Kitabı oku: «Notes and Queries, Number 03, November 17, 1849», sayfa 5
NOTES ON AUTHORS AND BOOKS, NO. 1
THE "BIBLIOGRAPHIE BIOGRAPHIQUE."
A lover of literature, and aspiring to promote its extension and improvement, I sometimes form projects for the adoption of others—sensible, be it also said, of the extent of my own engagements with certain learned societies.
One of these projects has been a tabular view of the literary biography of the British Islands. In the midst of my reflections on the plans of Blair, Priestly, Playfair, Oberlin, Tytler, Jarry de Mancy, &c. I received a specimen of a Bibliographie biographique, by Edouard-Marie Oettinger, now in the press at Leipzic.
As books multiply, the inexpediency of attempting general bibliography becomes more and more apparent. Meritorious as are the works of Brunet and Ebert, and useful as they may be to collectors, they are inadequate to the wants of men of letters. Henceforth, the bibliographer who aims at completeness and accuracy must restrict himself to one class of books.
M. Oettinger appears to have acted on this principle, and has been happy in the choice of his subject—
"The proper study of mankind is man."
The work is comprehensive in its object, judicious in its plan, accurate in its details, as far as the specimen proceeds, and an unquestionable desideratum in literature.
Ainsi, vive M. Edouard-Marie Oettinger! Vive la Bibliographie biographique!
BOLTON CORNEY.
FORM OF PETITION
When a Petition ends with "Your Petitioner shall ever pray, &c." what form of words does the "&c." represent?
B.
QUERY AS TO NOTES—GREENE OF GREEN'S NORTON
Mr. Editor,—I congratulate you on your happy motto, but will you give your readers the results of your own experience and practice, and tell them the simplest mode of making Notes, and when made, how to arrange them so as to find them when required?
I have been in the habit of using slips of paper—the blank turn-overs of old-fashioned letters before note paper came into fashion—and arranging in subjects as well as I could; but many a note so made has often caused me a long hour's looking after: this ought not so to be; pigeon-holes or portfolios, numbered or lettered, seem to be indispensable.
Has any reader a Note whereby to tell who are the present representatives of Greenes of "Green's Norton?" or who was "Richard Greene, Apothecary," who was living 1770, and bore the arms of that family?
H.T.E.
[Our answer to our correspondent's first Query is, send your Notes to us, who will print and index them.—ED.]
BUSTS OF CHARLES I. AND JAMES I.—ANCIENT TAPESTRY
1. Where is now the bust of Charles I., formerly in Westminster Hall, and engraved by Peter Mazell, for Pennant's London, in which engraving the bust is attributed to Bernini, though Vertue thought differently? (See Dallaway's Walpole, 1826, ii. 109.)
2. Also, where is the correspondent bust of James I., formerly at Whitehall, of which there is an engraving by N. Smith?
3. What has become of the tapestry of the reign of Henry VI. which formerly adorned the Painted Chamber in the ancient Palace of Westminster? It appears that it remained in one of the lower apartments from the time when it was taken down in 1800 until the year 1810; that it was then sold to Charles Yarnold, Esq., of Great Helen's, Bishopsgate Street, for 10l. After his death in 1825, in the auction of his collection at Southgate's (June 11. that year, lot 238), it was sold as "Seven pieces representing the Siege of Troy, for 7l. to Mr. Matheman." Who was Mr. Matheman? and what has now become of his acquisition?
Another piece of tapestry in Mr. Yarnold's possession, but it may be presumed in far better condition, was bought by Mr. Teschmaker, his executor, for 63l. This was described as "The Plantagenet Tapestry, in fine preservation, containing 23 full-sized portraits of the different branches of the Houses of York and Lancaster: among the most prominent are Margaret of Anjou; Cicely, Duchess of York; the Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard III.; Edward of Lancaster, Henry VI.; Earl of March, son of Richard (Duke of York and) afterwards Edward IV.; Henry VII.; Clarence [?] Duke of York," &c. This description raises one's curiosity greatly, and query, has this tapestry been elsewhere described? At the meeting of the Archæological Association at Warwick in 1847, it was supposed to have come from St. Mary's Hall, Coventry; but that idea seems to have arisen merely from its similarity of design to the tapestry which is now there.
N.
ORIGIN OF EPITHET "FACTOTUM."
Sir,—The following expression in Cavendish's Life of Wolsey, p. 42.—"He was Dominus fac totum with the king"—seems to point us to some ecclesiastical origin for the derivation of our familiar word "factotum." Does any one know the precise whereabouts of such a phrase in the Ancient Service books?
C.F.S.
INSCRIPTION ON ANCIENT ALMS-BASINS
Mr. Editor,—In the parish church in which I officiate are preserved four ancient and curious alms-basins, of latten; They appear to be of Flemish workmanship, and, from inventories of the church goods, made at different times, we may gather that they were given for their present use during the seventeenth century. They represent:—1. The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian; 2. The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin; 3. The Temptation in Eden; and 4. The Spies bearing the Grapes. Around each of these subjects is a legend in foreign characters, "DER. INFRID. GEHWART." I have submitted this inscription to antiquaries and German scholars in vain; it still remains a puzzle. It has been suggested that it may have been only an arbitrary mark of the maker. Is this probable? If not, will you, or one of your readers, give the interpretation to
CLERICUS?
Nov. 8, 1849.
[We have much pleasure in inserting the foregoing QUERY, and trust that many of our correspondents will follow the example of Clericus, by furnishing us with copies of the inscriptions on any ancient church plate in their possession, or which may come under their notice. A comparison of examples will often serve to remove such difficulties as the present, which perhaps may be read DERIN FRID GEHWART, "Therein Peace approved;" Gewären being used in the sense of Bewähren, authority for which may be found in Wackernagel.]
NOTES OF BOOK SALES—CATALOGUES, ETC
It is our purpose from time to time to call the attention of our book-buying friends to the approaching sales of any collections which may seem to us to deserve their attention; and to any catalogues which may reach us containing books of great rarity and curiosity. Had we entertained no such intention we should have shown our respect for the memory of that intelligent, obliging, and honourable member of the bookselling profession (to whom a literary man rarely addressed a QUERY, without receiving in reply a NOTE of information worth preserving), the late Mr. Thomas Rodd, by announcing that the sale of the first portion of his extensive and valuable stock of books will commence on Monday next, the 19th instant, and occupy the remainder of that week.
The following Lots are among the specimens of the rarities contained in this portion of Mr. Rodd's curious stock:—
189 ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, Orders, Declarations, Proclamations, &c. 1657 to 1660, the original Papers and Broadsides collected and bound in 1 vol. calf 1657-60
*** This very important volume contains the Acts, &c. during the period intervening between Scobell's Collection and the recognized Statutes of Charles II. As the laws during this period have never been collected into a regular edition, a series of them is of the greatest rarity.
194 ÆSOP, FABLES, TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH WILLIAM CAXTON, curious wood engravings black letter, VERY RARE, imperfect, old russia EMPRYNTED BY RICHARD PYNSON (NO DATE)
*** This edition is altogether unknown and undescribed. The present copy commences with signature C1, and extends to sig. S(v) in sixes, on the reverse of which is the colophon, with Pynson's device underneath. It wants sheets A and B, and E (iiii).
380 Cellii (E.) Eques Auratus Anglo-Wirtembergieus; id est, actus admodum Solennis; quo Jacobus Rex Angliæ, &c. Regii Garteriorum supremus ac Frid. Ducem Wirtembergicum, per Rob. Spencer Barnoem declaravit, portrait woodcut Tubing. 1605
*** This was Sir Wm. Dethick's copy, Garter King at Arms, who accompanied Lord Spencer in his journey; in it he has written some very curious circumstances respecting the journey, and of the ill-treatment he experienced from Sir Rob. Spencer and Wm. Seager, "a poore paynter, sonne of a base fleminge and spawne of a Jew," with an account of the family of Dethick, or De Dyk, of Derbyshire and Staffordshire.
475 CHRISTINE OF PISA. THE FAYT OF ARMES AND OF CHYVALRYE black letter, one leaf inlaid and three or four beautifully fac-similed, otherwise a fine and perfect copy, russia extra, gilt leaves, by C. Lewis WESTMESTRE, PER CAXTON, MCCCCLXXXIX
*** This work consists of 139 leaves, exclusive of the table, occupying two leaves. The Colophon of the Printer is one of great interest, filling the two last pages. It thus commences:—"Thur endeth this boke, whiche xpyne of pyse made drewe out of the boke named Vegecius de re militari and out of tharbre of bataylles wyth many other thynges sett in to the same requisite to werre and batailles, which boke beyng in Frenshe was delyvered to me Willm Caxton by the most crysten kinge and sedoubted prynce, my naturel and souvrayn Lord Kyng Henry the VII, Kyng of England and of France, in his Palais of Westmestre, the 23 day of Janyuere, the III of his regne, and desire and wylsed me to translate this said boke and reduce it into our enlish natural tonge and to put it in enprynte, &c."
522 ENGLAND:—Copy of a Letter written by a Spanish Gentleman to his Friend in England in refutation of sundry Calumnies there falsely bruited among the People, 1589—An Advertisement written to a Secretarie of my Lord Treasurer of Ingland by an Inglish Intelligencer as he passed through Germanie towards Italie; also a Letter written by the Lord Treasurer, 1592.
*** Two very rare and curious historical pieces, written by a zealous Catholic in defence of Philip II.
944 Neumayr van Ramszla (J.W.) Johann fursten des Jungern Hertzogen zu Sachsen, Reise in Franckreich Engelland und Nederland, port. and plates russia extra, gilt leaves Lips. 1620
*** The volume contains accounts of many of the pictures and curiosities in the royal palaces of Westminster, St. James, &c.
On the following Monday will commence the sale of the theological portion of his collection, which will occupy eight days, and conclude on the 4th of December. The sales are entrusted to the management of Messrs. S. Leigh Sotheby & Co. of Wellington Street.
We have also received from Mr. Asher of Berlin, a copy of the Bibliotheca Tieckiana—the sale catalogue of the library of Ludwig Tieck, the distinguished German poet, novelist, and critic. The sale will commence at Berlin on the 10th December, with the English portion of the library, which besides the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th folios, is particularly rich in works illustrative of Shakespeare, and of translations of various portions of our great dramatist's writings. The following lot, comprising an edition, we believe, not very generally known, and containing the manuscript notes and comments of so profound a critic as Ludwig Tieck, ought to find an English purchaser.
2152 THE PLAYS OF W. SHAKSPEARE, with the Corrections and Illustrations of various Commentators, to which are added Notes by Johnson and Steevens. 23 vols. gr. in 8vo. Basil 1800-1802
"Exemplaire unique et de la plus grande importance, contenant des notes sans nombre de la main de M. Tieck. Ces notes renferment les fruits d'une étude de plus de 40 ans sur le grand poète, par son plus grand traducteur et commentateur, et forment le texte du grand ouvrage sur Shakspeare, promis depuis si longtemps."
One of the most curious articles in this catalogue, copies of which may be obtained from the London Agent for the sale, Mr. Nutt, of the Strand, is No. 1965, a copy of Lilly's Sixe Court Comedies, which had belonged to Oliver Cromwell, and appears to contain his autograph.
There are few literary men who have not, in the course of some one or other of their inquiries, experienced the difficulty there is in procuring copies of pamphlets which being for the most part originally published for purposes of temporary interest, are rarely preserved by binding, and consequently when afterwards wanted become extremely difficult of attainment. We all remember the valuable Catalogue published many years since by Mr. Rodd, of Newport Street, the father of Mr. Thomas Rodd, and have often regretted the loss of our copy of that extensive collection; and we record now for the information of our readers the publication by Mr. Russell Smith, of 4. Old Compton Street, of Part I. of a Catalogue of a singular and unique collection of 25,000 ancient and modern Tracts and Pamphlets: containing I. Biography, Literary History, and Criticism; II. Trials, Civil and Criminal; III. Bibliography and Typography; IV. Heraldry and Family History; V. Archæology; VI. Architecture, Painting, and Sculpture; VII. Music; VIII. Metaphysics.
