A valuable MS. of Star-Chamber Reports, from June 17, 1635, to June 4,
1638, was purchased for £11. Several similar volumes of Reports are
among the Rawlinson MSS. Two curious collections of pamphlets were
bought; the one consisting of tracts, broadsides and proclamations
relating to the Gunpowder Plot, made by H. Glynn, Under-secretary of
State (£12 10_s._); the other, a series of State special Forms of
Prayer, from 1665 to 1840 (£10 10_s._)
Works relating to the history of America, in which the Library is now
very rich, begin in this year to form a specially noticeable feature in
the catalogue of purchases. Many rare tracts had been of old in the
Library, but much of the completeness of the present collection is due
to the energy of the well-known American bibliophilist, Henry Stevens,
Esq.