prints may have been obvious very early, and there may never have been any great number of prints produced by this curious, exceptional, and experimental technique. The present specimen bears on its verso in an early (even perhaps Fifteenth Century) hand an imperfect inscription, "Ad Ecclesiam in Burgrain..." The print was obtained in 1909 by Professor Schreiber himself, and from him by me in 1927. It will be described in volume VI of the Handbuch as No. 2824b. From the style, and what is known of the dates of other paste-prints - for the seal-pasteprint seems to be neither a very early nor very late type - a date about 1480 or slightly earlier may be assigned to it. The design Professor Schreiber compares to that of the woodcut 1065, the metalcut 2492, and the paste-print 2823 (and he might add 2831, which seems to be 2823 without border). The design in these prints is similar but usually reversed, for in three the Madonna turns to the right. The hair is differently represented too, and the canopy of the throne is simplified to a single, not triple arch, and the peculiar towers at the sides have two instead of three main divisions. It is evident that our print is considerably modified from the same design which is followed in the prints referred to.*

It must be remembered indeed that all the three prints which I have thus far discussed are exceedingly unusual - and one is tempted to say sporadic attempts in the development of a now lost and well-nigh forgotten art. The importance of these particular specimens, however, lies in the fact that they seem to be links in a chain of evidence evidence imperfect and fragmentary, but perhaps capable of interpretation - which may enable us to reconstruct at least the outlines of the history of that well-nigh forgotten art - a younger sister of typography - the art of printing in relief.

5

3

The inscription was unfortunately shaved when the margins of the print were trimmed the final m of Ecclesiam was injured, and the last letter of Burgrain cut off. There can be little doubt of the correctness of my reading, however, since the first six letters appear in only one place-name in Ritter's Geographisch-Statistisches Lexicon (1905, p. 371). Burgrain is a church-village (population in 1905, given as 239) in Upper Bavaria near Haag and Isen, not very far west of Munich. Too much stress may be laid on the difficulty of transporting paste-prints, but Burgrain is not far from the probable place of origin of our seal-paste-print in southern Bavaria.

4

No. 2823 seems to be represented on plate 18 of Leidinger's very valuable Teigdrucke...in der K. Hof- und Staatsbibliothek München; No. 1065 in the Heitz Series, vol. 47, plate 7. The metalcut Schr. 2492 is reproduced in the Heitz Series. vol. 53, plate 1, from the original at Frankfort-on-Main. In it, as in the Seal-print, the Virgin faces left, but the canopy is triple, as in the woodcut. But in 2492 the Virgin is without crown, so that no exact counterpart in design to the seal-paste-print is known.

[Professor Mabbott has in preparation a study of the types and nature of Paste-prints and their Analogues, which it is hoped may form a sequel to this article. Some of the most important prints, however, are in such poor condition that he must visit them before publishing his opinion on their nature, even photographic reproductions being sometimes quite unsatisfactory. It is quite possible that Schreiber No. 2863 is a sealpaste-print.]

"THIS

THE YEAR OF THE DICTIONARY

HIS year, whatever else it may be, is the year of the Dictionary,” according to Mr. C. T. Onions, Joint Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, of which the final part (Wise-Wyzen) of Volume X (Ti-Z) was published in April, 1928, seventy-one years after the plan was conceived and forty-four years after the publication of the first part. This monumental work is a record of the English language from the eighth century to the present time, illustrating, as it does, the first use of each word, the last use of the word (if obsolete), and how its meanings had developed. It was started through the efforts of Dean Trench and the Philological Society, in 1857. The first editor was Herbert Coleridge, in 1859. Subsequent editors were Frederick James Furnivall; Sir James Murray (from 1882 until his death in 1915); Dr. Henry Bradley; and the Joint Editors of the final volumes, Dr. William A. Craigie and Mr. C. T. Onions.

The year 1928 also marks the centenary of the publication of Noah Webster's "American Dictionary of the English language."

To commemorate these events, the Library has on display in the Fifth Avenue second-floor corridor two cases of material relating to English and American dictionaries, emphasis being placed on Webster material because of the fact that the Library owns a large collection of Noah Webster manuscripts, gathered by his grand-daughter, Emily Ellsworth Fowler, her husband, Gordon Lester Ford, and their children, Worthington Chauncey Ford and Paul Leicester Ford. This collection comprises a great part of Webster's correspondence, his diaries, his account books, and other personalia, as well as proof-sheets of the dictionary with corrections in his own hand.

In the exhibition are shown some of Webster's earlier works, including the pamphlets, "A Letter to Dr. David Ramsay of Charleston (S. C.) Respecting the Errors in Johnson's Dictionary, and Other Lexicons," 1807, and "A Letter to the Honorable John Pickering on the Subject of his Vocabulary; or collection of Words and Phrases, supposed to be peculiar to the United States of America," 1817; a "Spelling Book"; a copy of "A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language," 1806 (Webster's first dictionary, in the preface of which he states that it was designed as a handy manual, and promises a larger dictionary to come). This larger dictionary, "An American Dictionary of the English Language...," was published in two volumes twenty-two years later, in 1828. A copy of the first edition is on view. In the same case is shown Webster's copy of Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, with annotations in Webster's hand, open at the page containing Johnson's famous definition of "lexicographer"-"A writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words." A copy of Webster's Dictionary, open at the same word, gives the matter-of-fact definition-"The author of a lexicon or dictionary."

In one of the cases are shown some of the earliest English etymologies and dictionaries, and the first and last volumes of the Oxford English Dictionary.

D

NEWS OF THE MΟΝΤΗ

GIFTS

URING the month of July, 1928, there were received as gifts 2,115 volumes, 9,182 pamphlets, 44 maps and 36 prints. Among the many interesting items were the following:

Additions to the Print Collection: Sir Joseph Duveen gave the Library an etching by Herman Struck after the Van der Weyden picture belonging to the Hon. Andrew W. Mellon. From Mr. Edward B. Greene, Cleveland, Ohio, came an etching by Frank W. Benson. Mr. George O. Hart, Coytesville, N. J., presented six of his prints, soft grain and aquatints ("Riding Academy" and "Weighing and Matching the Birds" three copies of each). From Mr. Lionel Lindsay, Sydney, Australia, came seven of his prints, etchings and woodcuts ("The Guitar Player," "The Solicitor," "Toucans," "Turkeys," and others); also "Twenty-One Woodcuts Drawn Engraved & Printed by Lionel Lindsay," Meryon Press, Sydney, 1924being this artist's contribution to the Library's collection of Australian prints. From Mr. Robert H. Nisbet, South Kent, Connecticut, came eight of his etchings ("Hurrying River," "Connecticut Hills," "Fisherman Lake," "Evening," "Maples by the River," "Moonlit Skies," "Moonlight with Trees," "Portland Head").

Fru Wilhelmina von Hallwyl, of Stockholm, Sweden, presented to the Library the first two completed volumes, together with the illustrative plates (in two volumes) of The Descriptive Catalogue of the Hallwyl Collection ("Beskrifvande förteckningen öfver Hallwylska samlingen"), Stockholm; also a copy of "Catalogue of the Collection of Arms and Armour at Hallwyl House, Stockholm," Stockholm, 1928. The Hallwyl Collection, together with Hallwyl House, Stockholm, were, by a deed of gift dated December 20, 1920, donated by Fru Hallwyl and her late husband, Walther von Hallwyl, to the Swedish Crown. The descriptive catalogue is being issued in an edition numbering 110 copies, and will cover about 70 groups of pure and applied art. The volumes first issued deal with arms and armour, coins and medals.

Miss Caroline E. Moore, Westbrook, Connecticut, gave a collection of sheet music, including many original publications, historic minstrel songs, etc. This collection was formed by the late George C. Moore, for 54 years Town Clerk of Westbrook, and a leading local musician, and the greater part of the music is more than 80 years old.

From Mrs. Sol Rosenbloom, Pittsburgh, came the five volumes (published in memory of Mr. Sol Rosenbloom) of the second edition of "Poems by Shirei Solomon Iben Gabirol with explanations and introduction by Halim Nachman Bialik," Tel-Aviv, 1928.

Miss Eleanor Burges, Providence, R. I., gave a copy (one of 175 printed by D. B. Updike, Boston, in Dec. 1927) of the privately printed work (ranked as one of the "Fifty Books of the Year") - "Arnold Green, a Sketch by Frances M. G. Wayland, 1840-1926.”

From Mrs. Alfred L. Baker, Chicago, came a copy (one of 250 copies on hand-made paper, printed by D. B. Updike, The Merrymount Press, Boston, in November, 1927) of the privately printed work (one of the "Fifty Books of the Year") "The Higher Citizenship, Two Addresses, by Alfred L. Baker, Chicago."

Other privately printed works were received from the following donors: Mrs. Jessie Tarbox Beals ("Songs of a Wanderer by Jessie Tarbox Beals"), New York, (c. 1928) (autographed copy); The Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis ("The Story of Crown Hill"), by Anna Nichols [c. 1928]; Mr. Edward J. Jacob, Peoria, Illinois ("Abraham Lincoln's Letter to General Hooker," designed and printed by Edward J. Jacob at his shop in Peoria, Ill., June 1928); Mr. H. Banard Leckler, Brooklyn ("The Prairie Maid and other Poems," by Nard Leckler, 1928); Mrs. Orville H. Leonard, New Canaan, Connecticut (two works by Orville Leonard, "The Genie in the Jar" [c. 1927, "The Desert Canary," Cedar Rapids, the latter work was privately printed); The Windsor Press, San Francisco, ("The letter of Columbus to Luis de Santangel concerning his voyage to the Indies" [originally printed at Barcelona in 1493 and now printed by the Brothers Johnson at The Windsor Press, San Francisco, in the year 1926, in an edition of 200 copies, of which the copy presented to the Library is No. 31).

1928

The Library received as gifts the following works relating to the Tercentenary of the Reformed Church in America: From Mr. William Leverich Brower, 4 volumes, 23 pamphlets, 1 menu, 2 cards, and 1 sheet; from the Rev. Henry Lockwood, D.D., Englewood, N. J., four bronze badges in commemoration of the tercentenary celebration of the Reformed Church of America, June 9-11, 1928 (Delegate, Fraternal Delegate, Committee, and Souvenir badges); from the Board of Publication and Bible School Work, Reformed Church in America, a copy of "A History of the Reformed Church in America," by Willard Dayton Brown, [c. 1928].

Genealogies were received from the following donors: Dr. V. Courtright, Circleville, Ohio ("History of the Van Kortryks or Courtrights compiled by Dudley Vattier Courtright, M.D., Circleville, Ohio, 1923," Columbus, Ohio, 1924 [autographed copy]); Mr. Myron Dings, Chicago (a copy of his privately printed compilation, "The Dings Family in America," Chicago, 1927); Mr. Lavern Bordwell ("The Ancestry of Lavern Bordwell," New York [n. d.]); The Rev. Frederick Lewis Weis, Milton, Massachusetts (copies of his works, "The Ancestors and Descendants of John Phipps, of Sherborn 1757-1847 abridged from the Phipps Genealogy,"