Among the books which we have for some time intended to bring under the
notice of our readers is a new and cheaper edition of _The Coin Collector's
Manual, or Guide to the Numismatic Student in the Formation of a Cabinet of
Coins: comprising an Historical and Critical Account of the Origin and
Progress of Coinage, from the Earliest Period to the Fall of the Roman
Empire; with some Account of the Coinages of Modern Europe, more especially
of Great Britain, by_ H. Noel Humphreys: and we have been the more anxious
to do this, because, except among professed collectors, greater ignorance
probably exists on the subject of coins, their date, value, &c., than upon
any other subject with which educated people are supposed to possess some
acquaintance. Yet there are few numismatic questions likely to occur which
ordinary readers would not be enabled to solve by a reference to these two
little volumes, enriched as it is with numerous illustrations; especially
if they would place beside them Akerman's most useful _Numismatic Manual_.
We are indebted to Mr. Murray for two volumes which will be among the
pleasant additions to the cheap books of the month, namely, the new volume,
being the fourth of the reprint, of Lord Mahon's _History of England to the
Peace of Versailles_, which comprises the interval between the Peace of
Aix-la-Chapelle and that of Hubertsburg; and in the _Railway Reading_, for
half-a-crown! the fourth edition of Lockhart's spirited translations of
_Ancient Spanish Ballads, Historical and Romantic_. Thanks, Mr. Murray,
thanks!
That Mr. De la Motte, who is so well known as an accomplished draughtsman,
should turn his attention to photography, is no slight testimony to the
value of the art. That he has become a master in it, may be seen by one
glance at his own works on the walls of his Photographic Gallery. The
beginner may therefore receive with confidence the results of that
gentleman's experience; and _The Practice of Photography, a Manual for
Students and Amateurs_, just published by him, will {21} be found a most
useful and instructive companion to every one who is now contemplating an
excursion, armed with a camera, for the purpose of securing for the
gratification of his friends truthful records of his wanderings. Mr. De la
Motte wisely confines his instruction to the paper and glass processes; his
details on these are clear and minute, and the book is well worth the money
for those pages of it alone which are devoted to the "Chemicals used in
Photography."
BOOKS RECEIVED.--_On the Archaic Mode of expressing Numbers in English,
Saxon, Friesic, &c._, by E. Thomson, Esq.; a learned and ingenious tract,
written originally for insertion in "N. & Q.," but which fact ought not to
prevent our speaking of it in the terms which it deserves.--_A Few Words in
Reply to the Animadversions of the Rev. Mr. Dyce on Mr. Hunter's
"Disquisition on the Tempest," 1839, and his "New Illustrations of the
Life, Studies, and Writings of Shakspeare," 1845, &c._ A short but
interesting contribution to Shakspearian criticism, by one who has already
done good service in the same cause. If we cannot agree with Mr. Hunter in
all that he seeks to establish, we can admire his knowledge of Elizabethan
literature, and appreciate the spirit in which he writes.--_The Antiquary._
This is the first number of a small work consisting of reprints of
proclamations, curious advertisements from early newspapers, and such odd
matters as paint more forcibly than the gravest historian, the colours of
the times.
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