tunities afforded to it by prisoners of war, of whose languages and dialects, ranging from Samoan to Finnish, about 3,000 records were made. Over 200 languages altogether are represented in the collection.

THE EDINBURGH BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY 1

V. S.

THIS new instalment of the Publications of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society completes Vol. XI, to which it adds an Abstract of Proceedings for the years 1917-20 and a list of all the papers printed in the eleven volumes, the first of which appeared in 1896. The three new papers here printed are all of interest. Under the title The Aberdeen Doctors and the National Covenant Mr. James D. Ogilvie describes, with a full bibliography, the controversy which arose at Aberdeen in 1638 between the opponents of the Covenant and its supporters. The first pamphlet issued, General demands concerning the late Covenant to be propounded to some 'Reverend Brethren who were to recommend it to us and our people' printed by Edward Raban, is now only known from a manuscript copy. For the other eight entries of 1638 references are given in four cases to copies in the Aberdeen University Library, for three others to copies in Mr. Ogilvie's possession, and in one case, the original edition of The Answeres of some Brethren of the Ministerie to the Replyes of the Ministers and Professours of Divinitie in Aberdene only to Edmond's Aberdeen Printers. A copy is, however, in the British Museum (pressmark 1019. f. 10/5) sandwiched in between the two halves of The Answers and Duplies printed 'by R. Y. (Robert Young) His Majesties Printer for Scotland'. In the second paper Mr. James Cameron Ewing gives

1 Publications of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society. Vol. XI. Part ii. Edinburgh, Printed for the Society. October 1921.

(with a bibliography) a history of the publication and interdiction of Burns's Letters to Clarinda, a curious story in itself and of some importance for the evolution of the law of copyright in private letters.

The third paper, by the Society's Hon. Secretary, Mr. G. P. Johnston, describes the career and voluminous writings of William Mitchel, tinsmith, lamplighter, pamphleteer, preacher and pedlar (1670 ?-1740), who called himself the Tinclarian Doctor','because I am a Tinklar (southern English “ tinker ") ' and cures Pans and Old Lanterns.' Mr. Johnston registers altogether 74 different pieces by Mitchel, a good many of which have been preserved by being bound together, in three instances, comprising respectively 16, 13, and 14 several tracts, with general title-pages, in others without this addition. The British Museum seems to possess altogether 43 of them, which, despite their frequent human interest, is perhaps more than any one will ever read, though Mr. Sutherland Ferguson, to whom for his helpfulness, Mr. Johnston makes acknowledgement, seems to have made a valiant attempt to do so.

A. W. P.

ANNUAL REPORT

URING the past year the Society has lost the help

Dof

of two of its older friends and helpers, Mr. F. W. Bourdillon and Dr. Wickham Legg. Mr. Bourdillon's services to the Society were commemorated at our January meeting and briefly mentioned in the last Annual Report; Dr. Wickham Legg's at our November meeting and in The Library. Members will learn with satisfaction that Mr. Bourdillon's fine collection of French romances and their literature, with the rest of his working library, has passed into the possession of the National Library of Wales, where it will be preserved substantially intact. Dr. Wickham Legg's important liturgical collections, in accordance with his generous directions, have been mainly given to the British Museum and the Bodleian. At its last meeting the Council has had the pleasure of electing Mr. L. G. Wickham Legg to membership of the Society in succession to his honoured father. Mrs. Faber, who in the same way took up our former President's subscription, has now herself passed from us. We have also lost Mr. H. T. Gerrans, of Worcester College, Oxford, a distinguished mathematician, who was also a booklover, and Mr. Michael Tomkinson, a member of the Roxburghe Club and a successful collector, though not mainly of books.

Three members have formally resigned since our last list was printed as 'corrected to March 21, 1921', and one or two others may drop off, but against these losses twenty-four entrance fees of new British members were received during the year, and candidates are still coming in. That we should be doing so well, despite the hardness of the times, is one of

several signs that interest in bibliography is increasing. The net result of our new arrangements is that our subscription income has risen from £488 in 1920 to £822 in 1921. Our sales of publications to members have kept up well, and receipts from sales and advertisements have brought down the net cost of The Library almost to the pre-war rate of a volume of our Transactions of equal size.

Mr. Plomer's Dictionary of Printers and Booksellers, 1668– 1725, is now all in type and will shortly be issued. It is hoped also that the copy for our late President's bibliography of medical books to the close of 1480 will be in the printer's hands before the Annual Meeting, and that we may soon also begin to print a Bibliography of Meredith, by Mr. Maurice Buxton-Forman, which Mr. Wise has kindly promised to see through the press, the writer being domiciled in Pretoria.

Our American members have materially helped us to maintain our output by keeping up their subscriptions during the War and continuing to pay at pre-war rates when the exchange went in their favour. When it was intimated that they too are now feeling the pinch of hard times, the Council referred the question of what the dollar subscription should be to the American Committee, who fixed it at $8.50. Since then the exchange value of the dollar has fallen, and the Council is pleased to know that our kind helpers are getting back a little of their own. American members who joined before 1 January 1921, have, of course, the same right as British Members to continue to pay the old subscription. But it is hoped that before the end of another year it will be evident that full subscribers get the better value for their

money.

NOTICES

Miss K. Briggs, Messrs. J. Meade Falkner, L. G. Wickham Legg, R. A. Austen Leigh, and Allardyce Nicoll, and University College, Swansea, have been elected to membership of the Society.

The Annual Meeting of the Society for the election of officers and members of Council, and the reception of the Council's Report and the Balance Sheet will be held at 20 Hanover Square on Monday, 20 March, at the conclusion of the ordinary monthly meeting. Mr. T. J. Wise has been nominated as President in succession to Mr. Madan, and Dr. W. W. Greg as an additional Vice-President. The other officers of the Society offer themselves for re-election. The following will be proposed as Members of Council : Dr. E. Marion Cox, Lionel Cust, E. H. Dring, Stephen Gaselee, J. P. Gilson, M. R. James, C. W. Dyson Perrins, Sir D'Arcy Power, A. W. Reed, Frank Sidgwick, Henry Thomas, Charles Welch.

At the Monthly Meeting on Monday, 20 March, at 5 p.m., there will be read a paper by Mr. A. W. Pollard, entitled Some Notes on the History of Copyright after the Restoration (1662-1774).

A case for binding Vol. II of The Library will be sent free of charge to all members of the Society, whose subscription has been paid, with the June number. Members who, before I June, send their copies of the four numbers with a postal order for 2s. 5d. to the Controller, University Press, Oxford, will receive them back, post free, cased. Members who neglected to have Vol. I cased last year can have their copies of the two volumes done and returned, post free, for 4s. 6d.