RARE BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS.

Evening Star, Issue 4163, 30 June 1876, Page 4

RARE BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS.

Tie ,opportunity , afforded by tli ?> recent opening of the Auckland Inst - tttte for the display of all that can ba Considered rare or curious, has beenmade the occasion by several of odv citizens to uncover to the public of Auckland much which no one could have suspected to be hidden in oijr midst. Sir George Grey, our highly popular Superintendent, stands facile prmceps amongst those who haye brought forth the treasures of their private cabinetrf. 5?J& His exhibits are pf a varied character, bub their superiority consists chiefly in the item of rare literature. His, Honor’s collection includes manuscript volumes of a very ' ancient period; and specitnehs' of the typography of the first three ‘English ; printers,, besides other r interesting works, ; These mementoes of the past

©f very great value, much greater perhaps than most people are aware of. 34* sure, they are not of such enormous value as they must have been . ywhen, as we are told by I. Disraeli, *‘ior the possession of a manuscript some would transfer an estate, or leaye in pawd for its loan hundreds of golden' crowns j” and wheneven the sale or loan of a manuscript was considered of such importance as ,$o have been solemnly registered by public acts.” The same author tells us that a Countess of

Anjou bought a'favorke book of homilies for two hundred sheep, some skips of marijens, and bushels of wheat and rye. Manuscripts have' teen found .in strange places. A page pf the aeeond decaele of Livy, it is said, was ' found by a man of letters in the parchment' of his battledore while he wps amusing himself in the country. He hastened to the maker of the battledore, but arrived too late. The man , f Kitid finished the last page of Livy about a week before. Dr Dee’s singular manuscripts were found in the secret drawer of a chest which had passed through many hands undis-

covered ; and the vast collection of Thnrloe, the secretary of -Cromwell, which formed about seventy volumes in the original manuscripts, accidentally fell out of the false ceiling of some chapapers in Lincoln’s Inn. It is really : a matter of surprise to find that so many manuscripts still survive the perils of ' the past, when-we consider that they have been exposed not merely to the of Time, that edax rerum, but to the fanaticism of religious and national factions, who have wilfully destroyed books which they considered opposed to their special views. * The Romans burnt the books of the Jews, • of the Christians, and the philosophers; the Jews burnt the books of the Pagans and the Christians; the Christians burnt the books of the Pagans and the Jews. Conquerors destroyed the national records of the conquered people; hence the Irish deplore the irreparable loss of their most ancient national memorials, which have been annihilated; ' The same thing happened in Mexico, where the history of the new world, preserved in pictorial monuments, has been utterly destroyed. Many manuscripts were defaced, and the parchment used again for more modern writing. In this way manuscripts suffered from friends and foes alike. To tell all; the misfortunes which have tended to make their numj ber' extremely small would take whole columns, and read like a romance. The manuscripts which Sir George exhibits , 'date back as far as about the year 000 of the. Christian, era. As they are not dated, it is impossible to fix the exact time when they were written. The earliest is a Greek manuscript of the gospels with outline illustrations representing the Evangelists. Another evidently very ancient M.S. is a Coptic Liturgy. This is rendered additionally curious by its being bound in alligator’s skin. There is a manuscript of about the year 1000 entitled “Hysteria Scolastica;” also another Coptic version of St. John’s Gospel. Here is also a translation of Bcethuis into French by Jehan de Meliun,; author of “Le Romaunt de la Rose,” a very great curiosity, being (from the library of Sully, the celebrated Bibliotheque Rosney ; and a copy of the “ Statutes ” from’ the first of Edward 111. to Henry VI. There are no less than three magnificent Missals, one a “ Salisbury,” having the famous itfuminatioA l of the martyrdom of St. Thomas of Canterbury, not cut out; and a Bible in Latin and French of the 13th . century, by Petrus de Riga Aurora. ' These manuscripts are exquisite specimens of neat and beautiful penmanship, and haVe initial letters and illuminated margins of great excellence. Besides these ; ancient "MBS., Sir George exhibits a > modern one, illustrated in imitation of thb ancients. This is entitled, “Evangefion upa to-ara Louka-umba.” It is a unique copy of a work in New South Wales dialect. To come now to the rare printed books in this collection. The first that claims notice is a specimen of “block printing,” before moveable type was- invented. This bears date 1463. Its title is “ Speculum Humane Salvationis,” and it is .quaintly, illustrated. Next in order of chronology come three books from the first English printing press—that «f William Caxton. These are in “ black letter. they are—“ iEsop’s Fables/’ in Greek; “ Editio Princeps,” A.d. 1480; “ Heydon’s Polycronicon,” 1482 ; and part -of “iEneydos ” ad. (Virgil), A.D. 1490. The first of these i {he. Pinellian library. This libfary after theMeatli of its illustrious pos’seesdr filled three vessels to be cdn-|

jeyed -toJEJaplea- —PursaedJby-eereftir s, one of taken; but the pirate's finding nothing ,on board bpt books threw them all into the sea. Sucli was the fate of a great portion of this famous library, of which Sir George possesses this interesting relic. A book—l printed by P. Schaffer and bearing date a.d. 1492—is “The First Saxon Chronicle." This is curiously illustrated. To Caxton succeeded Wynkyn de Worde. There is a book printed by him in this collection : it is entitled Aurea,” or “Golden Legende,” a.d. 1527. A collection of legends drawn up by Jacobus de Yoragine, Archbishop'of Genoa, in the second'half of the 13 th century. The -next English printer "was Richarde Pynsen, .from whose press the collection holds one volume. “ The Statutes of Henry the: Seventh.". .Another work, probably of the same period, is

a yery : curiously illustrated volume called “ Ars , Moriendi.” A very interesting publication of a little later date tire two volumes of of Spenser’s “Faerie Qveene,” with the following dedication, “ To the moet mightie and magnificent Empress Elizabeth, by the grace of God, Qyeene of England, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c., her most hvmble seruant, Ed. Spenser.” Two of the earliest enitions of Shakespeare’s wiitings are here, viz., a small quarto of “ Pericles,” a.d., 1609, ' On the flyleaf of this appears, written evi dently many years ago, this, line: 4' And death found surly Ben exceeding poor-” Probably this alludes to “ rare Ben Johnson,” and the Poems,” a.d. 1640. These are extremely rare and scarcely .to be found anywhere. The last book in Sir George’s collection is a very remarkable one: a folio;of William Brake’s, a celebrated engraver and poet, declared by Charles Lamb to have been “ one of tie most extraordinary persons of the age.” His illustrations are very characteristic. Among the books in this case is a curi-

ous surgical w®rk of a primitive kind, with illustrations j this is not one ot the Superintendent's. Several interesting memorials of.the history of the Colony have been added to this collection since it was first shown. These : the first assumption of dominion in New Zealand by a proclamation of Thomas Brisbane, .Governor of. Now South Wales, dated Sydney May 17th, 1824; Mr Busby's protest against Charles, Baron de Thierry, claiming a right to New Zealand, dated October 10, 1835 ; a declaration of the sovereignty of the Maori chiefs, dated October 28, 1835; and a circular from W. Hobson to the Maori chiefs previous to the treaty of Waitangi. Besides this collection of manuscripts and rare books there are a few similar ones in various parts of the building. In the northern gallery is a collection of letters exhibited by Midi Muir, of Bapakura.', These are principally from the pen of William Guthrie, a Scottish divine, and bear the date of 1644, et seq. Here is also a /ac swvile of the National Covenant of Scotland, and a Bible printed in 1576. Two of the letters, in this collection are from Sir Walter Scott. In tho lecture - room are “ Phraseologia Generalis, ” printed at Cambridge in 1586. This is a gift from Mr W. Rattray, and a “ Virgil, with the “ castigations,” dated 1529 and 1532. This is a gift from Mr Mowbray. In the library are the follawing curious and interesting books : —“A Nievve Herball,” printed by Henry Lyte in 1578, full of admirable engravings and quaint descriptions of the habits and uses of plants. This is the property of Dr Alder Fisher, of Kaipara. The “ Christian Quaker," a.d. 1674. This is quite complete, having title page and index. A very beautiful manuscript in French and German, profusely illuminated, entitled “ The Garden, of Armouries.” This is a gift from Mr Green, of Port Albert. *’ HSsop’s Fables," in Greek, with a Latin translation, printed in JG6O, and a manuscript entitled “ Comfort in Tribulation;" dated 1587. Mr James George contributes to this portion of the exhibits by no means the least curious book : this is a volume of the Geneva Bible, bettor known as the “ Breeches " Bible, on account of the rendering of Genesis iii,, 7 : “Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig-tree leaves together and made themselves breeches.” - Auckland paper.