Volume 1
A catalogue of the manuscripts preserved in the British Museum hitherto undescribed: consisting of five thousand volumes; including the collections of Sir Hans Sloane, bart., the Rev. Thomas Birch, D.D / By Samuel Ayscough, clerk.
- Samuel Ayscough
- Date:
- 1782
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A catalogue of the manuscripts preserved in the British Museum hitherto undescribed: consisting of five thousand volumes; including the collections of Sir Hans Sloane, bart., the Rev. Thomas Birch, D.D / By Samuel Ayscough, clerk. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![Bart, and were part of his mufeum^^ pnrchafed by parliament (a^reeabiv to his will) for the public ufe. In this part, I have, as much as poffible, retained the numbers which had been made ufe of in Sir Elans Sioane's own MS. catalogue ^ fo that whatever references may have been made to any of thefe MSS. they will in general anfwer the prefent numbers ; but as the old Catalogue was numbered before the volumes, // frequently happened:, that thofe arti-' cles which had feveral numbers affixed to them were bound together, and only one number given to the volume; and from the MS. Catalop:ue of MSS. and printed books being written indifcriminately, it fometimes occa- fioned numbers to be given to printed books as though they had been MSS. on which account, there will appear a deficiency in the numbers ; to remedy which I have altered the numbers of about 150 volumes, which as they had not been found entered in the original MS. Catalogue were added to it, and the numbers placed in [Crotchets;] and to prevent any inconvenience from this alteration, 1 have added after the index of num- bers,, a table of the former numbers with the numbers they now bear; but this has not been quite fufficient to fill up all the deficiencies, and there will yet appear a defedl of fome numbers, and confequently deeft will appear againft them in the Index. It is neceffary to declare, that this defecl is occafioned by the reafons before affigned, and not by any lofs iince they were brought to the Mufeum; as I only miffed two volumes that were ever depofited there, and thofe of fo little confequence, that thev can only be fuppofed to be miflaid, or in going over fuch a number pof- fibly overlooked. In this part, I found the MS. catalogue of fome ufe to me in defcribing the books. Yet if any gentleman would give himfelf the trouble of com- paring them, he will find that I have made very confiderable additions to it, and that many volumes were defcribed in a manner quite different from their real contents. The next part is that bequeathed by the Rev. Dr. Birch, in wdiich I have continued the numbers from the Sloanian colledlion ; and it begins with 4101, and continues to 447 8 : thefe numbers are nearly regular, ex- cept a few which it appeared to have been the defign of the Dr. to have kept from public infpeflion for thirty years after his death, and were by order of the curators, fealed up until the expiration of that time, about ,16 years of which-are already paft. They confiil chiefly of tranfcripts made by the Dr. himfelf from original papers in various libraries, and ex- hibit a Ilriking proof of his amazing afliduity in collefling materials to illuflrate the Englifh hiftory, and the lives of many of our iliuflrious countrymen. After](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29001109_0001_0008.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
