The Historical Point of View 9 the auspices of an historical society, it was, upon the death of Pertz, the original editor, placed under the super- vision of a government commission (1875). The volumes published since that date have established a standard of the highest excellence. 1 In England many volumes of historical material have been issued since 1858 under the direction of the Master of the Rolls, and constitute the so-called " Rolls Series." France, Italy, Austria, Belgium, and other European countries have each their series, great and small. Some of these enjoy the support of the government, but the greater part of them are due to the enterprise of his- torical societies or individual scholars. 2 So rapidly are the sources being printed that it is no Research in longer necessary in most fields of historical research to J^stcry can rely, as formerly, upon the manuscripts in the European now be libraries and archives. Some, at least, of our very best in the great university and public libraries now contain many of the 1^^^ great collections of printed sources, and it is possible to states, carry on satisfactory historical research in some fields in Boston or New York as well as in London or Paris. 3 It would be useless to enumerate the names of these Examples oi many series, even of the very important ones, for it is apparatus' impossible to infer from the general title of an exten- for histori- cal research sive set what particular works and documents it con- tains. Moreover, the modern publication, investigation, 1 For a description of the Monumenta see below, pp. 262 sq. 2 See Bourne, The Teaching of History, Chapter II, for a brief account of the enterprises in this field. A fuller account is given by Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen, " Einleitung," pp. 1-40. 3 The chief collections of material, whether in the original languages or in English translation, will be found mentioned in the bibliographies given below at the close of the chapters.
