedientia ' of Valascus (c. 1494: 752.). The works we have mentioned are beyond the reach of the collector of small means, but there are many delightful items from the Italian and particularly the Roman and Venetian presses which are offered for a few guineas. We must mention, from among the Venetian books, Jensen's 'Cicero' (1470: 3502.), and from Verona, Valturius' ' De re militari,' printed by Johannes of Verona (1472: 5252.) The Spanish books, if fewer in number, are even more interesting than the Italian. Here are Mela's ' Cosmographia,' printed at Salamanca in 1498 (3752.) ; Duran's ' Glosa sobre Lux bella,' printed in the same place and year (4502.), and, again, Madrigal's ' Confessional,' (2002.). Paul Hums' edition of Boccaccio in Spanish ' De las Mugeres illustres en Romance ' (1494 : 7502.) from Saragossa, and a wonderful missal of