Search Constraints
Search Results
-
1978
Journal article
John Webber's South Sea drawings for the admiralty: a newly discovered catalogue among the papers of Sir Joseph Banks
THE Department of Manuscripts in the British Library, a treasure-house of many little-known works of art which one might not expect to find there, preserves more than 150 drawings and water-colours by the British artist John Webber (1750-93). The late Martin Hardie, a connoisseur of the British water-colour school, praised...Joppien, Rudiger
-
1979
Journal article
Department of Printed Books: acquisitions, Slavonic Division
Department of Printed Books: acquisitions, Slavonic Division.Chrastek, D. B.
-
1978
Journal article
Some notes on Andrew Marvell : Marvell before and after the continental tour 1642 and 1647
THE precise limits of Marvell's four-year tour of the Continent during the 1640s, attested in Milton's letter to Bradshaw of February 1653 and in poems such as 'Fleckno, an English Priest at Rome', have been the subject of much speculation. Thanks to Mrs Burdon's article in the previous number of...Kelliher, Hilton
-
1978
Journal article
Pictorial printing in Chinese books: three examples from the seventeenth century
CHINA, the country of origin of both paper and the printed word, was also the first to print book illustrations. However, it is the Japanese achievement in this field that has captured the imagination of the outside world, as was so eloquently and reflectively demonstrated by my colleague David Chibbett,...Brown, Yu-Ying
-
1977
Journal article
Brother and sister: new George Eliot letters
ON 20 July 1854 Mary Ann Evans, who two and a half years later was to assume the nom de plume George Eliot, left London for an excursion to Germany in the company of George Henry Lewes, and henceforward until his death they lived together as man and wife. She...Burnett, T. A. J.
-
1980
Journal article
Books from Japanese circulating libraries in the British Library
Over the last ten years there has been in Japan a steady growth of interest in the circulating libraries known as kashihonya and in due course this bids fair to make a valuable contribution to the study of the rise of literacy in Japan in the Tokugawa period (1600-1868). Some...Kornicki, P. F.
-
1978
Journal article
Marvell after Cambridge
MARVELL'S movements on first leaving Cambridge have never been known to his biographers. Exactly when he left Trinity College is also in doubt, but it is clear that by September 1641 he had been absent for an unacceptable length of time. If it is a fact that he ran away...Burdon, Pauline
-
1978
Journal article
David Hume, De Unione Tractatus Secundus
THE description of MS. Royal, 12 A.53 in the British Library catalogue states that 'it does not appear to have been printed'. Indeed it was not; but two letters in the Public Record Office indicate that it did very nearly achieve publication in France in 1610, some five years after...Lindley, David
-
1978
Journal article
Department of Printed Books: acquisitions 1965-1975: English books 1641-1700
Department of Printed Books: acquisitions 1965-1975: English books 1641-1700Jannetta, M. J.
-
1978
Journal article
Some early English editions of Voltaire
ON Friday 10 May 1726 it would seem that Voltaire left Calais in the Betty to cross the Channel by the regular service and to arrive the following morning, 30 April, at Gravesend. The shift from Gregorian to Julian calendars, only removed by England's adoption of New Style some twenty-six...Barber, G.
-
1980
Journal article
The Ayrton Papers: music in London, 1786-1858
RECENTLY acquired papers of William Ayrton (1777-1858), musician and critic, sometime Director of the Italian opera at the King's Theatre, and editor of the Harmonicon, proved to be the residue of the collection of Ayrton's correspondence and papers presented by Miss Phyllis Ayrton, his great-granddaughter, in 1964. The new collection...Willetts, Pamela
-
1979
Journal article
Reconstruction of a Liège psalter-hours
IN the sad history of crimes against books, British Library Add. MS. 28784 must be placed high on the list of scrapbooks headed by the Carmelite Missal, Add. MSS. 29704-29705. When acquired by the British Museum in 1871 Add. MS. 28784 was composed of a complete late fifteenth-century book of...Oliver, Judith
-
1980
Journal article
A new account of Waterloo: a letter home from Private George Hemingway of the Thirty-third Regiment of Foot
ACCOUNTS by participants of the battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo are not numerous and most of those written by British ones were elicited some twenty years after the event by the questionnaire of the enterprising Captain Siborne. Surviving accounts of Waterloo written by private soldiers must be very rare...Waley, Daniel
-
1977
Journal article
Additional Sheridan papers: Add.MSS. 58274-58277
A QUANTITY of political papers, mostly speech notes, and miscellanea of Richard Brinsley Sheridan have recently been added to the Department of Manuscripts' holdings of Sheridan family material. The new acquisition had once been part of the Sheridan papers preserved at Frampton Court, Dorset, and had been sold by auction...Smith, R. A. H.
-
1981
Journal article
Paul Hirsch and his music library
ON 16 July 1946 the lovely garden of 10 Adams Road, Cambridge, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Hirsch, was the scene of a party given for the seventieth birthday of Edward Dent, who had been Professor of Music in the University from 1926 to 1941. It was a...King, Alec Hyatt
-
1978
Journal article
An addition to the Faust literature: an unknown 'harrowing of hell' in the British Library, London
THE spread of material on the subject of Faust began in the sixteenth century with the existence of Faust as an historical figure, and with the appearance of a 'Faust-trilogy' (Faust-Buch of 1587, Wagner-Buch of 1593, Fausts Gaukeltasche of 1607). The subject entered English literature with an English version of...Henning, Dr. Hans
-
1978
Journal article
The artist of the Leviathan title-page
FEW title-page designs, if any, can rival the success of that bluntly eloquent engraving which prefaces the first edition (1651) of Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan. Though it was re-used for two further editions in the author's own lifetime, successive reproductions have given it far wider currency since its reappearance in the...Brown, Keith
-
1979
Journal article
Notes : The Laurence Nowell Manuscripts in the British Library
For centuries historians have asserted that the Laurence Nowell who transcribed old chronicles with William Lambarde, the sixteenth-century antiquary of Kent, was a churchman, the Dean of Lichfield. A careful reading of the facts in a 1571 Court of Requests case has recently disclosed that this belief is unfounded.Warnicke, Retha M.
-
1979
Journal article
Notes: Richard Hodges and Stowe Manuscript 15
This note is intended to explain the relationship between Stowe Manuscript 15 and Richard Hodges, whose name appears on folio 12v with the date 1545. The manuscript is a small volume of ninety-two vellum folios containing diverse subjects dating from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. It was originally begun...Alsop, J. D.
-
1981
Journal article
The Poppelauer catalogues of Hebraica and Judaica
THE Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books has been fortunate enough to acquire a unique and almost complete set of the Catalogues of Hebraica and Judaica issued by M. Poppelauer of Berlin between 1887 and 1929. Twenty-seven catalogues were issued, and the only (but important) one missing from the...Goldstein, David
-
1979
Journal article
Some hitherto unpublished Panizziana from Italy
THE municipal library in the quiet and elegant city of Reggio Emilia is a hitherto unexplored treasure house of unpublished Panizzi material. It was at Reggio that Antonio Panizzi spent four years at the ginnasio and met Gaetano Fratuzzi, the retired Professor of Rhetoric and librarian at that library, who...Reidy, Denis V.
-
1981
Journal article
A purchase of books in 1615
WHILE making a study of manuscript annotations and marks of provenance in English incunabula for the forthcoming volume of B.M.C. xi, I was pleasantly surprised to come upon a priced list of twenty-three books, transcribed below, in a copy of the English translation of Cicero's De Senectute printed by Caxton...Nickson, M. A. E.
-
1979
Journal article
Antonio Panizzi and the British Museum
ANTONIO GENESIO MARIA PANIZZI was born on 16 September 1797 in the little town of Brescello in the Duchy of Modena in northern Italy. Though no more than the son of the local chemist, he had received a sound education, in Brescello itself, in Reggio, and at the University of...Miller, Edward
-
1980
Journal article
Four Strasburg incunables incorrectly assigned to Anton Koberger of Nuremberg
Four incunables, undated and anonymous as to place and printer, have for many generations been assigned to the Nuremberg press of Anton Koberger, and have in fact been classed as his very earliest productions. 1. Johannes Nider, Manuale confessorum. fol.: a-e10 f8, 58 leaves. Hain, *11834; Goff, N-178; Proctor, 1961;...Needham, Paul
-
1978
Journal article
Notes: Italian printed statutes: a correction
In my recent brief account of the printed Italian statutes in the British Library, I made one misleading statement when I failed to mention the statutes of the Duchy of Savoy, of which the Library has three editions printed before 1600. I wrote: 'It will be noted that certain important...Rhodes, D. E.
-
1978
Journal article
Hilarius Cantiuncula and his book of poems
THE present brief investigation arose out of the discovery of an unfortunate error in the British Museum's Short-title Catalogue of Italian Books 1463-1600 (1958), where on page 327 we read the following entry: 'Hilarius, a writer of Latin verse in Germany. Cantiunculae hendecasyllaborum liber. Apud P. Petramsanctam: [Gualtiero Scotto:] Venetijs,...Rhodes, Dennis E.
-
1981
Journal article
A reappraisal of the Bedford Hours
ALREADY well known to bibliophiles at the time of its purchase in February 1852, the Bedford Hours has ever since been justifiably regarded as one of the star attractions of the national collection. Some of its illustrations, especially the lively miniatures of Noah's Ark, have become famous through frequent reproduction...Backhouse, Janet
-
1979
Journal article
Two eighteenth-century manuscripts on the geography of the Levant
A MANUSCRIPT on my bookshelves contains a collection of geographical and other notes relating to Greece and Asia Minor. It has no title, and is unsigned. It was written during a period of years beginning before 1739, probably before 1733, and continuing at least until 1749. Among its contents are...Salt, George
-
1980
Journal article
Bookbinding practices of the Hering family, 1794-1844
THE English poet and essayist Robert Southey, describing, in the guise of a Spaniard, the manners and morals of his countrymen, noted in 1807, that 'there is, perhaps, no country in which the passion for collecting rarities is so prevalent as in England.' This passion was turned by large numbers...Marks, Judith Goldstein
-
1979
Journal article
Department of Printed Books: German popular literature as seen in some recent antiquarian acquisitions
Systematic acquisition of foreign literature for the British Museum library began in 1834 with regular Government funding, and, particularly under Panizzi, the attention paid to current material was extended also to supplementing the existing holdings of older books on as wide a scale as possible. His declared aim to make...Paisey, D. L.
-
1981
Journal article
Two new Italian printing centres of the sixteenth century
IN April 1980 the Department of Printed Books bought two extremely rare books, each of which adds a new town to our already very rich collection of sixteenth-century Italian imprints. While these books are not unrecorded, it is most unlikely that a copy of either of them has ever previously...Rhodes, Dennis E.
-
1981
Journal article
The acquisitions system of the Department of Printed Books in the 1870s
PANIZZI'S years as Keeper (1837-56) were the revolutionary period in the history of the Department of Printed Books. After such a turbulent time consolidation was needed and this was provided first by John Winter Jones who was Keeper from 1856 to 1866. His successor was Thomas Watts, a man of...Harris, P. R.
-
1979
Journal article
Panizzi and Madden
IN a publication celebrating Antonio Panizzi's centenary, an article on his dealings with his mortal enemy, Sir Frederic Madden, the Keeper of Manuscripts, might seem to strike a jarring note. They nevertheless make a tale well worth the telling. The epic feud between these two great public servants is a...Borrie, Michael
-
1981
Journal article
An early thirteenth-century Low Countries booklist
IN British Library MS. Harley 2720, a copy of the Thebaid of Statius, at the bottom right hand corner of fol. 85v, the last page of the text, is a list of twenty-four or twenty-five titles of books or shorter works and four items associated with writing (wax, a seal,...Watson, Andrew G.
-
1979
Journal article
Some uncollected letters of Andrew Marvell
EARLIER this year the British Library acquired an unpublished letter of Marvell to Sir Henry Thompson of Escrick, dated 16 December 1675. Sir Henry (c. 1627-84), the second of the five sons of Richard Thompson of Kilham and his wife Anne Thompson, nee Nelthorpe, was a successful wine merchant, knighted...Kelliher, Hilton
-
1979
Journal article
Gladstone and Panizzi
THERE were several strands in Gladstone's relation with Panizzi, whom he came to call this very true, trusty, hearty friend. Panizzi made his English debut in the 1820s in Liverpool, where John Gladstone was a merchant prince, and he made it under the patronage of William Ewart the future Prime...Foot, M. R. D.
-
1980
Journal article
The Department of Manuscripts' George Eliot Holdings
'MR. LEWES had set his mind on their going after our death to the British Museum', wrote George Eliot of the manuscripts of her works in a letter to William Blackwood. In G. H. Lewes's lifetime the autograph manuscripts of her works had been inscribed and presented by her to...Waley, Daniel
-
1981
Journal article
The Lumley Library: a supplementary checklist
THE notes that follow relate to some eighty-nine printed books and manuscripts from the collection of John, Lord Lumley (1534-1609), on which new information has become available since the publication in 1956 by Sears Jayne and Francis Johnson of the 1609 Catalogue of the Lumley Library from a manuscript in...Selwyn, D. G.
-
1982
Journal article
A new portrait of George Eliot?
FOR an author who was at once both lionized in some quarters, and despised in others, it is remarkable that descriptions of George Eliot's appearance are so much at variance. On one hand is the unkind, but memorable yet still unattributed line, 'Have you seen a horse, sir? Then you...Goldman, Paul
-
1981
Journal article
A Shahnama from Transoxiana
THE Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books has recently acquired an unusual, and stylistically rare, illustrated copy of the Shahnama (Book of Kings) by Firdawsi (Or. 13859). The latter part of the manuscript, which might have included a colophon, is missing but the miniatures appear to be in the...Titley, Norah M.
-
1982
Journal article
An unidentified Italian publisher's device: the knight on oxback
IN November 1891 the British Museum bought from Leo S. Olschki, the bookseller who was at that time established in Venice but later moved to Florence, a small liturgical work in 16mo format without imprint or date, and with the title printed in red as follows (abbreviations resolved): Diurnum Romanum:...Rhodes, Dennis E.
-
1982
Journal article
The Blenheim Papers
THE papers of John, 1st Duke of Marlborough, his wife, Sarah, and his son-in-law, Charles 3rd Earl of Sunderland, as well as of other members of the Spencer, Churchill, and related families, formerly kept at Blenheim Palace, were acquired by the British Library in 1978. They were originally offered to...Hudson, J. P.
-
1982
Journal article
Socinian books with the Raków imprint in the British Library
DURING the Reformation, Poland, with her religious tolerance, became known as an asylum haereticorum in which various trends in the New Faith peacefully coexisted with the official Catholic Church, and religious refugees from abroad found safety from persecution by both the Inquisition and Protestant theologians. One of the most distinguished...Swiderska, H.
-
1980
Journal article
Joaquin Ibarra, 1725-1785: a tentative list of holdings in the reference division of the British Library
THREE printers in eighteenth-century Spain are commonly regarded as the leaders of the revival in printing standards in that country. Of the three, Joaquin Ibarra, Benito Monfort, and Antonio de Sancha, it is Ibarra who is generally considered to be pre-eminent.Whitehead, H. G.
-
1982
Journal article
'This so-called autobiography': Anthony Trollope, 1812-1882
'THERE is perhaps no career of life so charming as that of a successful man of letters', Trollope declares in a happy moment, adding that 'it is in the consideration which he enjoys that the successful author finds his richest reward.' A good deal of the interest and fascination of...Brown, Sally
-
1980
Journal article
Vignettes in early nineteenth-century London editions of Mozart's operas
ON 21 June 1737 the royal assent was given to a measure entitled: An Act to explain and amend so much of an Act, made in the Twelfth Year of the Reign of Queen Anne, intituled, An Act for reducing the Laws relating to Rogues, Vagabonds, sturdy Beggars, and Vagrants,...King, Alec Hyatt
-
1981
Journal article
Some notes on seventeenth-century continental hospitals
SIR HANS SLOANE (1660-1753), the eminent Stuart and Georgian physician, was an avid collector of historical manuscripts, particularly those relating to all branches of medicine and the allied sciences. His collection, an original nucleus of the British Museum, remains one of the most important archives for research into the medical...Alsop, J. D.
-
1981
Journal article
The paint surfaces in the Psalter of Henry of Blois
THE condition of the miniatures in the Psalter of Henry of Blois, British Library MS. Cotton Nero C. IV, has long been a subject of interest to students of Romanesque illumination. Those who have commented upon this problem agreed that originally the miniatures were fully painted. At some point, the...Haney, Kristine Edmondson
-
1981
Journal article
Recent acquisitions: Department of Printed Books: Acquisitions 1975-1980: English Books 1501-1800
Recent acquisitions: Department of Printed Books: Acquisitions 1975-1980: English Books 1501-1800.Archibald, Jean ; Jannetta, M. J.
-
1981
Journal article
Note: The Spanish Scala Celi
The Scala celi in Spanish, in the edition with which I am here concerned, is a small printed work of only twenty quarto leaves. It has nothing whatever to do with much longer works of the same title (but in Latin) with which it has been confused. Haebler, for example,...Rhodes, D. E.