you, not only because I know nobody else to whom I can apply myself, but because I suppose you have had sufficient opportunities of informing yourself, and have not, possibly, wanted the curiosity.

"With this, I should also be extremely glad of an account of some of the most remarkable particulars relating to the Lives of some of our Ancestors; because reflexion upon their examples makes a deeper impression upon us than that of others; and it is from them that I had rather learn and practise what to do and what to let alone.

"This may perhaps be too great a task; but, in requital, I shall be always most ready and willing to serve you, Sir, or any Friend of yours, as far as I shall be able. But if, after all, this long Letter shall be judged by you, honored Sir, to be one continued piece of impertinence, and that you do not care to be disturbed by you know not whom, about matters of which you do not think yourself obliged to give any account, I humbly beg your pardon for my presumption, protesting that I had rather remain unsatisfied as long as I live, than by an unseasonable importunity extort an unwilling Letter to him, who shall always be, with great respect, and a sincere affection, Reverend Sir,

Your most faithful humble servant,

HUMFREY WANLEY. "Please to pardon the awkwardness of my direction to you, for I cannot get one more regular." 2. "To the honored Sir HANS SLOANE, at Gresham College in Bishopsgate-strect; present *.

SIR, Duke-street, York-buildings, May 6, 1707. "I remember that some time ago, I have heard you and several other gentlemen speak of Mr. Bagford's design of giving the world a new History of Printing, viz. of the Original of the Art, and of the Progress of it throughout Europe, &c. Since then,

* Mus. Brit, Bibl. Sloan. 4065. Plut. XXVIII. F. See vol, I. p.97.

I have seen Mr. Bagford's Collection, of which I thought an account would not be unacceptable to you; but, since my business will not presently permit me to wait on you in person, I take the liberty of sending this with my humble services to you.

"His Collection consists chiefly of title-pages, and other fragments, put together into books; many of them in some sort of order and method, and others not. Ex. gr.

"In one Volume, there are Specimens of Letters of all sorts, as well those used in foreign countreys as in England.

"In another, are Titles and Fragments of Almanacks, from A. D. 1537 downwards; with Titles of Bibles, Law-books, &c. printed by the Company of Stationers in London.

"In other Volumes, are the Titles of Books of all kinds printed by the London Printers, disposed into some sort of order; viz. as to the subject of the Book, or dwelling-place of the Printer.

"In others, are Title-pages of Books printed in Oxford and Cambridge.

"In others, Title-pages of those printed in Scotland and Ireland.

66

Title-pages and Frontispieces, with other Specimens of the Works of our English Engravers.

"Titles of Books printed by Roman-Catholicks, Presbyterians, Quakers, by other Sectaries, by Seditious Persons, &c.

"Cuts of Monuments, Tombs, Funerals, &c. in England.

"Cuts of the same in Foreign Parts, with Cuts of the manner of executing Criminals.

"Cuts, with some Drawings of Habits of divers Nations, of several Trades, of Utensils, Weapons, Fountains, or Wells, with other Prints useful in Joiners' and Masons' Work.

"Cuts of Figures in different postures, as writing, reading, meditation, with all the Utensils used in writing, &c. during some ages. Cuts of Schools. The Heads of some Arithmeticians; Alphabets;

Speci.

Specimens of Knot-work, and some Great-texl and other Letters. Specimens of Letter-graving. Heads of Writing-masters, Dutch, French, English. Specimens of Letters engraven in small; as also of short-hand, &c. Heads of short-hand Writers, and Specimens of their Works; and many other things.

Title-pages of Books, and Printers' Devices; printing in the Spanish Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal; Titles of Books published by English Catholicks, Alphabets of Plantine Letter, &c.

"Title-pages, Alphabets, and Printers' Devices; ased at Basil, Zurick, and other places in Switzer land.

"The like for the United Netherlands.

"The like for France.

"The like for Germany; with some others of Poland, Switzerland, Denmark, Bohemia, and France.

"The like for Italy; with some others of Geneva, Sicily, &c.

"Collection of Acts of Parliament, Ordonances, Proclamations, &c. regulating Printing; with many other Papers.

66

Proposals for printing particular Books.

"Catalogues of Books, relating to Painting, Printing, &c. Specimens of Paper differently coloured. Marks on the outsides of Reams of Paper; with Orders, Cases, Reasons, &c. relating to the Manufacturer.

"Old Prints or Cuts from A. D. 1467; with the Effigies and Devices of many Printers, foreigners and English; with other Cuts and Specimens of Paper, &c.

* Amongst these are, rebuses, many devices, marks, vignettes, and signs, used in England by the earliest Printers at the beginnings and ends of their books.-At the ends of Caxton's, W and C in capitals, between the figure of 7, with half the figure of 8, thus (8), which was used in those days for 4; and this was to denote that he did not begin to print before 1474.-Winken de Worde used Caxton's device, with the addition of the sign Sagittarius, and a greyhound supporting the Arabic figures of 7 and 4,

marked

"Collection of Epitaphs of the Printers in Basil; Life of John Froben; Catalogues of Books, &c.

"Collections relating to the Lives of the Engravers of divers countreys.

"Titles of Books printed in most parts of Europe before the year 1500.

"Collection of Patents for printing Law Books, &c. "Some German Cards.

"With many other Volumes of Collections of the kinds above mentioned, though not so well sorted.

"And these Title-pages of Books are really useful upon many accounts; viz. as being authentic and exact; whereas, in most Catalogues, the Titles are abbreviated, and otherways imperfect. Besides, these Titles informed me of many Books I had never heard of before; and from them I have been enabled to enquire for several Books, some of which I have since procured, to my great satisfaction. And it is my opinion, that there are but few curious men, but, upon the view of this Collection, will own they have met with many pieces, in their several ways, which they knew not of before. And thus we see, that a single leaf of paper, though not valuable in itself, when come to be part of a Collection, may be of good use many ways; as either in

marked ut supra, with W. C.; over that the sun and stars in chief; the Golden Sun being the sign he lived at in Fleet-street, and the cognisance and badge of the House of York, &c. This sign was continued by Whitchurch, and others who succeeded in the printing-house, &c. &c. R. PYNSON, HENRY PEPWELL, &c. "My friend Mr. John Barber made City Printer March 22, 1708-9. He was admitted to be Printer to the Honourable City of London; for which he then paid for fees twelve guineas to the Lord Mayor, and six to the Chamberlain. His fee is 61. a year, for two suits of cloth; the one for summer, the other for winter." Harl. MSS. 5910. Collect, de Arte Typograph. è Collectione Bagford, Pars III.

Much curious information may be collected from the very many curious papers and observations of Mr. John Conyers, an apothecary in Shoe-lane about the year 1673, concerning the Antiquities in and about London, among the Harl. Collectanea, 5953. Part 1. &c. and the MSS. Sloan. 954. in 4to, & passim. Dr. Calder, MS.

respect

respect of the matter it treats of, in respect of the mark of the paper, of the date, printer's name, country, title, faculty, &c.

"Mr. Bagford has also a very plentiful Collection of the Titles of Books remarkable and curious, which he has taken from the Books themselves. And when they are of such sorts as now are seldome to be seen complete, he has made such observations, as that the several Editions shall be certainly known, though your Book be imperfect at beginning and end.

"Mr. Bagford also says, that though his Collection is not put into exact order, that nevertheless his Book or History of Printing shall be drawn up with that regularity, as shall answer any Gentleman's desire and expectation.

"I hope you will excuse the trouble of this; and continue to believe that I am, most sincerely, Honored Sir,

Your most humble and most obliged servant, HUMFREY WANLEY."

3. To the Honorable THOMAS HARLEY, Esq. her Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary at the Court of Hanover; present *.

<6 HON. SIR,

April 27, 1714. "St. Origen, the most learned Father of the Christian Church (as some have styled him), who flourished A. D. 230, finding the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, as translated into the Greek tongue, to be very much corrupted, or at least one Version or Copy very discrepant from another, took much pains in restoring them to their primitive purity; and at the same time also did illustrate the same, by exhibiting the Hebrew Original, and the several Greek Versions, at one view, all written columnatim; which great Work, proving too chargeable and tedious for common transcription, is now almost utterly lost; nothing but certain citations from it being left.

Mus. Brit. Bibl. Harl. 7526. Plut. D.

"St.