cuts), limited to 500 copies, with 10 copies on large paper. New York, 1858.

This work is already mentioned at page XXIV. of the Prolegomena, from the Prospectus issued previous to its publication, but the article from the London Quarterly Review on Libraries and Catalogues is omitted. It consists of two parts, the first comprising a descriptive list of 495 Bibliographical books; and the second containing Historical sketches of fourteen Public Libraries in America and Europe. The work fully redeems its promise.

3. A Descriptive Catalogue of those Maps, Charts, and Surveys relating to America, which are mentioned in vol. III. of Hakluyt's great work, by J. G. Kohl. 8vo, pp. 86. Washington, 1857. Mr. Kohl, the celebrated traveller, is now at Washington, employed in carrying his "General Catalogue of American Maps and Charts " through the press. The descriptive catalogue of the Hakluyt Maps is but a forerunner to this great work.

As kindred with Mr. Kohl's great work, it may not be out of place to notice

4. MAPOTECA COLOMBIANA. Catálogo de todos los Mapas, Planos, Vistas, etc., relativos a la America-Española, Brasil, e islas adyacentes. Por el Dr. Ezequiel Uricoechea,

which I have now in press, in one volume octavo,

In conclusion, I would call attention to an important work now in the press, by Mr. Paul Troemel, under the title of

5. Bibliothèque Americaine, ou Catalogue raisonné d'une precieuse Collection de livres relatifs à l'Amerique, qui ont paru depuis sa découverte jusqu'à l'an 1700.

This is a bibliographical account of an important collection of books relating to America, originally made by Fr. Müller, of Amsterdam, and now in the possession of F. A. Brockhaus, of Leipzig. Amongst the 556 articles of which the collection consists, at least one hundred are not mentioned by any bibliographer. Indeed, only about 150 of them are found in Ternaux and Rich, which of itself is ample testimony of the importance, and must secure to the publication more than an ordinary interest in the eyes of bibliographers and literary men. At the same time that it supplements the catalogues of Ternaux, Rich, and Asher, an examination of the few sheets already printed off enables me to state that it promises to surpass its predecessors by its extreme accuracy of description and the value of its notes, which exhibit considerable knowledge of the subject.

6. Mr. Buckingham Smith informs me that Señor Gonzales de la Vega of Madrid has a work, in 2 vols., in the press, on Spanish authors who have written on the subject of New Spain.

INTRODUCTION.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL PROLEGOMENA.

THE LITERATURE of a People takes its impress from their peculiar habits of thought, or it would not be national, but universal. In no case is this more evident than in that of England, in all classes of which there is the unmistakable practical Anglo-Saxon sense as its chief characteristic. If we wish to understand these habits of thought of any nation, we must study carefully the gradual forms in which they have been developed, beginning with their beginning, and tracing them down to our own times. The coronation oath, which Dunstan prepared for the Anglo-Saxon king, is still, but slightly altered, the coronation oath of the sovereigns of England; and in casting the eye over the six volumes of Anglo-Saxon Charters, collected by the late Mr. J. M. Kemble, one is forced to admit, that, allowing for altered circumstances, the AngloSaxon mind of the tenth century bears a strong affinity to that of the Englishman of the nineteenth.

If this be so with regard to English Literature, how much more necessary is the knowledge of the sources which have served to form the habits of thought of the people of the United States of America, who, in little more than half-a-century, have not only become our rivals, but our equals in literary composition, and in all the developments of science, in which vigour of mind and a careful training of the intellect are the great and essential qualifications, if we would form a just estimate of Anglo-American Literature.

This consideration has induced me to collect together a list of the scattered materials which serve to illustrate, not only the Literary History of the United States, but likewise that of the entire Continent of America, including also, to the best of my ability, a full and correct list of all Books relating to America. Indeed, for the reason stated above, Anglo-American Bibliography must embrace both books more properly appertaining to the Literature of the United States, and books relating to any part of the great continent of which those States form so prominent a section.

It may be said that both these departments of Bibliography have already received considerable attention, and that there has been no lack of research in the compilers; yet it will be acknowledged that the compilations themselves have almost all grown out of the wants of the public or private collections, which have called them into being, and lay no claims to completeness, having been

prepared according to the views of those who were the custodians of the works they describe, more as manuals for individual libraries, than for general use. Of these manuals it has been remarked, that those which consist of lists of books printed in America are all much more carefully prepared than those which furnish lists of books relating to America. To this rule there is, however, one remarkable exception. The works of German Bibliographers on the subject, though full of faults peculiar to themselves, and indeed often most circumscribed as to contents, are on the whole sufficiently accurate, and authorities to be relied on.

By some strange coincidence, the compilers of some of the more recent works which I am about to notice, seem, as a general rule, to have ignored, in each case, the labours of their predecessors. From what cause this has arisen it would be difficult to define, as the books themselves are all well known and readily accessible. Yet in Bibliography, as in all other branches of human science, facts must be collected, apparent contradictions reconciled, and opposite opinions carefully weighed, before we can hope to arrive at such a conclusion as will give general satisfaction. It is thus shown, that we have a certain number of books on the subject, prepared with tolerable industry; but, for want of a principle of unity, they are like the separate portions of some valuable machine, made by different makers unknown to one another, which require to be carefully adjusted and put together, before they can act as a whole. It is such an adjustment that I have here attempted; and I now proceed to enumerate these separate materials under their distinct and appropriate headings.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL WORKS ON BOOKS RELATING TO AMERICA.

At the head of this list I have placed a reprint of Mr. Stevens' Prospectus of his "Bibliographia Americana; or, a Bibliographical Account of the Sources of Early American History; with a List of Books printed in America from 1543 to 1700, and Notices of important unpublished Manuscripts." No one is more qualified to draw up a plan for such an undertaking, and it is in every respect so complete, that it enables us to test the merits of the publications which follow by the requirements sanctioned by so eminent a bibliographer.

PROSPECTUS.

BIBLIOGRAPHIA AMERICANA: a Bibliographical Account of the Sources of Early American History; comprising a Description of Books relating to America, printed prior to the year 1700, and of all Books printed in America from 1543 to 1703; together with notices of many of the more important unpublished Manuscripts. Prepared by Henry Stevens, and published under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington.

PLAN OF THE WORK.

1. It will contain a descriptive list of all Books relating to America, and of all books printed in America, prior to the year 1700, which may be found in the principal public and private libraries of Europe and America, or which are described in other works; together with notices of many of the more important unpublished manuscripts.