260
��NOTES BY THE WAV.
��Guildhall Library opened.
��Histories of
the Companies.
��A Brief Guide to the Guildhall Museum. By Charles Welch, F.S.A., Librarian and Curator. 1901.
Calendars of Letter-Books, lettered A to H, A.D. 12751399. By R. R. Sharpe, D.C.L. (A Calendar of Letter-Book I is in course of preparation. )
Memorials of Newgate Gaol and the Sessions House, Old Bailey. By the same. 1907.
It does not seem to be generally known that the following can be purchased at the prices annexed, application to be made to the Guildhall Library Committee :
Memorials of London, 10s. 6d. Index Remembrancia, 5s. London's Roll of Fame, 5s. Calendar of Letters, 5s. Calendar of Wills, 2 vols, 21. 2s. London and the Kingdom, 3 vols., 10s. 6d.
Calendars of Letter-Books can be purchased only in complete sets (9 vols. : the ninth in course of preparation) at 5s. a volume.
I can only express a hope that future years will show a more extended list, and that the Corporation may be induced to open up still further the vast stores of historical wealth they possess. There surely can be little doubt that if works of the character that could be produced were so published as to become known to the general public, they could be made a commercial success. The value attached to many of the works that have already been printed by the Corporation is shown by the prices affixed to those that occur at intervals in booksellers' catalogues. One has only to turn over lists of this kind to see how popular is the story of our old city.
On the 29th of January, 1853, Mr. Thorns announced in ' N. & Q.' that " the Corporation of London Library is being thrown open to all literary men ; the tickets of admission being accompanied by letters expressive of a wish that the holders should make frequent use of them." The Library, as is well known, is full of valuable records, those of the various Companies being specially interesting. Among those relating to the Stationers are ' Orders, Rules, and Ordinances,' 1678, and another pamphlet, ' The Charters and Grants, with an Account of their Freemen's Rights and Privileges,' 1754. I cannot say too much of the kind- ness I have received from the librarians at the Guildhall, who have cheerfully made search to afford me the information I required. They tell me that, so far as they remember as regards the histories of Livery Companies, the earliest complete account is Heath's ' History of the Grocers' Company,' 1829, if we except a short account of the same Company by William Ravenhill, Clerk of the Company, issued in 1689. There is a very elaborate history of the
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