Amanuensis” that he speaks of in writing to Pope about 1726. That was the year, it seems, when the bulk of the list—587 of the 659 items—was made out. The year is indicated by the fact that this hand enters titles of books published through 1725 but none later. After each alphabetical group a space is left as if for additions, and into these spaces a distinctive second hand has made thirty-one entries, including some as late as 1727 but none later. Then follow forty-one entries by a third hand, including four for 1727 and fourteen for 1728 but none later. Entries by the third hand are probably for books added to the library during Congreve’s final illness. It is interesting to note that none of the entries in this last hand are followed by a “Theca” or shelf location, an omission indicating that by the time these titles were entered, the library had been moved from the original quarters in Surrey Street. Perhaps the young Duchess, owner of the books after Congreve’s death, had already moved them to her house in St. James’s—and possibly the hand is that of her secretary.

A small cross is marked before most of the 659 items—before all but fifty-eight (or thirty-seven, when allowance is made for duplicates). Perhaps these crosses were used in connection with an inventory taken in 1729 when the books were inherited by the young Duchess of Marlborough, or in 1740 when the books were incorporated by marriage settlement into the Leeds library. The thirty-seven items then missing (as indicated by the lack of a cross in Congreve’s list) were Numbers 27, 29, 54, 97, 109, 110, 127, 136, 169, 196, 217, 227, 246, 249, 275, 307, 350, 373, 393, 417, 432, 438, 439, 492, 494, 517, 520, 529, 530, 531, 532, 590, 591, 598, 605, 653, and 658. The two books that had been lent to “Ld. Hervy” (see Congreve’s Number 81) and to the Duchess of Marlborough (see Number 372) were in place at the time of the inventory, and each was duly acknowledged by a cross. An additional larger cross surrounded by four dots appears before eleven items (Numbers 36, 65, 120, 232, 256, 283, 298, 303, 462, 484, and 516) to indicate books sent—so the librarian says in a marginal note—to the Duchess of Leeds. These larger crosses could not have been made, of course, before 1740.

Congreve’s book list is here edited and printed for the first time. After the 659 numbers, which are supplied by the editor to facilitate cross references and indexing, the 659 items of the list are printed with spelling, capitalization, and punctuation as in the manuscript. Occasional raised letters, such as the “r” in “Mr.” and the “e” in “ye,” are brought down into the line. The great variety of dots and dashes used to indicate shortened titles are consistently eliminated. Underscored words are printed in italics. The line breaks in the manuscript are indicated by shilling marks (/). In the manuscript many of the “Theca” numbers have been written over older numbers (indicating, no doubt, a shifting of the books to different shelves). Most of the older numbers are illegible, and only the newer, more legible numbers are printed. The occasional use of brackets in the manuscript (as in Numbers 120, 121, 157, 166, 167, and 238) makes impractical the editorial expansion in brackets of such abbreviations as “p” in No. 9 (for “par”) and in No. 180 (for “per”). The thirty-one entries by the second hand and the forty-one by the third hand (Numbers 34, 35, 36, 70, etc.) are designated by the first line of the annotation.

In the paragraph following each item from the manuscript list, the editor attempts to give the author’s name (with dates of his birth and death), to fill out the short title somewhat when it seems interesting or helpful in identification, and to show the place of publication, the name of the publisher, the year of publication, and the format. The letters “V” (for “U”) and “I” (for “J”) are usually given the English