The announcement recently made in _The Athenæum_ of the intention of the
Government to print in a neat and inexpensive form, a series of
Calendars or Indices of the valuable historical documents in the State
Paper Office, cannot but be very gratifying to all students of our
national history--in the first place, as showing an intention of opening
those documents to the use of historical inquirers, on a plan very
different from that hitherto pursued; and, in the next, it is to be
hoped, as indicating that the intention formerly announced of placing
the State Paper Office under the same regulation as the _Record
Offices_, with the drawback of fees for searches, is not to be
persevered in.
To the citizens of London, to its occasional visitants, as well as to
the absent friends and relatives of those who dwell within its walls,
Mr. Archer's projected work, entitled _Vestiges of Old London, a series
of finished Etchings from original Drawings, with Descriptions,
Historical Associations and other References_, will be an object of
especial interest. The artistical portion will, we believe, be mainly
founded on the collection of drawings in the possession of William
Twopeny, Esq., while the literary illustrations will be derived entirely
from original sources, and from the results of careful observation and
inquiry.
It is said to have been a rule with Charles Fox to have every work bound
in one volume if possible, although published in two or three. The
public have long felt the convenience of such an arrangement; and the
great booksellers have very wisely gratified their wishes in that
respect. The handsome "monotome" edition of _The Doctor_ is doubtless
well known to our readers. The success of that experiment has, we
presume, induced Messrs. Longman to announce the _Complete Works of the
Rev. Sydney Smith_, and _Mr. Macaulay's Critical Essays_, in the same
cheap and convenient form. We believe, too, that another (the sixth)
edition of that gentleman's _History of England from the Accession of
James II._, is on the eve of publication.
Those of our readers who take an interest in that widely spread and
popular subject, _The Dance of Death_, will remember that one of the
most exquisite works of art in which expression is given to the idea on
which this pictorial morality is founded, is the Alphabet Dance of
Death--so delicately engraved on wood, (it is sometimes said by Holbein,
who designed it,) but really by H. Lutzelburger, that the late Mr. Douce
did not believe it could ever be copied so as to afford any adequate
impression of the beauty of the original. A German artist, Heinrich
Loedel, has, however, disproved the accuracy of this opinion; and the
amateur may now, for a few shillings, put himself in possession of most
admirable copies of a work which is a masterpiece of design, and a gem
in point of execution, and of which the original is of the extremest
rarity. There are two editions of this Alphabet; one published at
Gottingen, with an accompanying dissertation by Dr. Adolf Ellisen; and
the other at Cologne, with corresponding borders by Georg Osterwald.
The revised and much enlarged edition of Dr. Lingard's _History of
England_, handsomely printed in ten large octavo volumes, is, we
understand, nearly ready for publication.
Mr. M.A. Lower, whose _Curiosities of Heraldry_ and _English Surnames_
are no doubt well known to many of our readers, is preparing for
publication a Translation, from a MS. in the British Museum, of _The
Chronicle of Battel Abbey from the vow of its Foundation by William the
Conqueror, to the Year 1176, originally compiled in Latin, by a Monk of
the Establishment._
Mr. Thorpe, 13. Henrietta Street, has just issued "A Catalogue of most
choice, curious, and excessively rare Books, particularly rich in Early
Poetry, Mysteries, Pageants, and Plays, and Romances of Chivalry." This
Catalogue is also extremely rich in Madrigals set to Music, by eminent
Composers of Queen Elizabeth's reign--and contains an unrivalled series
of Jest Books, and also of Song Books.
* * * * *