The collection of books described in the following Catalogue was at first intended to comprise only those which related to Proverbs. But I soon found that many books belonging to that class also belonged equally, or more strictly, to the class of Emblems, and Maxims or Apophthegms; my plan extended its limits; and the collection seemed naturally to divide itself into the three sections under which the Catalogue is now arranged.

In the first or Proverbial section the excellent Bibliographie Parémiologique of the late M. P. A. Gratet Duplessis (Paris, 1847, 8vo.) may find a convenient companion or supplement. The books or editions of books which have escaped the researches of M. Duplessis and which are about 115 in number, are indicated by a prefixed asterisk (*); those which have appeared since the publication of his work, and which number 64, are denoted by a dagger (†).

On the bibliography of Emblems I am not aware of the existence of any separate work. The notices of such books in the more esteemed Bibliographies are usually few and meagre. The essay by the Jesuit Menestrier, entitled Jugement des Autheurs qui ont écrit des Devises, and prefixed to his Philosophie des Images (Paris, 1682, 8vo.) is probably still the most complete account of this curious literature. The well known Catalogo dei libri d'Arte posseduti dal Conte Cicognara (Pisa, 1821, 2 vols. 8vo.) under the head of Emblemi e geroglifici (i. pp. 313-34), contains a considerable list of emblematical books, and the names of many of them may also be found in Die Devisen und Motto des späteren Mittelalters (Stuttgardt, 1850, 8vo.) by the late General von Radowitz. I think, however, that I may venture to say that the second section of this

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Catalogue contains a larger list of books of this kind than has yet been compiled.

The third section consists of books relating to Apophthegms, Epitaphs, and Ana, and some books of Epigrams and Fables, which perhaps do not strictly fall under any of these heads. Less interesting, because less full, than the other sections, it nevertheless contains some works which hitherto have either been neglected or inaccurately described by bibliographers.

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In compiling these pages, I have for the most part adhered to the rules laid down by Mr. Charles C. Jewett, Librarian of the Smithsonian Institution, in his useful work On the construction of Catalogues of Libraries (Washington, 1850, 8vo.) In designating the sizes of the books, I have, however, deviated somewhat from his instructions. His rule (x. p. 39) directs that, "in accordance with general usage, the fold of the sheet, as folio, quarto, octavo, when it can be ascertained, is to be stated. As an additional and more "exact designation of size, the height and breadth of the first full signature page, the folio and signature lines being omitted in the measurement, are to be stated in inches and tenths, the fractions being expressed decimally." To Mr. Jewett's plan, of which the chief object is to give of each book a catalogue-title, and description so accurate and precise that they may be used without alteration in every succeeding catalogue in which the work is to be entered, his rule is essential. But in a notice of a private collection it appeared to me that the size of the full page, thereby meaning the margins as well as the printed matter, might more usefully be given. The objection to the usual mode of denoting size by the fold of the sheet, is that sheets of the same fold differ so much in size, that describing a book as folio, quarto, or octavo, affords but very vague information as to its actual dimensions. Mr. Jewett's rule, though

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more satisfactory, is partially open to the same objection, on account of the differences which are found to exist between copies of the same work, in size of paper and breadth of margins. According to the rule I have followed, when the page of a book is described as being (5.4 x 3.5) it may be assumed that the back of the volume is two or three tenths of an inch taller, and the eye is at once guided to the shelf on which are deposited books between five and six inches high When a book is on large paper, or is an unusually tall copy, or has been closely cut in binding, the fact is mentioned.

The bindings are described with some abbreviations, which though easily understood, may be mentioned here. Thus

hf. brown mor. stands for half bound in brown morocco.

By the term Spanish morocco is to be understood the variegated Valencian goatskin (pellejo jaspeado); and by Tangier morocco, some leather of fine quality imported from thence by myself. The impression consists of seventy-five copies.

July 10th, 1860.

William Ferting