ADVERTISEMENT.

IT is due to the munificent liberality of the Radcliffe Trustees, and also to the judicious and long continued exertions of my predecessor, the late Dr. Williams, that the scientific public should be made acquainted with the valuable collection contained in that splendid repository, the Radcliffe Library.

With great readiness therefore I proceeded to obey the direction, given by the Trustees in last June, to make a Catalogue of its contents. And though I do not consider that which is now published as a sufficiently satisfactory representation of the valuable collection it describes; yet, considering the length of time which would have been required for the construction of a Catalogue complete in all its details; and that a knowledge of the contents of the Library, by leading to a knowledge of its deficiencies also, would tend to accelerate its improvement; it has been thought right to give immediate publication to the present sketch: respecting the plan of which a very few observations will be sufficient.

The primary object in this, as in the Catalogue of every Library indeed, being a clear and succinct description of the title of each book noticed in it in order that its existence in the Library may be easily ascertained; I have, in general, in order to distract the eye as little as possible, described the authors of individual works simply by their surnames and the initial of their other name or names, without the addition of their official or other titles: and this will not, I trust, be considered disrespectful. In some instances indeed the sur