The Book-Hunter at Home Part 21

[Sidenote: Gardens.]

28. What book-lover does not love a garden? 'G.o.d first planted a garden: and indeed it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man,' wrote Bacon. Whether it be the tranquil beauty of an old-world pleasaunce or the peaceful occupation of gardening that appeals to the temperament of the bibliophile, certain it is that the book-lover is invariably a lover of the garden also. To him the very mention of stone moss-grown walks, a sundial, roses, and green lawn conjures up a vision of delight. To talk of those who wrote of gardens would be to mention the literature of all time; for gardens are as old as the human race. Indeed, 'Gardens were before gardeners, and but some hours after the Earth,' says Sir Thomas Browne in that most delightful of discourses, 'The Garden of Cyrus.' A History of Gardening in England has been compiled by the Hon. Miss Alicia Amherst; a second edition was published in 1896, and an enlarged edition in 1910. Hazlitt's 'Gleanings in Old Garden Literature' (which contains a bibliography) appeared in 1887. The famous library of old gardening literature, said to be the most complete and extensive of its kind, ama.s.sed by M. Krelage, a bulb merchant of Haarlem, has recently been incorporated in the State Agricultural Library of Wageningen, Holland.[82]

[Sidenote: Heraldry, &c.]

29. Heraldry is the next subject which claims our attention; and under this head we will include all those works which treat of La Chevalerie and n.o.blesse, the Orders of Knighthood, the Templars and Hospitallers, the Crusades, Peerages, Genealogical Works, Family Histories, books on Parliament and Ceremonies, Pomps, Festivals, Pageants, Processions, works on Bra.s.ses and Seals, as well as those which treat of the science of Blazon proper. Here, at all events, is a variety of sub-headings.

The first English bibliography of works upon this subject which our book-hunter has come across so far is a thin quarto volume ent.i.tled 'Catalogus plerumque omnium Authorum qui de Re Heraldica scripserunt,' by Thomas Gore, and it appeared first in 1668. A second edition was published in 1674: both are now very scarce. This work contains a list of writers, both English and foreign, upon Chivalry, n.o.bility, and such kindred subjects. But a quarto volume, which appeared in 1650, ent.i.tled 'The Art of Making Devises,' translated by T. B[lount] from the French of H. Estienne, contains, in the preliminary matter, a list of writers on n.o.bility. Dallaway's 'Inquiries into the Origin and Progress of the Science of Heraldry in England,' large quarto, Gloucester, 1793, contains a list of English heraldic writers, with their works; and Sir Egerton Brydges published a more copious list in the third volume of his 'Censura Literaria.' Moule's 'Bibliotheca Heraldica Magnae Britanniae' appeared in 1822, a large octavo. He gives descriptions of 817 English works on Heraldry, Genealogy, Regal Descents and Successions, Coronations, Royal Progresses and Visits, the Laws and Privileges of Honour, t.i.tles of Honour, Precedency, Peerage Cases, Orders of Knighthood, Baptismal, Nuptial, and Funeral Ceremonies, and Chivalry generally. At the end is a short list of 211 foreign writers upon these subjects--out of many thousands. There is an interleaved copy, containing many additions, in the British Museum.

More recently Mr. G. Gatfield has put forth a valuable work, ent.i.tled 'A Guide to Printed Books and Ma.n.u.scripts relating to English and Foreign Heraldry and Genealogy,' an octavo volume of which a limited edition was printed in 1892. Guigard's 'Bibliotheque Heraldique de la France'

appeared at Paris in 1861. It has a useful bibliography of French books upon all the subjects chosen by Moule. The Henry Bradshaw Society also has published rare Coronation tracts and Coronation service books.

Few cla.s.ses in our list contain more sumptuous volumes than those comprised under this heading. In our own tongue we have Anstis' and Ashmole's handsome folios on the Garter, the latter with its beautiful folding plates; Jaggard's edition (1623) of Favyn's 'Theatre d'Honneur et de Chevalerie' by an unknown translator, Sandford's 'Genealogical History of the Kings and Queens of England' (Stebbing's edition, 1707, please), Milles' 'Catalogue of Honor or Treasury of the n.o.bility peculiar and proper to the Isle of Great Britaine,' not forgetting Gwillim (the sixth edition, 1724) and, of course, Master Nicholas Upton. All these are handsome folios with copperplate engravings.

The French books on n.o.blesse are equally sumptuous. 'Le Vray Theatre d'Honneur et de Chevalerie ou le Miroir Heroique de la n.o.blesse,' by Marc de Vulson, Sieur de la Colombiere, appeared at Paris in two folio volumes in 1648. It is a magnificent book, and a cla.s.sic in this department of literature. The same author's 'La Science Heroique' was published first, also in folio at Paris, in 1644; but in 1669 a second edition, considerably augmented, was put forth. Of the author I find nothing further memorable than that, having surprised his wife with a gallant, he slew them both, and then took a post-chaise to Paris to solicit the King's pardon, which he immediately obtained. There are many other equally fine works in French, but it were tedious to catalogue them here. Two handsome volumes on jousting and tournaments have recently been put forth. 'The History of the Tournament in England and France,' by Mr.

F. H. Cripps-Day, was issued by Quaritch in 1919, whilst 'The Tournament: its Periods and Phases,' by Mr. R. C. Clephan, was published the same year.

Books on seals are much less numerous, though none the less ornate; for engravings are practically essential here. They are, generally, scarce; for the circle of readers to which such volumes appeal can never have been a wide one; so it is improbable that large impressions of any of them were printed. The 'Sigilla Comitum Flandriae' of Oliver Vredius, a small folio, with nearly three hundred engravings of mediaeval seals, was printed first at Bruges in 1639. It is a beautiful volume, the seals being drawn to scale and exquisitely engraved by four Bruges engravers--Samuel Lommelin, Adrian his son, Francis Schelhaver, and Francis his son. Unfortunately the plates became worn after printing off a few copies (especially those on pages 138, 213, 246), and the early impressions are much to be preferred. A good test is to turn to the engraved genealogical tree on the recto of leaf Cc6. In the later-printed copies the foot of this engraving is most indistinct. A French translation appeared at Bruges in 1643.

Two of the scarcest English books upon seals were compiled by clergymen.

The first, a thin quarto of 31 pages, is ent.i.tled 'A Dissertation upon the Antiquity and Use of Seals in England. Collected by * * * * 1736,'

and was printed for William Mount and Thomas Page on Tower Hill in 1740.

Its author was the Rev. John Lewis, a former curate at Margate, who died in 1746. There is an engraved frontispiece of seals, and several copperplates in the text. It is very, very scarce, and it was some years before our book-hunter succeeded in obtaining a copy. The other authority was the Rev. George Henry Dashwood, of Stowe Bardolph. From his private press he produced, in 1847, a quarto volume consisting of fourteen engraved plates (by W. Taylor) of seals, with descriptions opposite. It is ent.i.tled 'Engravings from Ancient Seals attached to Deeds and Charters in the Muniment Room of Sir Thomas Hare, Baronet, of Stowe Bardolph,' and is common enough. Copies on large paper are not infrequent. But in 1862 a 'second series' appeared. This consists of eight plates and descriptions, and at the end are two leaves of notes to both series. Our book-hunter has not yet come across a duplicate (even in the British Museum or at the Antiquaries) of this second volume, which he was so fortunate as to find a week after receiving the first.

A publication containing a fine collection of armorial seals was produced at Brussels between 1897 and 1903. It was published in fifteen parts, large octavo, and is ent.i.tled 'Sceaux Armoiries des Pays-bas et des Pays avoisinants.' Lechaude-d'Anisy's 'Recueil des Sceaux Normands,' an oblong quarto which appeared at Caen in 1834, is another of these handsome books; but we have already lingered too long over this fascinating heading.

[Sidenote: History.]

30. History is a somewhat wide subject, for it comprises descriptions of any epoch or sequence of events in the existence of anything! We can read histories of the Glacial Age or of Charles II, of the Quakers or Tasmania, of the life of a cabbage or the Crimean War. Even a dissertation on the development of the inkpot would be deemed history nowadays. For the present, however, we will confine ourselves to that branch of it which treats of the human element, nations and communities, and events in their development. We must include travels, politics, diaries, memoirs, and biographies, for all of these are indispensable adjuncts. The voyages of Columbus, the Greville Papers, the Memoirs of Fezensac, and the Paston Letters are no less history than Freeman's 'Norman Conquest,' Froude's 'Armada,' or Napier's 'Peninsular War.' It is a student's subject, and as rational a branch of book-collecting as there be. The collecting of early editions of the chroniclers, English or foreign, is an interesting by-way. The series of British Chronicles issued under the direction of the Master of the Rolls is a fairly complete one, and the works of many other early historians have been published from time to time by the learned societies. A lengthy list of bibliographies is given in Mr. Courtney's work, and there are useful bibliographies at the end of each volume of the 'Cambridge Modern History.'

Under this heading we will include 'Events'; such as the Armada, the Great Fire of London, the Gordon Riots, the '45, but not, I think, the French Revolution or the Napoleonic Era, the literatures of which are of such magnitude as to demand separate headings. There are collections of books on all these subjects and many similar ones which fall naturally under the heading 'History.'

[Sidenote: Husbandry.]

31. The word 'husbandry' has an old-world flavour now: the cla.s.sical 'agriculture' is preferred. It is a change, however, that we bookworms and curious antiquaries in nowise relish. The old English or Scandinavian term which came to us from our forefathers is more seemly to our mind than the modern Latin importation. Nowadays any word is better than one drawn from our old English tongue. We may not speak of anything so indelicate as a belly, but we can mention an abdomen in the politest society. Provided we denote them by their Latin or Greek names, we may even mention any parts of our viscera (I may not say bowels) without raising a blush. Mention them in English, and we are at once boors and churls. But the husbandman's occupation has changed with the language.

Originally he was merely a hus-bondi, or house-inhabitor, though probably he had more to do with agriculture than the farmer who ousted him. The 'fermor' farmed or rented certain land from his overlord, making what he could out of the tenants on it. And in time even the word 'farmer' will pa.s.s out of use. Just as the charwoman to-day insists upon a fict.i.tious gentility, so in years to come the farmer will denote himself an agriculturist, possibly with the epithet 'scientific.' We no longer talk of villeins and carles; both have become sadly perverted in their meaning, although the dictionary still allows the latter to mean 'a strong man.' But, it hastens to add, vindictively, 'generally an old or a rude-mannered one.' So is our language changing.

They are quaint volumes, the older treatises on husbandry, and for the most part they contain an extraordinary medley of information. There is a charm about their t.i.tles and language that few other cla.s.ses of books possess. Poultry, we know, can be obstinate wildfowl, but who nowadays would write of their 'husbandlye ordring and governmente'? Such was the t.i.tle of Mascall's work put forth in 1581. Pynson printed an interesting book on estate management in 1523 for, probably, John Fitzherbert: 'Here begynneth a ryght frutefull mater; and hath to name the boke of surveying and improuvements.' It is full of curious conceits, even concerning the good housewife who, says Gervase Markham in his 'Country Contentments,'

'must bee cleanly both in body and garments, she must have a quicke eye, a curious nose, a perfect taste, and ready eare.' But these volumes are not easy to find, even though the book-hunter's nose be as curious as a housewife's, and, when perfect, are of considerable value. Tusser's curious rhyming 'Hundred good pointes of husbandrie,' enlarged later to 'Five Hundred Pointes,' is perhaps the commonest of these earlier works.

Between 1557 and 1599 it went through eight editions, though the first is known only by the unique copy in the British Museum. A useful list of writers upon agricultural subjects from 1200 to 1800 appeared in 1908. It is by Mr. D. McDonald.

[Sidenote: Ill.u.s.trated Books.]

32. Ill.u.s.trated Books and Books of Engravings might perhaps have been included as a sub-heading to 'the Fine Arts'; but they form a distinct cla.s.s and so frequently engage the attention of specialists, that our book-hunter has thought fit to put them in a cla.s.s by themselves. Some will have only those volumes ill.u.s.trated by one of the Cruikshank brothers, others prefer Blake's or Bewick's designs, and so on. Some again cleave to the volumes ill.u.s.trated by Paul Avril or Adolf Lalauze, Kate Greenaway or Randolph Caldecott. With regard to the early book-ill.u.s.trators, several text-books that will be useful to those who specialise in this subject have been mentioned in the chapter dealing with the Books of the Collector. An excellent conspectus of book ill.u.s.tration, from the earliest times to the present day, is contained in the fifth chapter of 'The Book: its History and Development,' by Mr.

Cyril Davenport (octavo, 1907). At the end is a useful list of English and foreign works on book-ill.u.s.tration and its various methods. 'A Descriptive Bibliography of Books in English relating to Engraving and the Collection of Prints' by Mr. Howard C. Levis, was put forth in 1912.

[Sidenote: Legal.]

33. Law need not detain us. Its literature has not merely kept pace with, but has far outstripped, the growth of English Law; and it extends back at least to the 'Tractatus de Legibus' of Ranulf de Glanville, the great Justiciar under Henry II. The collector of ancient law books will probably be a member of one of the four great London seats of law, or at least have access to their famous libraries; there are printed catalogues of all of them. The Advocates' Library at Edinburgh, too, possesses a magnificent collection of ancient law books. A catalogue of it was published by David Irving in 1831, and more recently in seven quarto volumes, 1867 to 1879. If you collect old French 'coutumiers,' Cooper's 'Catalogue of Books on the Laws and Jurisprudence of France' may be useful to you. It was printed in octavo, 1849.

[Sidenote: Liturgies.]

34. The collection of Liturgies is a subject that usually goes hand in hand with the collection of Bibles and theological works. But it is for all that a distinct subject, and may well engage the undivided attention of the collector. 'A New History of the Book of Common Prayer,' by Messrs. Proctor and Frere, is perhaps at present the standard work upon the history of our English prayer book. The latest edition is dated 1914, and it is published by the house of Macmillan. The Rev. W. H. J. Weale's 'Bibliographia Liturgica, Catalogus Missalium, Ritus Latini ab anno 1475 impressorum' appeared in 1886. The Henry Bradshaw Society was founded in 1890 for the publication of rare liturgical tracts; whilst Maskell's 'Ancient Liturgy of the Church of England' (third edition, octavo, 1882) contains a collection of the service books in use in England before the Reformation.

[Sidenote: Locally-printed Books.]

35. Locally-printed books is a heading of considerable interest from the bibliographical point of view. The term is a wide one, for the volumes it includes range from those printed in a particular country to those produced in an individual town. Has anyone yet attempted to form a collection of books printed in Barbadoes or Java, in Donegal or Dover?

Probably; but I am unaware of any attempts at bibliographies. With the growth of the public library in every town of importance throughout the kingdom, there are increasing opportunities for valuable work in this direction; and every year should see the issue of bibliographies by those inst.i.tutions, works which would contain not merely a list of books printed in each particular town, but a history of printing in that place.

Mr. Falconer Madan's 'Oxford Books' may well serve as a model for such works. It was published in two octavo volumes at Oxford in 1895 and 1912 respectively, the first volume being concerned with the productions of the early presses of that town. There are useful lists of books which issued from the early presses of Scotland by Mr. H. G. Aldis, and Ireland by Mr. E. R. McC. Dix. 'The Annals of Scottish Printing,' a large quarto by R. d.i.c.kson and J. P. Edmond, was printed at Cambridge in 1890. A model for the county bibliography is the 'Bibliotheca Cornubiensis' of Messrs.

G. C. Boase and W. P. Courtney, produced in three octavo volumes, between 1874 and 1882; and there are accounts of the early presses in several English counties, as well as at Cambridge, York, Birmingham and other important towns. But a considerable amount of work has still to be done in this direction. A valuable little book appeared in 1912 issued by the Cambridge University Press. It is ent.i.tled 'The English Provincial Printers, Stationers, and Bookbinders, to 1557,' and is by Mr. E. Gordon Duff. There are accounts of the early presses at Oxford, St. Albans, Hereford, Exeter, York, Cambridge, Tavistock, Abingdon, Ipswich, Worcester and Canterbury; and it is a volume that should find a place on the shelf of every bibliophile.

There is an interesting byway in connection with this heading: the collection of English books printed abroad. Is there anywhere a collection of books in the English tongue printed at Paris? One constantly comes across such volumes, especially those issued during the first half of the nineteenth century. After that time, Bernhard Tauchnitz of Leipzig appears to have gathered into his hands the trade of English books printed abroad. Recently our book-hunter came across a curious example of these peregrine volumes. It is a narrow octavo of some three hundred pages, ent.i.tled 'An Introduction to the Field Sports of France,'

and was printed by Auguste Lemaire at St. Omer (Pas de Calais) in 1846.

At the end is the following note: 'The reader will make due allowance for any misprints he may discover, when apprised that the printer knows nothing of the english language, and they chiefly occur in the commencement of the work.' Evidently M. Lemaire warmed to his task as he went on. But the 'Dame of our Ladie of Comfort of the Order of S. Bennett in Cambray' who translated St. Francis de Sales' 'Delicious Entertainment of the Soule' was even more modest. Her version was printed at Douai by Gheerart Pinson in 1632, and apparently neither printer nor translator was very proud of the work, for in the 'Apology for Errors' we are told that 'the printer was a Wallon who understood nothing at all English, and the translatresse a woman that had not much skille in the French.' Still, imperfect though typography and translation be, between them they produced a book that is eagerly sought by collectors to-day.

This is a topic, however, that is full of pitfalls. Hundreds of European-printed books now bear Asiatic imprints; thousands of seventeenth and eighteenth century works printed at Paris bear the imprint of The Hague or some other Dutch town. Our English publishers have not been innocent of this charge either. Many a volume printed in Holland and Germany bears the London imprint. The original edition of Burton's translation of the 'Arabian Nights,' issued by him in London, claims to have been produced at Benares.[83]

[Sidenote: Mathematical and Early Scientific.]

36. 'The seconde parte of the catalogue of English printed bookes' for sale by Andrew Maunsell in 1595, concerned, we are told, 'the sciences mathematicall, as arithmetick, geometrie, astronomie, astrologie, musick, the arte of warre, and navigation.' But it is not my intention to include musick and the arte of warre here, this heading comprising those works which deal with mathematics and physics only, with their dependent subjects, such as (in addition to those mentioned by Master Maunsell) geodesy, mensuration of all kinds, meteorology, seismography, and books on chance and probabilities.

Sir Henry Billingsley's edition of Euclid's 'Elements' (1570) is naturally a rare book, as is John Blagrave's 'Mathematical Jewel,' a folio issued in 1585. It is one of the earliest English books upon mathematics. Blagrave[84] was the author of a number of works on Geometry, Navigation, Dialling, etc.

For a history of mathematics you must turn to the four quarto volumes of that ingenious Frenchman, M. Jean Etienne Montucla. This work, the 'Histoire de Mathematiques,' first appeared in two volumes in 1758; but the author devoted the later years of his life to enlarging it and the new edition was published at Paris in 1799. It was reprinted in 1810.

This mathematician is said to have written a treatise on squaring the circle, but our book-hunter has not yet come across a copy. 'A History of Ancient Astronomy' appeared at Paris (quarto) in 1775: it was by that great man who presided over the memorable a.s.sembly at the Tennis Court on the 20th June 1789, Jean Sylvain Bailly. Four years later he produced a history of Modern Astronomy from the foundation of the Alexandrian School to 1730 (three vols. quarto, Paris, 1779-82): and in 1787 came the History of Indian and Oriental Astronomy from the same pen. All these contain interesting details of the origin and progress of astronomical science, with the lives, writings, and discoveries of astronomers. With regard to our own great mathematician, Sir Isaac Newton, a bibliography of his works has been published by Mr. G. J. Gray; the second edition appeared at Cambridge in 1907.

Mr. D. E. Smith's 'Rara Arithmetica,' a catalogue of arithmetical works which appeared prior to the year 1601, was printed, in a limited edition, at Boston (United States) in 1908. It is a sumptuously produced work in two large octavo volumes, copiously ill.u.s.trated. Professor de Morgan's 'Arithmetical Books from the Invention of Printing to the Present Time'

contains brief notices of a large number of works 'drawn up from actual inspection.' It was published--a thin octavo of 124 pages--in 1847, and the books are arranged chronologically; but there is an index of authors.

[Sidenote: Medical.]

37. The collection of early medical books is a hobby that must appeal chiefly to the chirurgeon. Its sub-headings are not numerous, and each comprises volumes of considerable bibliographical interest. There are curious books on 'poysons' as well as upon the commoner branches of surgery, and there are glorious editions of all the ancient aesculapians, such as Hippocrates, Dioscorides, Galen, and Avicenna. Herbals are doubtless collected by many who are not possessed of medical knowledge, and a number of them treat more of simples and housewifery than leechcraft, which is probably one reason of their attraction for the non-medical collector. But as these volumes in general are so inextricably bound up with the science of healing, I have thought fit to include them here. There is no denying that the fascination of these curious volumes, often (as in Fuch's magnificent tome) containing woodcuts that are a sheer delight to the bibliographer no less than to the botanist, is a strong one.

It is a moot point whether works on Early Chemistry or Alchemy should be included here or under the heading 'Occult,' seeing that they usually centre about the Elixir of Life and the Philosopher's Stone. Perhaps they would be cla.s.sed more accurately with Early Scientific. But for the purposes of our list I have reserved that heading for those books which treat of mathematics and physics only. With the early works upon astrology we need not concern ourselves here: they have more to do with divination and horoscopes than the craft of healing, so their appeal is chiefly to the student of the occult. It is impossible, however, to cla.s.sify under one heading all those early works which treat of the beginnings of scientific knowledge. The star-gazer, the herbalist, the necromancer, and the leech, must be content to share among themselves a cla.s.s of books which deals generally with the search into the Great Unknown.

A useful catalogue of books on Alchemy was printed in two large quarto volumes at Glasgow in 1906. It is by Professor John Ferguson, and is ent.i.tled 'Bibliotheca Chemica,' being a list of the hermetic books in the library of Mr. James Young. The three volumes ent.i.tled 'Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England' by the Rev. Oswald c.o.c.kayne, published in the 'Rolls' series, 1864-66, contain a valuable contribution to the early medical science of this country. Dr. J. F. Payne's 'English Medicine in the Anglo-Saxon Times' (the Fitz-Patrick Lectures for 1903) is for the most part a dissertation on that work.

Some of the prescriptions of these early leeches are rather quaint. 'If a man's head burst ... let him take roots of this same wort, and bind them on his neck. Then cometh to him good benefit.' The following is an excellent remedy for toothache: 'Sing this for toothache after the sun hath gone down--"Caio Laio quaque voaque ofer saeloficia sleah manna wyrm." Then name the man and his father, then say: "Lilimenne, it acheth beyond everything; when it lieth low it cooleth; when on earth it burneth hottest; finit. Amen."' If after this the tooth still continues to ache beyond everything, it is evident that there is a wyrm in it. For stomach-ache, you must press the left thumb upon the stomach and say 'Adam bedam alam betar alam botum.' This is infallible.

Collections of medical authors began at an early date. Van der Linden's 'De Scriptis Medicis, libri duo' appeared first at Amsterdam in 1637, octavo--a valuable list of authors and the editions of their works. But it was reprinted with additions several times during the author's lifetime (he died in 1664); and in 1686 appeared at Nurnberg as a thick quarto ent.i.tled 'Lindenius Renovatus.' Dr. E. T. Withington's 'Medical History from the Earliest Times,' octavo, 1894, is useful for reference; whilst Dr. Norman Moore has recently produced (Oxford, 1908) a 'History of the Study of Medicine in the British Isles.' Dr. E. J. Waring's 'Bibliotheca Therapeutica' was published in two octavo volumes by the New Sydenham Society in 1878-79. It is a list of the books which have been written on each individual drug, cla.s.ses of medicines, and general therapeutics. There is an index of authors. The first volume of Albrecht von Haller's 'Bibliotheca Anatomica' was published at London 'in vico vulgo dicto The Strand' in 1774; the second volume at Zurich in 1777.

Both are in quarto, and are biographical as well as bibliographical. The same author published a 'Bibliotheca Chirurgica' and a 'Bibliotheca Medicinae Practicae' at Berne and Basel between 1774 and 1788. His 'Bibliotheca Botanica,' two quarto volumes, appeared at Zurich in 1771-72. For other writers upon Botany you must consult Curtius Sprengel's 'Historia Rei Herbariae,' two octavo volumes which appeared at Amsterdam in 1807 and 1808. 'A Guide to the Literature of Botany' by B.

D. Jackson was issued by the Index Society in 1881. Jean Jacques Manget, a Geneva physician who died in 1742 at the age of ninety-one, was another voluminous compiler of bibliographies upon medical subjects.

[Sidenote: Military.]

38. Under the heading 'Military' are included not only historical accounts of military operations but those works which treat of the military art and the progress of its development. Obviously it is a subject that is as old as mankind, and dissertations on drill with the stone battle-axe must find a place here. Many of the books on Arms and Armour (such as Sir Samuel Meyrick's beautiful folio volumes) are fine works, and some of the earlier publications on Castramentation and Siege operations are interesting. We must not forget to mention the beautiful little Elzevier 'Caesar' of 1536. It is a wide heading, for such books as the Commentaries of Blaise de Montluc and the Memoirs of Olivier de la Marche must be included, as they deal in large part with military operations. Books on Archery, Fencing, and Duelling are also comprised by this heading.