quarto. With all these faults it is, nevertheless, a very useful manual; chiefly compiled from M. Ternaux's own collection, formed partly in Spain, and partly in America, and not less so, both in Paris and London. It exhibits no less than 1153 title-pages, notwithstanding the objections just pointed out, quite sufficient to render the recognition of the books to which they refer a matter of no great difficulty. These are also translated into French, and accompanied by notes, most of which are valuable. Besides M. Ternaux's own collection, many titles have been added from the works of Barbosa, Leon-Pinelo, Barcia, and Rich. The following volume may be considered somewhat in the light of a necessary satellite to the Bibliothèque Americaine :

---

CATALOGUE des Livres et MSS. de la Bibliothèque de fen M. RAETZEL.

Paris, Silvestre, 1836. 8vo. 4 leaves and 249 pp.,

in which Nos. 908 to 2117 articles of printed books, and Nos. 2200 to 2227 MS., are on America. This collection was formed by M. Ternaux, probably with an ultimate view to sale, and the volumes relating to America are fully described in the Bibliothèque Americaine.

MDCCCXXXVII.

CATALOGUE d'Ouvrages sur l'Histoire de l'Amerique et en particulier sur celle du Canada, de la Louisiane, de l'Acadie et autres lieux, ci devant connus sur le nom de la Nouvelle France. En trois parties. Rédigé par G. B. FARIBAULT, Avocat. Quebec, des presses de W. Cowan, No. 9, Rue de la Fabrique, 1837. 8vo. iv. and 207 pp.

The compiler, an advocate of Quebec, is known as a corresponding member of the "Société Littéraire de Quebec," and as a most diligent contributor to the "Memoires Historiques," published by that Society. Till Mr. Rich called attention to the work in 1846, it was but little known beyond the confines of Canada; and M. Ludewig, who first saw a copy of it in the library of Mr. J. Sparks, of Cambridge, Mass., could not meet with one for sale in the United States; but had no difficulty in obtaining the work on application to the publisher. The merit of the Catalogue, which evinces great diligence and aptitude, is greatly enhanced by its valuable notes to the more important articles; and though, as regards those of earlier date, there is but little added to our former stock of information, still what is said is to the point; whilst, as regards those of more recent date, the bibliographical notices are in every way most satisfactory. M. Ludewig thus sums up the contents of the volume :— PART I. pp. 1-155. Ouvrages avec les Noms des Auteurs, per ordre alphabetique (with supplement and alphabetical index). 796 articles.

PART II. pp. 157-184. Ouvrages sans Noms d'Auteur, classés d'aprés l'ordre chronologique de leurs publication (from 1505-1836). 178 articles. PART III. pp. 185-207. Cartes, plans et estampes.

MDCCCXXXVIII.

CATALOGUE of the Books relating to America, in the Collection of COLONEL ASPINWAL, United States' Consul in London (1838).

* Incorporated in the Bibliotheca of Mr. Rich. The collection was formed with a view to sale as a whole; but, such a sale not having been effected, it was dispersed. The notes are valuable.

MDCCCXLIII.

In the second volume of the American Pioneer, published at Cincinnati, by the Logan Historical Society, will be found:

J. M. PECK'S DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE of Historical References to the

Valley of the Mississippi.

A clever view of the Literary Memorials relating to the History of the Valley of the Mississippi.

MDCCCXLIX.

BIBLIOTHECA AMERICANA: a Chronological Catalogue of twelve hundred books and pamphlets relating to America (including many not noticed by American Bibliographers), which have been collected during the last seven years, and are now on sale at the annexed low prices. London: John Russell Smith, 4, Old Compton Street, Soho Square, 1849.

A bookseller's price-list, deserving notice, as preserving the titles of pamphlets not elsewhere described, and which even at the date of their publication were of no great moment or interest; to which circumstances they probably owe their present scarcity. The catalogue lays no claim to bibliographical accuracy, beyond size, place of publication, and date of the books it describes. Of these, 66 are prior to 1700, and the residue since.

MDCCCL.

A CATALOGUE of Books, relating to America, on sale at the prices affixed, by F. MÜLLER, at Amsterdam. Amsterdam, 1850. sm. 8vo.

A bookseller's price-list, in which the titles are so greatly abridged, as to be but of little value in a bibliographical point of view. The compiler, Dr. G. Asher, a mere tyro at the time in bibliography, added some notes, which have been censured as evincing a great want of knowledge of the subject. Notwithstanding, some of them possess considerable merit, and as the purpose for which they were inserted was probably chiefly to sell the wares they refer to, or at best to relieve the tedium attendant upon the perusal of a dry list of title-pages, to subject such notices to severe criticism is surely not the province of a bibliographer. We shall have to speak hereafter of Mr. Asher's more recent labours in the same field, and show that he has proved himself competent to the task he has undertaken. With all its imperfections, M. Müller's catalogue, which enumerates 1200 title-pages, about 900 of which had been omitted by earlier bibliographers, is well worthy of notice. Most of these relate to Dutch and French publications of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the far greater portion belong to the second half of the latter.

MDCCCLIII.

BIBLIOTHECA AMERICANA: a Catalogue of a valuable collection of Books and Pamphlets, relating to the History and Geography of North and South America, and the West Indies. For sale, by JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36, Soho Square, London, 1853. 8vo, pp. 196.

A bookseller's price-list of 3372 articles, chiefly books printed since 1700, though there are a few of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The titles, though abridged, are given sufficiently at length for general purposes; and the

dates and places of publication, as well as the size, are always indicated. It contains many works, chiefly English pamphlets, which have escaped the notice of earlier bibliographers. There are two divisions, the first, containing the "books" referred to on the title-pages, is alphabetical; and the second, consisting of the "pamphlets," many of which are anonymous, is arranged in chronological order.

MDCCCLV.

GESCHICHTE der Americanischen Ur-religionen von J. G. MÜLLER. Basel, 1855. 8vo, viii. and 706 pp.

Professor Müller mentions in the introductions to the several sections of his book, the works from which his materials were drawn; and their value may in all cases be estimated from his remarks respecting each as he passes it under review. Professor Müller also draws attention to many papers in Transactions and Periodicals, a class of most valuable materials, which often escapes the research of the most diligent.

MDCCCLIV. VI.

A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL ESSAY on the Dutch Books and Pamphlets, relating to the New Netherland and to the Dutch West India Company; as also on the Maps, Charts, etc., of New Netherland, accompanied by a historical map of the country. Compiled from the Dutch public and private libraries, and chiefly from the collection of Mr. F. Müller, in Amsterdam, by G. M. ASHER, LL.D.-A LIST of the Maps and Charts of New Netherland, and of the Views of New Amsterdam, by G. M. ASHER. Amsterdam, F. Müller, 1855. VI. parts, small 4to (of which only I.-III. have yet appeared), with an Appendix (issued as parts IV., V.).

It is to be regretted that M. Asher attempted to make use of the English language, instead of his native German, to clothe thoughts evidently conceived in the latter. The style is consequently obscure, is full of German idiomatic expressions, and in many instances perfectly unintelligible to a mere English reader. The consequence is, the work never commanded sufficient sale to pay its expenses; and though the whole of the manuscript is in the hands of the publisher, there is but little probability of the remainder being placed in those of the printer at present.

PARTS I. TO III. consist of 120 pages, and furnish 117 title-pages, numbered consecutively. The Appendix consists of 22 and 24 pp., and is devoted to the maps, charts, and views of New Amsterdam. It is illustrated with a folding

map.

M. Asher is at present occupied in producing another impression of the work, revised and corrected, which is rapidly progressing towards completion. He has had access to all the public libraries in Holland, and has most sedulously examined their contents, as to all that relates to his subject, and he has also availed himself of the opportunities a long residence in Amsterdam afforded him, of becoming thoroughly acquainted with the contents of the extensive and valuable collection of M. F. Müller, of a portion of which he compiled a catalogue in 1850, as noticed already at page xix. This has given him an insight into the secret springs of action which prevailed in the colony before it was ceded to the English at the peace of Breda in 1667. As is well known,

Henry Hudson, an Englishman, first discovered the Hudson in 1608, but sold his claim to the Dutch, and the States General, in 1614, granted a patent to a company of merchants for an exclusive trade on that river. The settlement was no sooner formed than Sir Thomas Dale, governor of Virginia, despatched Captain Argall to take possession of it in the name of James I., and the Dutch, unable to resist the force he brought with him, prudently submitted. The States General, however, determined upon forming a colony on the river, and with that view granted the country, in 1621, to the Dutch West India Company, and in 1629 Wouter von Twiller arrived at Fort Amsterdam, now New York, and took upon himself the government. In 1664 Governor Stuyvesant surrendered the colony then known as New Amsterdam to Colonel Nicholls, who had been sent out by Charles II. with three ships and 300 men to reduce the place. The name was then changed to New York, and that of Fort Orange was altered to Fort Albany. After its cession to the English in 1667, the Dutch again possessed themselves of it in 1673, but surrendered it to the English in the following year.

This digression may be pardoned; because M. Asher has not on his titlepage identified the country, which the Dutch in the infancy of the colony called "the New Netherlands," with the State of New York, nor their city of New Amsterdam with the present commercial capital of the United States. Most of the books noticed in his Essay are not mentioned by other bibliographers, and indeed to him may be said to belong the merit of having rescued from oblivion these valuable aids for investigating the colonial history of one of the most important of the United States of America.

The title-pages are given at length, and are accompanied by a literal English translation; but all mention of plates and maps is omitted, though probably in the revised impression of his work, the compiler may remedy this great defect in a book, otherwise claiming great bibliographical accuracy. The notes are chiefly historical, and indeed the book itself is even more valuable to the historical student than to the bibliographer.

PART I.-Descriptions of New Netherland; 28 pp. Enumerating 19 titlepages, with critical analysis of each article.

PART II.-History: A.-West-India Company; pp. 29-120. Adding 98 title-pages, numbered 20-117. About 30 pages are occupied with the notes, which, it must be admitted, are somewhat lengthy. This section is still incomplete, at least 50 pp., consisting solely of title-pages, remaining in manuscript. PART II. B.-Special History of New Netherland, is also still only in manuscript.

THE APPENDIX contains a list of maps, most carefully and accurately put together, giving the dimensions of the plate, with the titles and inscriptions in each case, as well as the names of the places to be found upon each of the maps. This is followed by an account of the first three engraved views of the city of New Amsterdam. Had the entire work been printed it would probably have extended to some 240 pp., without the Appendix, making in the whole a volume of about 300 pp.

MDCCCLVIII.

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICAN ABORIGINAL LANGUAGES, by HERMANN E.

LUDEWIG. With additions and corrections by PROFESSOR WM. W. TURNER. Edited by NICOLAS TRÜBNER. London, Trübner & Co., 60, Paternoster Row, 1858. 8vo, fly and general title 2 leaves; Dr. Ludewig's preface, pp. v. -viii.; the Editor's preface, pp. ix.-xii.; Biographical Memoir of Dr. Ludewig, pp. xiii., xiv.; and INTRODUCTORY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES, pp. xv.— xxiv., followed by list of Contents. Then follow Dr. Ludewig's Bibliotheca Glottica, alphabetically arranged, with additions by the editor, pp. 1-209; Prof. Turner's additions, with those of the editor to the same, also alphabetically arranged, pp. 210-246; Index, pp. 247-256; and list of Errata, pp. 257, 258.

This work is intended to supply a great want, now that the study of Ethnology has proved that exotic languages are not mere curiosities, but essential and interesting parts of the natural history of man, forming one of the most curious links in the great chain of national affinities, defining, as they do, the reciprocity existing between man and the soil he lives upon. No one can venture to write the history of America without a knowledge of her aboriginal languages, and unimportant as such researches may seem to men engaged in the mere bustling occupations of life, they will at least acknowledge that these records of the past, like the stern-lights of a departing ship, are the last glimmers of savage life, as it becomes absorbed, or recedes before the tide of civilization. Dr. Ludewig and Professor Turner have made most diligent use of the public and private collections in America, access to all of which was most liberally granted to them. This has placed at their disposal the labours of the American missionaries, so little known on this side of the Atlantic, that they may be looked upon almost in the light of untrodden ground. But English and continental libraries have also been ransacked, and Dr. Ludewig kept up a constant and active correspondence with scholars of "the Fatherland," as well as with men of similar tastes and pursuits in France, Spain, and Holland, determined to leave no stone unturned, to render his labours as complete as possible. The volume, perfect in itself, is the first of an enlarged edition of Vater's "Linguarum totius Orbis Index." The work has been noticed by the press of both continents, and I may be permitted to refer particularly to the following

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

"This work, mainly the production of the late Herr Ludewig, a German naturalized in America, is devoted to an account of the Literature of the aboriginal languages of that country. It gives an alphabetical list of the various tribes of whose language any record remains, and refers to the works, papers, or manuscripts, in which such information may be found. The work has evidently been a labour of love; and as no pains seem to have been spared by the editors, Prof. Turner and Mr. Trübner, in rendering the work as accurate and complete as possible, those who are most interested in its contents will be best able to judge of the labour and assiduity bestowed upon it by author, editors, and publisher."—Athenaæum, 5th April, 1858.

"This is the first instalment of a work which will be of the greatest value to philologists; and is a compendium of the aboriginal languages of the American continents, and a digest of all the known literature bearing upon those languages. Mr. Trübner's