160 NOTES AND QUERIES, m s. VIL FEB. 22. wia.
American autographs of interest, notably a letter by Washington to Robert Cory & Co., his London agents, dated 1773, 681.; and a letter of Capt. John Paul Jones's, an original draft of a communication addressed to James Hewes of Philadelphia upon the corruption in the "Infant Navy" of America, dated 31 Oct., 1776, of which the price is 150l. An interesting curiosity is the sign manual, "Mary the quene," of Mary Tudor, stamped on an order of the date 20 Aug., 1554, 22l. 10s.; and among other items of historical interest we noticed a letter of James II.'s to the Comte d'Estrée, dated London, 1673, 21l.; and one from Mary of Modena to De Lauzun, St. Germain, 1690, 25l. No doubt most people will consider the 200 letters expressing sympathy with those who suffered in the earthquakes at Messina and Reggio in 1908 to be the cream of this collection. They are chiefly from the pens of well-known men of letters of different countries, but include also musical compositions and a few lines from two queens. Facsimile reproductions of the greater part of them were issued in a volume, and sold for the benefit of a fund in aid of the distress. These, the originals, are to be had for 195l. The price of a good letter by Sir Thomas Oreshnm to his son-in-law Nathaniel Bacon, 1579, is 60l.; and we must also mention a letter of Sir Edward Coke's concerning the Norfolk Assizes to Sir Nathaniel Bacon, High Sheriff of that county, dated 1607, 42l. Of the letters of musicians the finest appears to be one by Beethoven to Charles Neate from Vienna, in French, on the subject of 'Schlacht bei Vittoria' Symphony, dated 15 May, 1816, 68l.
M. Martinus Nijhoff of the Hague has sent us an interesting Catalogue (No. 392) of Old and Valuable Books. In the section of American works we noticed H. R. Schoolcraft's ' Archives of Aboriginal Knowledge,' the most important work of its time on the Red Indians, in 6 vols., 1854-68, 400fr. A collection of Autos-da-f<*, with the original edition of the ' Autodafc celebrado en Madrid, 1680,' as well as some •23 others belonging to the early eighteenth century, is offered for 150fr. A good item is a complete set (1889-1012) of Kokka, the monthly Japanese art review, containing fine illustrations of works •of art in museums, temples, and private collec- tions. Complete sets are rare: from No. 1 to No. 132 the periodical was issued only in Japanese; from No. 133 onwards the text was Japanese, but titles and explanations were given in English; from No. 182 an alternative English edition has been issued. There is added a booklet explaining the early numbers entirely Japanese. The price is 775fr. Another interesting series, for which l,900fr. is asked, is the ' Janrbuch der Kunst- hlstorischen Sammlungen des Allerhochsten Kaiser- hauses,' edited by Count Folliot de Crennoville, and later by Count zu Trauttmansdorff-Weins- b«rg, Vienna, 1883-1911. IN Messrs. Sotheran & CO.'H Catalogue 732 there are several sets of the works of French authors, among them Rene Bazin's ' Romans,' in 16 vote., 32. 10s. ; Rostand's ' (Euvres Com- pletes Ilmstrecs,' 5 vols., bound, 42. I*. ; and Ouy de Maupassant's ' CEuvres Completes,' 5i. 17*. I'M/. The sets of periodicals include Notts and Queries, complete from the beginning to April of last year, and with all the General Indexes, 45?. An interesting item is the ' Choix des Poesies Originates des Troubadours,' in 6 vols., by Raynouard, with other 6 vols. of ' Lexiquc Roman, ou Dictionnaire de la Langue des Trou- badours,' having at the end of each volume an inscription recording that the work was given to Mr. Standish Standish by Louis Philippe, 21? There is a delightful collection of works on Ireland, the most interesting being perhaps the scarce edition, issued by the Archaeological and Celtir Society in 1855-7, of ' Leabhar Imuiyn: thp Book of Hymns of the Ancient Church of Ireland ' edited and translated by Dr. Dodd, with St Adamnan's Life of St. Columba, with notes and dissertations by Dr. Reeves, 2 vols., 47. 4«. The ' Yellow Book of Lecan' is also to be had, in the facsimile edition brought out e. 1880, for 21. 2s We noticed, offered for 1SI. 18s., a copy of the best edition of Dofoe, 20 vols., 1840-11; and a, complete set of first editions of the worka of George Eliot, 27 vols., 42f. A copy of the Tennyson ' Poems by Two Brothers,' in the original edition, costs 25J. There are four or five- examples of Rowlandson's work, of which we mnv mention Combe's ' KnglUh Dance of Death/ 1815-18, for 15/. 15*. ; and the ' Dr. Syntax's Three Tours for 12?. Some two score items come from the library of the late Andrew Lang, and one of them is a volume, in which are bound together _ Miss Braddon's 'Aurora Floyd' and Gaboriau's 'Monsieur Lecoq,' which is lettered on the back Andrew Lang's Distance Annihiktor* • These Twain Have Shortened Many a Mile "—as pleasant a compliment surely as ever was paid to any writer. It is offered for 51. 5s. [Notices of other Catalogues held over.] to (fomsponfonts, Ox all communications must be written the name and, address of the sender, not necessarily for imp- lication. but as a guarantee of good faith. WE beg leave to state that we decline to return communications which, for any fenson? we do not print, and to this rule we can make no exception WE cannot .mdertake to answer queries pri vately nor can we advise correspondents ae to the value of old books and other objects or as to the means of disposing of them. f 1?.DrJTOR"I!.communioation8 should be addressed to The Editor of ' Notes and Queries '"— Adver- tisemente and Business Letters to "The Pub- C*1 C> Bream'8 B«iWiDB8, Chancery To secure insertion of communications corre- sixmdents must observe the following rules Let ouch note, query, or reply be written on a sepamte L1JPi.ofjBSper> w,"th ^he signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. When answer- ing queries, or making notes with regard to previous entries m the paper, contributors are requested to put in parentheses, immediately after the exact heading, the series, volume, and page or pages to which they refer. Correspondent? who repeat queries are requested to head the second com- mumcation Duplicate. H. G. P.— Sand hoe is a township in St. John-Lee parish, Northumberland, four miles from Hexham.
