works on astrology to help account for one of his humorous characters, old Foresight of Love for Love. Since many of the 659 items consist of collected works, the library is actually more extensive than the number of items might indicate. Jacob Tonson had good reason for wanting his nephew to buy Congreve’s “genteel & well chosen” library.

Acknowledgments

The editor is deeply grateful to the many librarians on both sides of the Atlantic and to others who have generously assisted in the preparation of this study. A grant from the American Philosophical Society in 1949 made possible the search which incidentally turned up Congreve’s manuscript book list, and grants from the Henry E. Huntington Memorial Library (1951) and the Folger Shakespeare Library (1952) provided time and rare faculties for the editing.

The staff of the Union Catalog of the Library of Congress has located in America editions in the book list not already included in the Catalog; S. P. L. Filon, Esq., of the National Central Library in London, has helped with English books neither in the British Museum nor in the libraries at Oxford and Cambridge; and Dr. Stanley Pargellis has very kindly had Congreve’s list checked for all items in the Newberry Library. The Reserve Division has noted all titles in The New York Public Library.

To His Grace, the Duke of Leeds, and to the Trustees of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society the editor is indebted for kind permission to photostat and publish the list.

Among the many individuals to whom the editor is indebted, special mention should be made of Miss Isabel Fry and Mr. Lyle Wright, of the Huntington Library; Mrs. Edna C. Davis, of the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library; Miss Eleanor E. Goehring, Professor John L. Lievsay and Professor Alwin Thaler, of the University of Tennessee; and Dr. Giles E. Dawson, Dr. James G. McManaway, and Dr. Edwin E. Willoughby, of the Folger Shakespeare Library. Many items in the book list might not have been identified except for the kindness and the genius of Dr. Willoughby.

1 From Riccoboni’s An Historical and Critical Account of the Theatre in Europe, p. 175. One of the last books added to Congreve’s library was Riccoboni’s Histoire du Théâtre Italien, Paris, [1727]. See Number 314.

ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE BOOK LIST