In the belief that the time has arrived when the history of our national
architecture must be reconsidered, with a view to a revision of the classes
or periods into which it has hitherto been divided, Mr. Sharpe has just put
forth a handsomely illustrated volume, under the title of _The Seven
Periods of English Architecture defined and illustrated_. Mr. Sharpe's
proposal is, that these seven periods should be thus formed:--three
belonging to the division _Romanesque_, under the titles of Saxon, Norman,
and Transitional Periods; and the remaining four to the _Gothic_, viz. the
Lancet, Geometrical, Curvilinear, and Rectangular Periods. We must, of
course, refer our readers who desire to know the principles upon which Mr.
Sharpe proposes this great change to the work itself, which is plain and to
the purpose.
Mr. Bohn some time since became the purchaser of a large number of the
copper-plates of Gillray's _Caricatures_. Having had impressions taken, and
arranged them in one large volume, he sought the assistance of Mr. Wright,
who had just then published his _History of the House of Hanover,
illustrated by Caricatures_, and Mr. R. H. Evans, the well-known
bibliopole, towards an anecdotical catalogue of the works of this clever
satirist: and the result of the labours of these gentlemen has just been
published under the title of _Historical and Descriptive Account of the
Caricatures of James Gillray, comprising a Political and Humorous History
of the latter Part of the Reign of George III._ The volume will be found
not only an interesting key to Mr. Bohn's edition of Gillray, and a guide
to those who may be making a separate collection of his works, but a
pleasant illustration of the wit and satire which lashed the politicians
and amused the public
"In the old time when George the Third was king."
Those who know the value of those historical researches which Sir F.
Palgrave has already given to the world, will be glad to hear that the
first volume of his _History of Normandy and of England_ will probably be
published before the close of the present month. In this first volume,
which is described in the advertisement as containing the general relations
of Mediæval Europe, the Carlovingian Empire, and the Danish Expeditions
into Gaul, we understand the learned author has treated those expeditions
at considerable length, and enters very fully into that of the decline of
the Carlovingian Empire,--a portion of the work as important, as it is in a
great measure new, to the English reader. Not the least valuable part of
the book will be Sir Francis Palgrave's account of the nature and character
of the Continental Chronicles, which form the substratum of his work, but
which, existing only in the great collections of Duchesne, Bouquet, Pertz,
&c., are generally very imperfectly known to English students.
Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson will sell, on Monday next, a collection of
very rare and interesting Autograph Letters, more particularly illustrative
of the period of the Civil Wars. On the same day they will also commence a
Four-days' Sale of valuable Books, and Books of Engravings, chiefly from
the library of a gentleman deceased, including the original edition of
Stuart and Revett's _Athens_, a copy of Merian's _Topographia Germaniæ_
containing nearly one thousand engravings, and many other works of high
character.
BOOKS RECEIVED.--_Boswell's Life of Johnson, Illustrated_, vol. i. This is
the first volume of the _National Illustrated Library_, which the
projectors describe "as an endeavour to bestow upon half-crown volumes for
the _many_ the same typographical accuracy, and the same artistic ability,
hitherto almost exclusively devoted to high-priced books for the _few_." In
choosing _Boswell's Johnson_ for their first work, the projectors have
shown excellent judgment; and we are bound to add that the book is not only
well selected, but neatly printed, and illustrated with a number of
excellent woodcuts.--_Illustrations of Medieval Costume in England, &c._,
Part II. This second part deserves the same praise for cheapness as its
predecessor.--_The Cape and the Kafirs_, the new volume of Bohn's cheap
series, is a well-timed reprint of Mrs. Ward's _Five Years in Kafirland_,
with some little alteration and abridgment, and the addition of some
information for intending emigrants, from information supplied by published
official reports.
CATALOGUES RECEIVED.--J. Miller's (43. Chandos Street) Catalogue No. XX. of
Books Old and New; T. Kerslake's (3. Park Street, Bristol) Catalogue of
Books lately bought; W. S. Lincoln's (Cheltenham House, Westminster Road)
Sixty-seventh Catalogue of Low-priced books, mostly Second-hand; Williams
and Norgate's (14. Henrietta Street, Covent Garden) Catalogue No. III. of
Foreign Second-hand Books, and Books at reduced prices.
* * * * *