Page:The Library, volume 5, series 3.djvu/236

 224 REVIEWS. tively his naval manuscripts and his early printed books. A good many of the former ought never to have been taken from the Admiralty, but as they have remained in safe keeping no harm has been done. Documents comparing the cost of building a ship in the government yard with the prices of private contractors, or calculating the number of workmen needed to complete her in a twelve- month show that, on however much smaller a scale, the Admiralty in Pepys's day was faced by many of the same problems as at present. Besides the official documents of his own time which he appropriated, Pepys brought together many others in view of his (unfulfilled) desire to write a history of the Navy, while yet others are miscellaneous. All have been summarily, but neatly, catalogued by Dr. Tanner. The books, mostly English, printed before 1558, described by Mr. Gordon Duff, make a more direft appeal to us. Many of them, e.g., one by Caxton ('Reynard the Fox') three of the fifteenth century and two of the six- teenth, from the press of Wynkyn de Worde, and no fewer than six of the fifteenth century, with one of the sixteenth from that of Pynson, are not known to exist elsewhere. Altogether there are seven Caxtons, ten incunables by De Worde, and eight by Pynson. All these and the later books are described by Mr. Gordon Duff with pradlised skill. In the same section Mr. Sidgwick con- tributes an admirable sketch of the history of the collection. Both volumes are excellently printed, and make us wish for the speedy completion of the set.