Bibles.

In the British Museum there are two copies of the Scriptures which are peculiarly calculated to interest the pious visitors, from the circumstances under which they were transcribed. The elder manuscript contains "The Old and New Testaments, in short hand, in 1686," which were copied, during many a wakeful night, by a zealous Protestant, in the reign of James II., who feared that the attempts of that monarch to re-establish Popery would terminate in the suppression of the sacred Scriptures.

The other manuscript contains the book of Psalms and the New Testament, in 15 volumes, folio, written in characters an inch long, with white ink, on black paper manufactured for the purpose. This perfectly unique copy was written in 1745, at the cost of a Mr. Harries, a London tradesman. His sight having failed with age so as to prevent his reading the Scriptures, though printed in the largest type, he incurred the expense of this transcription that he might enjoy those sources of comfort which "are more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold."

The British Museum paid $3750 for the manuscript Bible made by Alcuin, in the eighth century, for the Emperor Charlemagne, whose instructor and friend he was.

The Vinegar Bible.

This Bible derives its title from an edition which contained an error in the heading to the twentieth chapter of St. Luke, in which "Parable of the Vineyard" is printed "Parable of the Vinegar." The edition was issued in the year 1717, by the University of Oxford, at their Clarendon Press.

Queen Elizabeth's "Oone Gospell Booke."

This book is a precious object to the virtuoso. It was the work of Queen Catherine Parr, and was enclosed in solid gold. It hung by a gold chain at her side, and was the frequent companion of the "Virgin Queen." In her own handwriting, at the beginning of the volume, the following quaint lines appear—

"I walke many times into the pleasaunt fieldes of the Holie Scriptures, where I plucke up the goodliesome herbes of sentences by pruning; eate them by readinge; chawe them by musing; and laye them up at length in ye state of memorie by gathering them together; that so, having tasted their sweetness, I may the lesse perceave the bitterness of this miserable life."

This was penned by the Queen, probably while she was in captivity at Woodstock, as the spirit it breathed affords a singular contrast to the towering haughtiness of her ordinary deportment.

Eliot's Indian Bible.

At the age of 42, John Eliot, pastor of a church at Roxbury, Mass., began the study of the Natick Indian dialect, with a view of translating the Bible into that language. He completed the translation in 1658, after a labor of eight years, and the book was issued in 1663. Upwards of one thousand copies were printed, of which twenty copies were dedicated to King Charles. The latter copies are so rare that one of them was sold in the U. S., in 1862, for $1000, and six years later for $1150. Among the many points of interest which Eliot's Indian Bible possesses, not the least is the fact that it is the language of a nation no longer in existence, and is almost the only monument of the race; another, that it is the first edition of the Bible published in this country.

Silver Book.

In the library of Upsal, in Sweden, there is preserved a translation of the four Gospels, printed with metal type upon violet-colored vellum. The letters are silver, and hence it has received the name of Codex Argenteus. The initial letters are in gold. It is supposed that the whole was printed in the same manner as book-binders letter the titles of books on the back. It was a very near approach to the art of printing, but it is not known how old it is.

Huge Copy of the Koran.

D'Israeli mentions a huge copy of the Koran—probably without a parallel, as to its size, in the annals of letters. The characters are described as three inches long; the book itself is a foot in thickness, and its other dimensions five feet by three.

A Lost Book.

Celsus wrote a book against the Magi, which was not preserved. He was an Epicurian philosopher, and lived in the second century. Much regret has been expressed over the loss of the work. He is mentioned with respect by Lucian, who derived from him the account which he gives of Alexander the imposter. Even Origen treated him with consideration.

Book of Riddles.

The Book of Riddles, alluded to by Shakespeare in the Merry Wives of Windsor (Act 1st, scene 1st), is mentioned by Laneham, 1575, and in the English Courtier, 1586. The earliest edition now preserved is dated 1629. It is entitled "The Booke of Merry Riddles, together with proper Questions and with Proverbs to make pleasant pastime; no less usefull and behovefull for any young man or child, to know if he be quick-witted or no."

Unique Library.

A singular library existed in 1535, at Warsenstein, near Cassel. The books composing it, or rather the substitutes for them, were made of wood, and every one of them is a specimen of a different tree. The back is formed of its bark, and the sides are constructed of polished pieces of the same stock. When put together, the whole forms a box, and inside of it are stored the fruit, seed and leaves, together with the moss which grows on its trunk and the insects which feed upon the tree. Every volume corresponds in size, and the collection altogether has an excellent effect.

The New England Primer.

After the horn-book, the children of the incipient United States were furnished with primers, among the most noted of which was "The New England Primer for the more easy attaining the reading of English, to which is added the Assembly of Divines and Mr. Cotton's Catechisms." This primer had in it the alphabet, syllables of two letters, and many a pious distich, such as—

These puritanic verses were accompanied with illustrations fully as bad as the rhymes, which were occasionally stretched to a triplet, as—

The Bedford Missal.

One of the most celebrated books in the annals of bibliography is the richly illuminated Missal executed by John, Duke of Bedford, Regent of France under Henry VI., and presented by him to the king in 1430. This rare volume is eleven inches long, seven and a half inches wide, and two and a half inches thick. It contains fifty-nine large miniatures, which nearly occupy the whole page, and above a thousand small ones, in circles of about an inch and a half in diameter, displayed in brilliant borders of golden foliage, with variegated flowers, etc. At the bottom of every page are two lines in blue and gold letters, which explain the subject of each miniature. This relic, after passing through various hands, descended to the Duchess of Portland, whose