Bat. 12mo, 1636) is known from the counterfeit edition of the same year, by having two passages printed in red ink, which in the latter are in black. The first passage is Ego vero frequenter a te litteras accipio, and occurs in page 1, before the Bucolics; the second, Si mihi susceptum fuerit decurrere munus, is found in page 91'. In the genuine edition both these passages are printed in RED capital letters, but in the spurious one they are black. The beautiful 24mo edition of the English Bible, printed by Field in 1653, was counterfeited in Holland in 1658: the genuine one is known by having the four first psalms on one page, without turning over.

12. Lastly, in every instance where it is practicable, the best editions of every work should be purchased: and, among such as are reputed to be the best, those are to be preferred, the text of which is most correct and neatly printed, on the best paper and with the fullest margins. Of this description are the works of the more eminent printers of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, a list of whose productions will be found in a subsequent part of this work'.

'Debure, Bibl. Inst. (Belles Lettres) p. 300.
2 Vide Appendix, No. VII.

CHAPTER III.

Essay towards an improved System of Classification for a Library.

THE best ornament of a library is an orderly and symmetrical disposition of the books: a collection destitute of order has, not inelegantly, been compared to a deformed human body highly dressed up; whose external ornaments only ren der its deformity the more conspicuous'.

Previously to the collecting of books for a library, some attention should be given towards selecting a commodious place for their recep tion; a few hints on this topic will not be irrelevant to our subject.

The apartment, appropriated to the reception of books, should neither be exposed to moisture, nor to the burning rays of the sun: it ought to be sufficiently light, well ceiled, and well floored. The shelves, whether defended by glass doors, in presses, or open their whole length, should be a foot distant from the wall; or, if they reach to the wall, guards should be placed upon them, to prevent the books coming in contact with it; and the lowest shelf, or

"Legipont. Diss. de Ornand. Bibl. p. 44.

that which supports folio books, ought to be about one foot above the floor.

Between each shelf a space should be left, proportioned to the size of the volumes: and the height of the different shelves should be adjusted to the form or size of the books. Thus, the first or lowermost shelf will be appropriated to folio books on large paper; the second, to those on common paper; the third, to royal quartos; the fourth, to medium quartos, &c. &c. A sufficient interval should be left between each volume and the shelf above it, to admit of its removal without difficulty, regard being also had not to place the books too closely together, so that the air may freely circulate around them.

A library thus disposed cannot fail to present an agreeable appearance; while the books deposited in it, will be preserved perfectly sound, and will be sheltered from every kind of accident: further, the dust should be frequently removed, and the volumes be gently beaten together, from time to time, in order to shake out the dust that would otherwise accumulate, and ultimately injure them.

The different branches of human knowledge form a chain, all the links of which are mutually connected together: every part of this great

chain ought to harmonize with that which precedes it, and with that which follows it. In a system of bibliography, or of classification for a library, it has been observed, that the grand objects of attention are to divide and sub-divide into different classes all those works, which contain the objects of our knowledge: each primary class is to be considered as a trunk or stem, bearing branches, boughs, and leaves. The difficulty to be surmounted, in establishing the proper and requisite order among these different parts, is

1. To fix the rank which the primary classes

ought to hold among themselves; and

2. To refer to each of them the prodigious number of branches, boughs and leaves which belong to it.

One advantage to be derived from these divisions and sub-divisions, is that of finding with ease the books we search for in an extensive library, or in a catalogue; and of knowing readily the best book on the subject which we are studying, or concerning which information is required'.

In these general principles all Bibliographers are agreed, though almost every one has varied in the different modes in which he has applied

'Essai de Bibliographie, in Cailleau's Dict. Bibliographique, tom. iii. p. 505.

them. What pretensions to excellence above the various bibliographical systems now extant, the following essay may possess, the candid Bibliographer alone can appreciate.

Engaged some years since in an arduous undertaking, the classification of the Harleian MSS. for the catalogue of that library', the author of the present system was led attentively to study the connexions and dependencies of the great chain of human knowledge: at the period referred to he was unacquainted with any bibliographical systems, except that of M. De Bure, and the very minute method pursued in the Bibliotheca Bunaviana, for a catalogue of Count Bunau's library. In the prosecution of his design, he traced the outlines of the present plan, which he afterwards simplified: and though it differs from most modern systems, he ventures to hope it will be found to combine the two important requisites of conveniency of reference and simplicity of arrangement.

The following is an outline of the plan, which the author has adopted, together with the reasons which have induced him to prefer it to the

'This classed catalogue of MSS. (with the indexes of names of persons and places) forms the fourth volume of the "Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum," fol. 1812. Some alterations have been introduced in this arrangement, which further consideration suggested to the author.