Catalogue of the printed books preserved at Haigh Hall, Wigan, Co. Pal. Lancast > A--D

XVll
INTRODUCTION
XVlll
binding, or historic provenance, I have broken up many
hundreds of these volumes, and each individual tract is
separately bound in stout "Japanese vellum paper,"
and then ranged in order of date and subject in book
boxes. The tracts are thus accessible and can always
be added to by interpolation.
The news-letters or papers of the period of the Great
Civil Wars I have treated in the same manner, and I have
broken them up so as to show the course of public
opinion of all sides in contiguity one with another.
Thus the various news-letters which deal with a week
ending say 19th June, 1646, will be found together in
the box which is titled with that date. What may
be considered to be a treatment almost barbarous, I find
a very useful method, and the only one allowing a
missing number to take its proper place, and again the
correct sequence of any news-letter may easily be re¬
stored. I have not, however, treated the "London
Gazette " in this manner.
The detail of the form once adopted, the catalogue
advanced fairly rapidly. It was written on fairly stiff
paper of a small folio size and worked on the card
system. The boxes grew rapidly in number under
Mr. Edmond and his assistants (of whom I speak later),
and at length their number and bulk caused them to be
unwieldy, and I began setting up in type to relieve
the congestion about 1899.
For many years the University Press of Aberdeen had
undertaken all my work, and the printing was entrusted
to this establishment. It is right that I should here ex¬
press my warm thanks to Mr. Thomson for the constant
care and attention which has been given to the work.
He has allowed the galleys to remain standing since the
commencement, for the convenience of arrangement,
and at one time there were very nearly five tons of type
set up, ready for paging. Another feature which should
be noticed is the fact that almost every language is
represented in its own character (of course with a
transcription or translation).
For the outward form of the volumes I am indebted
to the British Museum Catalogue—a small folio in
appearance, printed in double columns.
It has often been said that nothing is more prone to
take the conceit out of a man than for him to print a
catalogue. I am in truth very sensible of the fact. In¬
consistent treatment may be found in the works first
catalogued eighteen or twenty years ago, and which has
not been found easy to correct, inasmuch as the type
has been standing for more than ten years ; and again
in methods of arrangement every one's pet goose is the
only swan. I hope therefore that my many professional
friends in the public institutions where these volumes
may go will be lenient to my shortcomings, and be as¬
sured that I am responsible for all of them and not these
gentlemen whose names here follow.
LIST OF THE STAFF OF THE BIBLIOTHECA
LINDESIANA FROM 1891.
Messrs. J. P. Edmond. Librarian . . . 1891-1904 (Dead).
A. G. E. Phillips, Assistant Librarian 1896-1904
A. F. Faiehukst, Junior Assistant . 1898-1905
J. Peacock, Assistant . . . 1899-1903
W. B. Rye, Assistant .... 1899-1900 (Dead).
Messrs. Alex, de Zandt, Assistant (Scandinavian
and Slavonic) .... 1899-1902
Miss V. M. Sinclair, Assistant (for
Cross References) . . . 1901-1906
Mr. J. P. Edmond resigned the appointment on being
chosen Chief Librarian of the Signet Library, Edinburgh.
A. G. E. PHILLIP.S, promoted Librarian . 1904
A. Fairhurst, Assistiint, promoted . 1907-1909 (Dead).
R. F. MiDDLEHURST, Junior Assistant . 1906.
G. Enuland, As.sistant.... 1909.
Outside help was necessary on certain languages :
A. E. CowLEY, M.A., Sub-librarian, the Bodleian Library,
in the Hebrew and Samaritan languages.
A. G. Ellis, of the British Museum, Oriental books com¬
prising the Arabic, Armenian, Canarese, Gujerati,
Javanese, Malay, Pehlvi, Persian, Sanscrit, Turk¬
ish, and Zend languages.
^ To all these gentlemen I desire to express my most
sincere thanks for I their constant and cordial co-opera¬
tion and zeal for the good of the Li))rary and the success
of the Catalogue, to the making of which they have given
so many hours of their lives.
WHAT REMAINS FOR ME TO DO.
It must by no means be thought that the volumes now
issued contain the whole of the Library. Of late years
my interest and attention have been mainly directed to
history, and I have brought together a considerable
amount of material of a very peculiar nature. The
collection of this literature in the form of single sheets,
broadsides, proclamations, etc., has always had a fascina¬
tion for me—and at times I have printed a few copies of
email monographs which I have since extended. One
of these concerning Royal and other proclamations is
even now at the press only waiting for its introduction.
Another volume also at press, though not so far
advanced, is devoted to a subject seldom met with and
little known—the literature of Philately. Following these
will come the catalogue of books on the French Revolu¬
tion and the First Empire, and also a catalogue raisonm
of the autograph letters dealing with the same period.
It is also my intention to reprint other small works on
Ballads, English and foreign Broadsides, Notes and
Collations, and Miscellanea; finally, the catalogue of a
collection of some 8,000 Papal Bulls, Briefs, etc., on all
subjects dealing with the ecclesiastical and civil history
of Rome and the States of the Church.
To have included some 30,000 or 40,000 single folio
sheets in the main catalogue would have destroyed the
continuity both of the catalogue itself and the treat¬
ment of their subject-matter: this is my reason for their
separate publication.
L'ENVOI.
I have done, and now send forth the results of some
twenty years' continuous work, undertaken in the cause
of my successors, as a souvenir to my personal friends,
and I trust as a work of interest to the many public
institutions and libraries spread over the world, with
whom I have long been in friendly communication.
2, Cavendish Square, W.
July, 1910.
CRAWFORD.