W. C a r e w H a z l i t t Coinage of the European Continent

" Mr. Hazlitt has done much work during the last thirty years, and some of it has been bitterly
attacked ; but we venture to think that the debt of gratitude which all students of Old English literature
owe to him for his bibliographical collections must remain in the most enduring opinion of his labours.
We would bid all readers who care for the books of the past read the practical, manly, and comprehensive
introduction prefixed to this volume. It forms one of the best pleas for the study of English literature
which we know ;
and coming close upon the important speech of Mr. John Morley, it takes up a phase of
the subject not yet adequately recognised. The academic side has been put by Mr. Morley,
the practical
'
by Mr. Hazlitt : The England in which we dwell is one with the England which lies behind us. So far
as the period which I comprehend goes, it is one country and one race ; and I do not think that we should
precipitately and unkindly spurn the literature which our foregoers left to us and to our descendants for
ever, because it may at first sight strike us as irrelevant to our present wants and . . .
feelings. The considerer
of modern opinions and customs is too little addicted to retrospection. He seems to be too shy of
profiting on the one hand by the counsels or suggestions, on the other by the mistakes of the men
who have crossed the unrepassable line, who have dealt with the topics and problems with which we have
to deal.' These are stirring and sensible words, and we should much like to see them more widely distributed
than the limited issue of this volume will allow.
" It is impossible, in a short notice such as we can only give, to do justice to the contents of this
work. The titles of every book or tract are given in full, having been transcribed by Mr. Hazlitt himself;
and there is often appended to the entry interesting information about the condition, history, and, above
all things, the present locale of the book. Such work as this requires labour, and skill, and knowledge of
no ordinary kind. Now that Mr. Bradshaw is dead, there are few indeed who possess these qualities, and
apparently only one who puts them at the service of his fellows. It has been often said of late that the
bibliographer and indexer are more needed than the book-writer ; and if this is true, as we are inclined to
think it, Mr. Hazlitt's work must, in relation to the age in which it is produced, be awarded a .
very high
place. It enables us to ascertain what has been done in English literature, and therefore ought to enable
us to do our work so much the better. Almost all departments of study are now occupied as much with a
reconsideration of old facts as with the discovery of new, and for this purpose such books as Mr. Hazlitt's
are indispensable. We are happy to say that a competent Cambridge student has undertaken to compile
an index to the four volumes of bibliography issued by Mr. Hazlitt, and that this will be published by Mr.
Quaritch as soon as it is ready." The Antiquary, April 1887.
" I very respectfully, yet with cordial pleasure, submit to such sections of the educated and reading
English community in the United Queendom, the States of America, and elsewhere, as feel an interest in
that early literature, which ought to be dear to the entire English-speaking race, a Third and Final series
of my Bibliographical
Collections and Notes, forming (with my Handbook) the fourth volume of my
achievement in this province of research.
" The objection to the multiplication of alphabets by the sectional treatment, which I have adopted
since the appearance of the Handbook in 1867, is a very valid objection indeed from the point of view of
the consulter. But as this has been, and remains, a labour of love, and as the cost of production was a
grave problem, I simply had no alternative ;
and to the suggestion which I offered in a prior Introduction,
that, after all, these serial volumes might be regarded in the same light as so many catalogues of public or
private collections, I have now the gratifying announcement to add, that a complete Index to the Handbook
and the three Series of Collections and Notes is in preparation by Mr. Gray of Cambridge, who has
most generously volunteered to do the work, and will form a separate volume, to be published by Mr.
Quaritch, when it is
"
completed.
I have incorporated (generally with additions and corrections) in my volumes by degrees nearly the
whole of the Bibliotheca Anglo-Poetica, Corser's Collectanea (excepting, of course, the lengthy and
elaborate extracts and annotations), the British Museum Catalogue of Early English books to 1640, the
Typographical Antiquities of Ames, Herbert, and Dibdin, the Chatsworth, Huth, Ashburnham, and other
private cabinets, and the various publications of Haslewood, Park, Utterson, and Collier.
" Since the Second Series came from the press in 1882, several large private libraries have been
dispersed under the hammer, and all the articles previously overlooked by me have been duly taken up
into my pages. I may enumerate, for example's sake, the celebrated collections of the Earl of Jersey, the
Earl of Gosford, Mr. James Crossley of Manchester, Mr. Payne Collier, the Duke of Marlborough, Mr.
Hartley, Mr. N. P. Simes of Horsham, Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Mr. Michael Wodhull, Sir Thomas
Phillips of Middle-Hill, the Rev. J. Fuller Russell, Mr. Henry Pyne, and Professor Solly. "Preface
Second to
Series.
6. A General Index to Hazlitt's Bibliographical Works (1867-89). By G. J. GRAY.
Edited by W. C. Hazlitt. Medium 8vo. 1893. Pp. 842.
This invaluable volume, forming Vol. 7 of the Series, will assist the student and collector in using the
several volumes which it covers, and will enable him to ascertain at a glance whether and where a book,
tract, or broadside is to be found.
7. Memoirs of William Hazlitt. With Portions of his Correspondence. Portraits
after miniatures by John Hazlitt. 2 vols. 8vo. 1867.
During the last twenty years the author has been indefatigable in collecting additional information for
the Life of Hazlitt, 1867, in correcting errors, and in securing all the unpublished letters which have
come into the market, some of great interest, with a view to a new and improved edition.
8. Inedited Tracts. Illustrating the Manners, Opinions, and Occupations of Englishmen
during the i6th and I7th Centuries. 1586-1618. With an Introduction and Notes. Facsimiles.
4to. 1868.
9- The Works of Charles Lamb. Now first collected, and entirely rearranged. With
Notes. 4 vols. 8vo. E. Moxon & Co. 1868-69.