submitted to us by Henry Stevens, Esq., accompanying his note of July 7, 1848, and certify that the work will be accepted for publication in the SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO KNOWLEDGE, provided the execution is found satisfactory to a commission of competent judges, appointed by the Institution for its examination. (Signed,) JOSEPH HENRY, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, July 17, 1848. CHARLES C. Jewett, One cannot help regretting that so excellent a plan would be sure to entail too much labour upon its talented projector, to enable him to complete it as he originally proposed. Accordingly Mr. Stevens, without abandoning the larger work, in the mean time commenced :— 1. STEVENS'S AMERICAN BIBLIOGRAPHER, in monthly numbers, of forty-eight pages each. The first number is dated January, 1854, and the wrapper contains a fac-simile of the portrait of Jerome Benzoni, from the first edition of his Historia del Mondo Nuovo, repeated at page 27 of the text. There is a flytitle, followed by three leaves of "Preliminary," numbered iii.—vii., and on the reverse of page vii. a fac-simile of an old cut, representing human cannibals with the heads of wolves, inscribed “Americans in 1525," after which pp. 1-48. Opposite page 8 is given a folding fac-simile of a curious woodcut, representing the Indians of South America, discovered by the Portuguese in 1500. The second number consists of pp. 49-96, and the wrapper, dated February, 1854, repeats the portrait of Benzoni, and opposite page 86 is given a fac-simile of the plans of the City and Gulph of Mexico, from Peypus's (1524) edition of Cortes's Narrative. At pp. 38, 58, 62, 66, 67, and 86, are other fac-similes, and the work is printed in octavo, with a sixteenth century Romanletter, the impression being limited to 100 copies. These two numbers, never published, embrace the letters 4-Cu. The titles are given at length, the divisions of the lines marked, and a careful collation of every volume added. The Preliminary gives Mr. Stevens's "Smithsonian Plan" for a Bibliographia Americana, with alterations and additions, promising a brief biography whenever practicable; extending the limit from 1700 to 1789; and adding, a translation into English of all foreign titles. Mr. Stevens, has printed the following, of each of which 150 copies are for sale: 2. HISTORICAL NUGGETS. BIBLIOTHECA AMERICANA, or a Descriptive Account of my collection of rare Books relating to America. Henry Stevens, G.M.B., F.S.A.; London, C. Whittingham, 1859. "I will buy with you, sell with you.”—Shakspeare. The work will consist of a series of volumes in fcap Svo, of which Volumes I. and II. are ready. Volumes III. IV. and V. are promised in the present year. Vol. I. consists of pp. 1-436; and Vol. II. of pp. 437-806. The title-pages are given in full, with careful collations, and the market value added. 3. A CATALOGUE OF THE AMERICAN BOOKS in the Library of the British Museum, Christmas, 1856. Roy. 8vo, in double columns, circa 650 pp. 1859. 4. A CATALOGUE OF MEXICAN AND OTHER SPANISH AMERICAN AND WEST INDIA BOOKS in the Library of the British Museum, Christmas, 1856. Roy. 8vo, double columns, 64 pp. 1859. 5. A CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN AND OTHER BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN BOOKS in the Library of the British Museum, Christmas, 1856. Roy. Svo, double columns, 16 pp., containing 167 title-pages. 1859. 6. A CATALOGUE OF AMERICAN MAPS in the Library of the British Museum, Christmas, 1856. Roy. 8vo, double columns, 16-pp. 1859. Mr. Stevens's plan embraces careful collations of the Collections of Voyages and Travels edited by the brothers De Bry, Hulsius, and others. It may therefore not be out of place to mention here : 1. MEMOIRE SUR LA COLLECTION DES GRANDS ET PETITS VOYAGES (publ. par les FF. De Bry), et sur la Collection des Voyages de Melchior Thévenot, par A. Gast. Camus; Paris, An. XI. (1802) 8vo. Mr. Grenville's copy of De Bry's Collection contains numberless curious variations, as does also that of Mr. Holford, which will receive careful collations, both as regards the letterpress and plates. 2. A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY ON THE COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS, edited and published by Levinus Hulsius and his successors at Nuremberg and Francfort, from 1598 to 1660; by A. Asher; Berlin, A. Asher and Co., 1839, 4to. 3. At page 455 of Mr. David Nutt's Catalogue of Theological Books is given the contents of Stoecklein, Probst and Keller's Reisebeschreibungen von den Missionariis der Gesellschaft Jesu, in so far as those thirty-six volumes folio bear upon America. 4. Mr. Kohl's "Hakluyt Maps" is already noticed at p. x. of the preface. MDCXXIX. EPITOME DE LA BIBLIOTECA ORIENTAL I OCCIDENTAL, Nautica i Geografica. Al excelentiss. Señor D. Ramiro Nuñez Perez Felipe de Guzman, Señor de la casa de Guzman, Duque de Medina, etc., etc., por el Licenciado ANTONIO DE LEON. Con Privilegio. En Madrid, por Juan Gonzalez, año de 1629. 4to, 47 and 186 pp. and then xii. pp. Antonio de Leon, afterwards Leon-Pinelo, whose duties as a member of the Council of the Indies led him to investigate the state of literature in those regions, prepared an elaborate work on the subject, of which this is but the abstract, divided into the four sections indicated. The "Biblioteca Occidental," pp. 61-136, contains the titles of books relating to America. In the Appendix, pp. vi. vii., are additions from the "Bibliotheca Historica" of Bolduanus. Prefixed are some commendatory poems, followed by a 66 Discorso apologetico," by his brother Juan, 8 pp. The work contains a catalogue of authors, 33 pp., and a list of anonymous books, with a table of languages, 18 pp., the latter chiefly valuable as regards the languages of Central and South America. The author advocates the substitution of "Iberica" for America. It is a rare book. MDCCXIV. BIBLIOTHECA AMERICANÆ PRIMORDIA: An Attempt towards laying the Foundations of an American Library, in several Books, Papers, and Writings, humbly given to the Society for Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, For the Perpetual Use and Benefit of their Members, their Missionaries, Friends, Correspondents, and Others concerned in the Good Design of Planting and Promoting Christianity within Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations in the West Indies. By a member of the said Society. London: printed for S. Churchill, at the Black Swan in Pater Noster Row, 1713. 4to, 3 leav. xvi. and 275 pp. 112 leav. of Table. (By BISHOP WHITE KENNET, enlarged by the REV. THOMAS WATTS.) The title appears to have been printed off before the completion of the book, which contains, at p. 274, the titles of books published in 1714, and the Advertisement at the commencement of the volume bears the date 1 Nov., 1714, which fixes the period of its publication. Bishop White Kennet, when Dean of Peterborough, was an active member of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and wrote its history, published in quarto, in 1706. In 1713 he presented his collection of books, relating to America and Her Majesty's other Colonial Possessions, to the Society, and the letter of donation, bearing date the 1st of Oct. in that year, is given by way of introduction to the catalogue, which was printed by order of the Society, under the editorial care of the Rev. Thomas Watts. At the donor's suggestion, Mr. Watts added an accurate and elaborate table, consisting of 112 leaves, and it was the compilation of this table that retarded the publication of the work till 1714. The whole is arranged in chronological order; the discoveries under their proper dates, and the books and editions under their respective periods of publication. The titles are given at length in most cases, the places of publication always mentioned, and the names of the publishers sometimes indicated. The number of pages and sheets, and the size, are all carefully noted. Mr. Watts's index enhances the great utility of this valuable work, which, according to Dr. Dibdin, was reprinted in 1791. M. Raffinesque states that similar publications appeared in 1701 and in 1709. Dr. Ludewig, however, doubts the accuracy of either of these statements. MDCCXXXVII. EPITOME DE LA BIBLIOTECA ORIENTAL Y OCCIDENTAL, nautica y geografica de DON ANTONIO de LEON-PINELO, del Consejo de S. M. en la casa de la contratacion de Sevilla y Coronista mayor de las Indias. Añadido y enmendado nuevamente, en que se contienen los Escritores de las Indias orientales y occi. dentales y Reinos convecinos, China, Tartaria, Japon, Persia, Armenia, Etiopia y otras partes. Al Rey, nuestro Señor. Por mano del Marques de Torrenueva, su Secretario de despacho universal de Hacienda, Indias, i Marina. Con privilegio. En Madrid en la oficina de Francisco Martinez Abad, en la calle del olivo baxo. Año de 1737, 1738, 3 vols. folio. This second and greatly enlarged edition of Leon's Epitome was intended by Barcia to accompany his edition of Herrera, commenced in 1726; but the materials having greatly accumulated under his hand, he issued it as a separate book. The pages, columns, or sheets, as the case may be, are numbered, and the numerals, either Roman or Arabic, run through all three volumes consecutively. The editor has added two dedications, one to Philip V., and the other to the Marques de Torrenueva, both bearing date 19 Dec., 1737; "proemio de esta segunda edicion," well worthy of attention; separate titlepages to each volume; several tables, one of anonymous writings, and two of authors, both under Christian and Surnames; and lists of errata to each a volume. Besides these, each volume is accompanied by an appendix containing BIBLIOTECA ORIENTAL, OCCIDENTAL, Nautica y Geografica de DoN ANTONIO The "Biblioteca Occidental " occupies columns 516-912, and is divided into Barcia, as we learn from the Bibliotheca Nova Americana of Mr. Rich, p. 55, MDCCLXXXIX. BIBLIOTHECA AMERICANA, or, a Chronological Catalogue of the most curious from the first volume of Cullen's Translation of Clavigero, containing some MDCCCVII. CATALOGUE OF AUTHORS, who have written on Rio de la Plata, Paraguay, The catalogue occupies 16 pp., and is formed from Leon-Pinelo's Epitome, MDCCCXVI. BIBLIOTHECA HISPANO-AMERICANA SEPTENTRIONAL: || Catálogo y Noticia Calle De Then follows the Dedication, two pp. commencing :-A Fernando Septimo, || |