HE present catalogue comprises so many books of exceptional interest and importance that it may be well to make some remark as to the mode of arrangement.

With regard to the Bibles, the main division is between the texts and the ancient versions on one side and the modern versions on the other. Thus Anglo-Saxon will be found in the former and English in the latter section, although the English Bible begins with Wykliffe, and thus has the advantage of anteriority to all the other vernacular Bibles of Europe. This of course refers to actual translations of the whole Scriptures, and excludes consideration of the Bible-History which was so widely spread during the thirteenth and fourteenth century. Among the items deserving of special note in the class of Bibles, may be mentioned the following:-The Complutensian Polyglot, Erasmus's Greek Testament of 1516, the Aldine Septuagint of 1518. In the Latin section, the vellum MSS. include a Glossed Pentateuch of the eighth century; a Suabian Evangeliarium of the eleventh century; and a superb Bible of the thirteenth, which once belonged to César de Missy and afterwards to the Duke of Sussex. There are besides several other Latin MSS. of the Bible; and some extraordinary rarities among the printed books. The latter comprise Eggesteyn's second edition; the Rome Bible with Lyra's gloss, of 1471; Schoeffer's of 1472, Jenson's of 1476 (quite perfect), the 1545 Stephanus in an exquisite Legascon binding; the Junta of 1557 bound for Fitzalan Earl of Arundel in a striking Grolieresque cover of English work. There is also the famous suppressed Vatican edition of 1590 with all its blunders. Elsewhere we have a wonderful Armenian Evangeliarium richly illuminated with miniatures, and dated at the beginning of the fourteenth century; also an Arabic MS. of part of the Old Testament, dated in the ninth century of our era; the Ostrog Slavonic Bible of 1581, and the Bohemian Bibles of 1506 and 1529. In the English section, there is the Coverdale Bible of 1535, New Testaments of 1536 and 1538 (Antwerp and London); Matthew's Bible of 1537, the Great Bible of 1540-41; the four Bibles of 1549 (Whitchurch, Raynald and Hill, Day and Seres, Powell); and the Geneva New Testament of 1557. Two magnificently illuminated MSS. appear in the French section, both distinguished by the beauty of their miniatures and by historic ownership. The printed books include some rare French Testaments dated from 1526 to 1538, Lefebvre's Antwerp Bible of 1530, Chateillon's curious Bible of Basle, 1555, the Waldensian Bible of Neufchatel, 1535; and the Bordeaux Testament of 1686 (with its singular interpolations of the words la Messe). The German section includes the Wittenberg and Zürich Bibles of 1534; other rarities are the first Icelandic of 1584, Mallermi's Italian of 1481, the Magyar of 1590, the Polish of 1599, the Judeo-Spanish of Ferrara 1553, the Protestant-Spanish of Venice 1556, Salusbury's Welsh Testament of 1567, Morgan's Welsh Bible of 1588, and Parry's of 1620.

The class of BIBLES is followed by that of LITURGIES. From this important division (as well as from the four of minor interest which succeed: Church-History 1 *

and Legend, Canon Law, Works of Churchmen, Polemics of the Reformation) everything of English or British origin is excluded so as to form a final section of no common attractiveness: THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND. The class LITURGIES is therefore almost wholly foreign. It comprises some remarkable items, such as a perfect copy of Assemani Codex Liturgicus, the original Alcala editions of the Mozarabic Missal and Breviary, some of the earliest printed Roman Missals and several of the rarest Missals of German dioceses; the Breviary of Cardinal de Clermont, 1502, which is a superbly illuminated MS. on vellum; the printed Breviary of Cardinal Quignon, 1546, noted as one of the primary sources of the English Common Prayer Book; the first and second editions of the Roman Pontifical; the Aldine Greek Horæ of 1497; and the Illyrian Breviary of 1563, printed in Glagolitic letters. The Prayerbooks for private persons (Horæ, Officia, Ghetiden, Psalteria) include a considerable number of splendid and valuable MSS., as for instance the Psalter of Mount Olivet from Siena, the Hispano-Flemish Psalter of Queen Juana la Loca, the Livres d'Heures of Bregilles, Jouvenel des Ursins, Condé, and others. The Ottobeuern Collectarium of the twelfth century is a vellum book full of wonderful pictures and decorations; offering a striking contrast to three Ethiopic MSS. of hagiological and liturgical character in which the paintings are equally rude and rich and numerous. The Grandes Heures of Simon Vostre, printed on vellum in 1502, is one of the most noteworthy items of a class in which there are many beautiful and rare examples.

The classes of HAGIOLOGY, CHURCH HISTORY, COUNCILS and LAW, WORKS of CHURCHMEN, and Reformers, include some books of great rarity as typographical primitiæ, but not much that is capable of specific designation. There is, however, Caxton's last production (Life of Katherine of Siena), a curious collection of Lutheran tracts, an extensive assemblage of Savonarola tracts in Florentine editions with woodcuts, and some rare versions of the Imitatio.

Under the heading of THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND, there are three MS. Missals (two of them of Sarum use; the other, which is very early, not of Sarum use); there are fourteen printed editions of the Sarum Missal, including the folio of Venice, 1494, and the London edition of 1498; a printed York Missal and a vellum MS. of the York Breviary. A large Psalter of the twelfth century (Huntingfield) is a grand example of English art, and is one of four MS. examples of the early Prayerbook (composed of Psalter and Litany with a few prayers) which preceded the Primer in England. Of the Primer (which led the way to the vernacular liturgy) there are-under the heading of Horæ or Psalter, or Primer-no less than 19 (including MSS. and printed editions); one of the MSS. being apparently of Lincoln use, and another remarkable for the large proportion of English matter in it. There is a MS. of Wykliffe's treatises on the Articles of Faith, written about A.D. 1400; original editions of various works of Bishop Fisher, of the works of Sir Thomas More, of treatises by Tyndale, Cranmer, George Joy, Thomas Lupset, Ponet, Latimer and Ridley; the first, second, and fourth editions of Foxe's Martyrs; a MS. of Archbishop Laud, which was bound for Prince Henry. The first edition of John Knox's Church History, as well as a couple of his minor works; and the remarkable Catechism of Archbishop Hamilton, which was the first book printed at St. Andrews,-lend importance to a Scottish sub-section.

BERNARD QUARITCH.