in 1850 this magnificent Chronique de Normandie became the property of Ambrose Firmin Didot, who considered it the gem of his collection, and after the decease of that famous Bibliophile was on the 15th June, 1878, when sold by auction, purchased by a French firm for 53,000 francs, at which price, plus the commission, it passed into the hands of the late owner. A full account of this very valuable and important manuscript was printed at Bayeux in 1881 by the Comte de Toustain.

25009 HORÆ. On folio 27: Hore beatissime virginis Marie secundum vsum romane ecclesie, 18mo.

Illuminated MS. in 146 leaves of the finest and thinnest vellum; with 16 large and 3 small Miniatures, executed by a French painter; combining the excellencies of Italian and Flemish art, and displaying a mastery of minute design and harmonious colouring which is rarely to be found, blue morocco extra, doublé, in a blue morocco case, £120. Sec. XVI

This perfect gem was formerly in the library of the Rev. Theodore Williams, whose arms and cypher are impressed on the sides of the binding. From his hands it passed into those of M. Didot, at whose sale in 1879 I bought it. I sold it afterwards to another collector whose library has been dispersed this year, and the little volume is once more in my possession. It is one of the most beautiful specimens of calligraphic and ornamental art which I have ever seen. The artist has managed to blend the different characters of Flemish and Italian art, the careful and elaborate drawing of the former school and its bold use of gold being skilfully softened with the chromatic sweetness and delicacy of the latter. The effect is charming.

The subjects of the 16 larger miniatures are as follows:St. John in Patmos; Jesus made captive; the Annunciation of the Virgin; the Visit of St. Elizabeth; the Nativity; the Warning to the Shepherd's; the Adoration of the three Kings; the Presentation in the Temple; the Flight into Egypt; the Death of the Virgin; the Crucifixion; the Descent of the Holy Ghost; King David sending Uriah to the War; Lazarus recalled from the Dead; the Trinity; the Dead Christ on his mother's lap. The arms of the Hurault de Cheverni family are painted on the lower margins of three pages. This might have been on the occasion of the birth (in 1528) of the future Chancelier of France.

25010 BOAISTUAU (Pierre) surnommé Launay, HisTOIRES PRODIGIEUSES, sm. 4to. beautifully written MS., THE AUTHOR'S DEDICATION COPY TO QUEEN ELIZABETH, with 42 fine Miniatures, coloured and illuminated, and 33 small illuminated initials, in the

original (rebacked) English calf gilt binding, gilt and goffered edges, £80.

1559-60

The illustrations are drawn by a bold and skilful hand, the landscape accessories are admirable, and the illumination (which means that the lights and reflections are produced by the use of gold and silver) most effectively worked out. The designs of the pictures and the character of the handwriting are unmistakably English, and prove consequently that when Boaistuau came to London in 1559 to present his book to the English Queen, he did not bring with him an illuminated copy done in France, but only his own draught MS. from which he employed an English penman and an English artist to execute the necessary labour. The result was this fine book-a royal volume, which forms a treasury of English art in the early years of Elizabeth. Unluckily the title and the last page of the preface have been torn out, but the book is otherwise in perfect and unimpeachable condition. We have the full dedication in which the author announces that he has come expressly to London to present his book to her Majesty before getting it printed, and states that no one else had yet seen it. As we know it was first printed in Paris in 1560, this statement sufficiently indicates the date of the MS. and there can be no question about its having been executed for the Queen. The binding which is a fine specimen of English ornamental work, was done by the same binder whom Archbishop Parker usually employed. 25011 Atlas d'Henri Quatre. Quatre. CARTES DE LA PROVINCE DE PICARDIE, BOULONOIS, ARTOIS, ET PAIS RECONQUIS, 36 coloured Drawings of Maps and Plans of the North-Eastern provinces of France recently acquired by arms or diplomacy, beautifully executed in 1602 and 1603 for King Henry IV's own use, roy. folio, olive morocco super extra, covered with fleurs-de-lis (the King's Arms forming the centre ornaments, with his crowned H. at each corner), stamped in gold, a magnificent specimen of the skill and taste of Clovis Eve, the royal bookbinder, £400.

1602-3

Independently of the artistic and royal associations which should make this volume precious in the sight of every Frenchman, it has also a scientific value; the maps being the first detailed and accurate cartography on a large scale of that portion of the French kingdom which it deals with. They are also a remarkable attestation of French skill in diplomacy, even more than in arms, and illustrate the dexterity with which Henri Quatre knew how to make peace. When he signed the treaty of Vervins in 1598, by which he closed the war with Spain, he said significantly, "With this stroke of the pen I have

achieved greater successes than I could have won in a long space of time with the best swords of my realm." He then ordered this Atlas to be prepared as a monument of what he had done to create a new epoch in French history, and it cannot be denied that the record is a splendid one; creditable alike to the royal statesman and warrior who made it possible, to the clever draughtsman by whose hand it was executed, and to the artist who clothed it in a binding of so much beauty.

The MS. consists of one leaf "Table des Cartes," and 36 double leaves of maps, as follows:--

1, General map (of Picardy, the Boulonnais, Artois, and the Pays Reconquis);

2, Gouvernement de Calais; 3,-d'Ardres; 4, 5,-du Boulonnois; 6-19,-gouvernements de Montreuil, Rue Abbeville, Dourlens, Amiens, Corbie, Peronne, Mondidier, et Roye, Han, St. Quentin, La Ferre, Castellet, Guise, and Fort de la Capelle; 20-36, plans of the towns and fortresses of Calais, Ardres, Boulogne, Monthulin, Montreuil, Rue, Abbeville, Dourlens, Amiens, Corbie, Peronne, Han, St. Quentin, Castellet, Guise, La Capelle, La Ferre.

As the general map includes a good deal more territory than came into French hands before the time of Louis XIV, it also serves as an Index to the hereditary policy of the statesmen of that nation.

25012 LIVRE D'HEURES DE LA REINE ANNE DE BRETAGNE (reproduit), traduit, et accompagné de notices inédites, par l'Abbé DELAUNAY, 2 vols. in 1, stout roy. 4to. a magnificent facsimile reproduction in chromo-lithography from the original MS. (executed about A.D. 1500), with Miniatures and borders of fruit, flowers, butterflies, etc. in gold and colours, morocco extra, with clasps and bosses, £28. Paris, 1861

II. BOOKS ON THE LANGUAGE AND PATOIS OF FRANCE.

25013 ARNOUX (Cl.) Parallels of the Sounds and Syllables of the French and English Languages: or French Pronunciation made easy, 4to. bd. 3s 6d

1730

25014 BOYER'S Compleat French Master for Ladies and Gentlemen, 12mo. second edition, much enlarged, calf neat, 16s

1699

Contents: I. French Grammar; II. Vocabulary; III. Phrases; IV. Dialogues; V. Dialogues of Wit and Humour, upon Love, and other subjects; VI. Collection of new French Songs, with the MUSIC.

25015 BOYER'S Dictionnaire Royal François-Anglois et AngloisFrançois, 2 parts in 1 vol. stout 4to. portrait, 540 pp. treble cols. calf, 78 6d

Londres, 1729

25016 BREYMANN (H.) French Grammar, sm. 8vo. cloth, 2s 1874 25017 CHAMBAUD (L.) Rudiments of the French Tongue, 12mo. first edition, bd. 78 6d

1751

25018 COTGRAVE (Randall) Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, sm. folio, old calf, £2. 10s London, 1611 25019 DICTIONNAIRE de l'Académie française, 7e édit. (1878), dans laquelle on a reproduit pour la première fois les préfaces des six éditions précédentes, 2 vols. large 4to. sewed, £1. 10s

1878

En grammaire, en littérature, le Dictionnaire de l'Académie' est le régulateur suprème, et en jurisprudence il fait loi.

"Il a été composé avec des caractères neufs. Il contient 2200 mots de plus que la 6me. edition."

25020 FLEMING and TIBBINS' Royal Dictionary, English and French and French and English, 2 vols. thick royal 4to. hf. calf, 21s

Paris, 1846-45 25021 GENIN (F.) des Variations du Langage Français depuis le XIIe siècle, 8vo. bds. 2s 6d 1845 25022 GOUDELIN (Pierre) las Obros e Diccionari Moundino-Francezo, 1648-La Floureto Novbelo del Ramelet Moundi, Poems in the Tolosan dialect, 1647-2 vols. in 1, sm. 4to. fine copies, vellum, rare, 20s Toulouse, 1647-48 25023 KNAPP, Modern French Readings, with Notes, by Wm. I. Knapp, Professor in Yale College, Author of Spanish Grammar and Spanish Readings, 12mo. 457 pp. cloth, 6s 6d Boston, Mass. 1883 Professor Knapp's Elementary books deserve the best attention of students. 25024 LARCHEY (L.) Excentricités du Langage, 12mo. sd. 1s 6d 1865 25025 LEROUX (P. J.) Dictionnaire comique, satyrique, critique, burlesque, libre et proverbial, 2 vols. 8vo. bd. stained, 58

the same, 2 vols. 8vo. calf, 18s

Pampelune (Paris), 1786

25026 1786 25027 LITTRE (E.) Dictionnaire de la Langue française, contenant la nomenclature, la grammaire, la signification des mots, la partie historique, et l'étymologie; avec le Supplément, together 5 vols. impl. 4to. hf. morocco, £5. Paris, 1863-75

A masterpiece of erudition; the best French Dictionary extant. 25028 MEADOWS (F. C., M.A.) French and English and English and French Pronouncing Dictionary, by Krueger, the two Alphabets in 2 divisions, bound in 1 vol. thick 16mo. cloth, 58

1881

This handy volume exhibits the pronunciation of the French in pure English sounds, the parts of speech, gender of French nouns, regular and irregular conjugations of verbs, and this new edition is entirely re-arranged, corrected and enlarged by about 2000 new words, idiomatical expressions, proverbs, a list of proper names of countries and nations.

25029 MEADOWS's Grammar of the French Tongue, 16mo. cloth, 1s 1866 25030 MENAGE, Dictionnaire Etymologique de la Langue Françoise, augmenté par Jault, 2 vols. folio, BEST EDITION, bds. 12s; or, old calf gilt, 208

Paris, 1750

25031 MICHEL (Fr.) Etudes sur l'Argot, et sur les idiomes analogues parlés en Europe et en Asie, royal 8vo. 516 pp. sd. 78 6d 1856 25032 PALSGRAVE (J.) l'Eclaircissement de la LANGUE FRANÇAISE, suivi de la Grammaire de Giles du Guez, publiés par F. Génin, thick 4to. 1130 pp. bds. 24s; hf. brown morocco, uncut, £2.

Paris, 1852

A volume of the "Documents Inédits." John Palsgrave, an Englishman, whilst residing in Paris, was the teacher of French to the Princess Mary, sister of Henry VIII. When his pupil's husband, Louis XII of France, died, Palsgrave returned to England, where, in 1530-31, he wrote in English, with a French title, a folio volume, printed by Hawkins and Pynson, which is the First Grammar of the French language, and extraordinarily rare. Giles du Guez, or Dewes, composed his work about 1532, as ductorie for to lerne to speke Frenche trewly," printed by T. Godfrey. It is also of the utmost scarcity. See Introduction.

66 an Intro

25033 RANCONNET (Aimar de) THRESOR DE LA LANGUE FRANCOYSE, tant Ancienne que Moderne, auquel entre autres choses sont les mots propres de Marine, de Venerie, de Faulconnerie, reveu et augmenté en ceste derniere impression

par JEAN NICOT, avec une Grammaire Francoyse et Latine et le recueil des vieux PROVERBES DE FRANCE, etc. folio, fine copy in old calf gilt, with the initials "W. I." impressed on the sides, from the Sunderland library, £7. Paris, 1706 25034 SPIERS (A.) English-French and French-English Dictionary, 2 vols. roy. 8vo. cloth, 10s

25035

1849

Dictionnaire Français-Anglais, Anglais-Français, 2 vols. 8vo. hf. bd. 12s

1854

25036 TARVER'S (J. Ch.) Royal Phraseological English-French and French-English Dictionary, 2 vols. thick roy. 8vo. (pub. at £2. 10s), cloth, 168

1845-50

1853-4

25037 the same, third edition, 2 vols. roy. 8vo. hf. calf, 24s 25038 WODROEPHE, The Spared Houres of a Souldier in his Travels, or, the True Marrowe of the French Tongue, with Dialogues, Springwell of Honour and Vertue, Godly Songs, Sonets, Theames, Letters Missives, and Sentences proverbiales, 4to. FIRST EDITION, title mended, calf extra, £2. 12s 6d Dort, 1623 the Marrowe of the French Tongue; second edition, reviewed and purged of much grosse English and divers errors, sm. folio, calf, £1. 10s London, 1625

25039

III. FRENCH LITERATURE, HISTORY, AND

ART.

25040 ABRANTÈS (Madame JUNOT, Duchesse d') Mémoires sur la Restauration, 6 vols. 8vo. hf. calf, 30s

25041

1835-6 Histoire des Salons de Paris, 6 vols. 8vo. hf. calf, 30s

1837-8

Tableaux et portraits du Grand Monde sous Louis XVI, le Directoire, le Consulat et l'Empire, la Restauration et Louis-Philippe I.