Calmuc language and the Persian New Testaments are much sought_for. A translation of the Bible for the Booriaits, Mongol worshippers of the Lama, near lake Baikal, is preparing, with the assistance of two young Booriaits of high birth, who embraced Christianity at Petersburg. Auxiliary societies have been formed at Irkutsk, Tobolsk, among the Kirghises, Georgians, and Cossacks of the Don. The word of God is carried from Odessa to the Levant. The bull of Pius VII, June 28, 1816, obtained by the archbishop of Gnesen, did not prevent the Poles from forming a society in Warsaw, under the protection of Alexander. In 1817, the distribution of the Bible by such societies was forbidden in Austria, and those already existing in Hungary were suppressed. Italy, Spain and Portugal have had, as yet, no Bible societies; France only one; but the English have provided them with Bibles in their own tongues. In the U. States of America, the great American Bible society, formed in 1816, acts in concert with the auxiliary societies, of which, in 1829, there were 630. The management of the society is intrusted to a board of managers; stereotype plates have been procured, and Bibles are issued at a low price for the auxiliaries, and for gratuitous distribution among the poor. During the first year, 6,410 copies of Bibles and Testaments were distributed. In 1827, the number amounted to 134,000, and, during the first 8 months of 1828, to 146,000. The whole number issued since the organization of the society is about 700,000. These have been mostly in English, Spanish and French, from the society's plates. The managers have occasionally purchased Bibles in Europe, and issued them to applicants, in German, Dutch, Welsh, Gaelic, Portuguese, modern Greek, and some other European languages. They have also furnished money to print translations into pagan languages, by American missionaries. They have in operation 8 power-presses and 20 handpresses, and copies are prepared at the rate of 300,000 a year. Many of the auxiliary societies have undertaken to discover the number of families in their vicinity destitutc of the Bible, and to supply them. It is the object of the society to supply every family in the U. States, before devoting much attention to distribution abroad. Yet Spanish America and Ceylon, Greece and the Sandwich islands, have been furnished with Bibles by the society. The colonies also exert themselves in this huse. Hayti has offered her assistance,

and even the Esquimaux already read the Acts of the Apostles in their own language. A similar zeal for the distribution of the Bible has been awakened in Southern Africa and in India, where Bibles are published in the languages of the country even the islands on the eastern coast of Asia are not neglected. In the Netherlands, there is a fraternal union of different sects for this purpose, as is also the case in other countries containing various sects. Such associations excite among different sects a feeling of mutual sympathy, by a consideration of their mutual participation in the most important truths of Christianity. Such a general diffusion of the Bible is an event of great historical importance. Its translation into languages which have been hitherto destitute of all literature, and even of writing, must contribute greatly to the progress of intellectual cultivation throughout the earth, and must have an especial influence on the advancement of general philology. The Bible societies may be considered as assisting to pave the way for the introduction of European civilization into all the less enlightened regions of the earth. The societies adhere to the principle of publishing the Bible without notes, starting from the Protestant principle, that the Bible, and the Bible alone, is the foundation of Christian faith. Undoubtedly, the various sects of Christians, differing so greatly as they do, and always must, respecting certain points of faith and the interpretation of particular passages of the Scriptures, could not be made to co-operate with zeal in the distribution of the Bible, if the text were accompanied with commentaries. But now missionaries and ministers must supply, by verbal explanation, the place of notes, because it is clear to every body that the Bible cannot be understood without the explanation afforded by study. Thus the opinions of individuals, orally delivered, are substituted for the more precise and profound criticism of united commentators. It seems to us, that the friends of Bible societies and their opponents (a part of the Catholic clergy) have both run into extremes; the former by injudiciously distributing the Scriptures, in some cases, before people were fit to understand them; and the latter by an unqualified prohibition of the reading of the Bible by the laity. The order of the pope, that only certain editions and versions should be read by the Catholics, originated from views founded on the experience of all ages of Chris

tianity, that men of pure intentions often fall into dreadful errors and absurdities from want of just direction in the study of the Bible. And it remains a fact not to be disputed by the most ardent defender of immediate and supernatural assistance to the reader of the Bible, that, being composed of parts extremely various in their character, written in times and countries very remote from us, often in metaphorical language, and intimately connected with the customs, views, history and language of particular nations, and even individuals, its real meaning is not to be found without an extensive study of many different branches of science, the results of which may be used to assist the less informed reader. History shows us, that the blackest crimes and the most egregious follies have been defended by the misapplication of the text of the Sacred Scriptures. It must be left to time to show what will be the ultimate effect of Bible societies. Undoubtedly it will be found, that some portion of their efforts have been made in vain, as was, indeed, to be expected; and, in many instances, they appear to us to have been made injudiciously. The extension of the habit of reading through so many parts of the world, we imagine, will be one of the greatest and most lasting consequences of the exertions of these societies.

BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY is the science which describes the political state, manners and customs of the Jewish nation, as well as the usages of the early Christian church; consequently, the antiquities of the Bible. Civil relations, religious ceremonies, holy places, domestic customs and utensils, modes of dress, and other external circumstances, form the subject of this science. The antiquities of the Bible are partly Jewish, partly Christian. The sources of the former are the Old Testament, the works of Josephus and Philo, the Talmud, and the writings of the rabbins. The sources of Christian antiquities are the New Testament and the writings of the fathers, who lived and wrote soon after the age of the apostles. Without the knowledge of the manners and customs of a nation, many passages of their authors, which contain allusions to them, remain unintelligible, and, on this account, the knowledge of the antiquities of the Bible is necessary to the interpreter of the Holy Scriptures. Among the modern authors, who have written on Jewish antiquities, Voland, John Simonis Ernst Aug. Schulz, George

Lawrence Bauer, Warnekros de Wette and John Jahn particularly deserve to be mentioned. We may find information concerning Christian antiquities in the commentaries on the New Testament, and in the historians of the church. The Germans have particularly distinguished themselves in this department.

BIBLIOGRAPHY (from Bißiov, a book, and yoapw, I describe) was originally a branch of archæography, or the art of describing or explaining antiquities, and denoted skill in the perusing and judging of ancient manuscripts; but in its modern and more extended sense, it signifies the knowledge of books, in reference to the subjects discussed in them, their different degrees of rarity, curiosity, reputed and real value, the materials of which they are composed, and the rank which they ought to hold in the classification of a library. It is, therefore, divided into two branches, the first of which has reference to the contents of books, and may be called, for want of a better phrase, intellectual bibliography; the second treats of their external character, the history of particular copies, &c., and may be termed material bibliography. The object of the first kind is to acquaint literary men with the most valuable books in every department of study, either by means of catalogues raisonnées simply, or by similar catalogues accompanied with critical remarks. Bibliography belongs to those sciences, the progress of which is de pendent, in a great degree, on external circumstances. It has been and still is cultivated most successfully in France. This is owing not only to the riches of the great and daily increasing public libraries, liberally thrown open to the use of the public, the large number of fine private collections, and the familiarity of its numerous literary men with books of all ages and countries, but, in a great degree, to the practical spirit of the nation which induces their bibliographers to keep constantly in view the supply of existing wants. Brunet's Manuel du Libraire was the first important work which contained, in an alphabetical form, a list of the most valuable and costly books of all literatures; Barbier's Dictionnaire des Ouvrages Anonymes, the first systematic and satisfactory treatise on this subject Renouard's Catalogue d'un Amateur, the first, and, for a long time, the best guide of the French collectors; the Bibliographie de la France, the first work which showed how the yearly accumulation of literary works can be recorded in the

most authentic manner. No less valuable are the works of Peignot, Petit Radel, Renouard on the Aldines (see Aldine Editions), and many others. English bibliography can boast of but one of the advantages of the French; that is, of rich public and private collections; but the use of them is allowed only to a limited degree, and the English bibliographers are far behind the French. The works of doctor Adam Clarke (Bibliographical Dictionary, 1820) and of Robert Watt (Bibliotheca Britannica, 1819) are compilations of little value; the undigested collections of Beloe (Anecdotes of Literature, 1807), of Brydges (British Bibliographer, 1818; Censura Literaria, 1805), of Savage (the Librarian, 1808), and others, are destitute of judicious selection, and often of correctness. Ottley's Inquiry into the Origin and Early History of Engraving (1816), and Singer's Researches into the History of Playing Cards (1816), works which belong to very important points of bibliography, are deficient in correct criticism; and if we are not dazzled by the type, the paper and the engravings of Dibdin's productions (Typographical Antiquities, 1810; Bibliotheca Spenceriana, 1814; Bibliographical Decameron, 1817; Tour in France and Germany, 1821), we cannot be blind to the superficial acquirements of the author. There is now publishing, in England, the Bibliographer's Manual, an imitation of Brunet's Manuel abovementioned. It is to be completed in 12 parts. The learned Germans, little assisted by public, almost entirely destitute of private collections, consulting only the real wants of the science, have actively endeavored to promote it. Ersch is the founder of German bibliography. He gave it a truly scientific character by his extensive work, Allgemeines Repertorium der Literatur (Universal Repertory of Literature, 1793-1807), and by his Handbuch der Deutschen Literatur (Manual of German Literature). German bibliography is particularly rich in the literature of separate sciences; and the bibliography of the Greek and Latin literature, as well as the branch which treats of ancient editions, was founded by the Germans. The first attempt, in Germany, to prepare a universal bibliographical work, was made by Ebert (q. v.), who wrote, also, in the 10th number of Hermes, a review of the whole modern German bibliography. The booksellers' dictionary is a very valuable German bibliographical work. A supplement is published annually. The following are valuable German bib

liographical works in particular departments of science and literature:-T. A Nösselt's Anweisung zur Kenntniss der Besten Allgemeinen Bücher in der Theologie, 4th ed. Leipsic, 1800, and the continuation of it by Simon, Leipsic, 1813; C. F. Burdach's Literatur der Heilwissenschaft, Gotha, 1810, 2 vols.; W. Gf. Ploucquet's Literatura Medica, Tübingen, 1808, 4 vols. 4to.; T. G. Meusel's Bibliotheca Historica, Leipsic, 1782-1802, 11 vols. in 22 volumes, not finished; his Literatur der Statistik, Leipsic, 1816, 2 vols.; G. R. Böhmer's Bibliotheca Scriptorum Historia Naturalis, Leipsic, 1785-99, 7 vols. : Alb. Haller's Bibliotheca Botanica, Zurich, 1771, 2 vols., 4to.; Anatomica, Zurich, 1774, 2 vols., 4to.; Chirurgica, Bern, 1774, 2 vols., 4to., and Medicine Practice, Bern, 1776 et seq., 4 vols., 4to., &c.—Fred. Blume has lately published the first volume of Iter Italicum, containing an account of the archives, inscriptions and libraries in the Sardinian and Austrian provinces. Italian bibliography is no longer what it was in the times of Mazzuchelli, Audiffredi and Tiraboschi. A great indifference is almost universal in regard to the public libraries; the private collections are becoming more and more scarce, and the precious ones of count Cassano Serra and Melzi, in Naples and Milan, have been lately sold to England. The bibliographical works of Italy treat principally of the provincial libraries (one of the latest is Moreri's Bibliografia della Toscana, 1805): Gamba's Serie de' Testi (1812) is a very valuable work. The Dutch, Spaniards and Portuguese have, of late years, done little for this science; but the learned Bentkowsky's Polish Literature (1814) deserves the highest praise. The count Zechenyi, a Hunga rian, published a catalogue of all Hungarian works, Pest, 1799-1807, 9 vols., 8vo., and 1 vol., 4to. Russia has produced, in the department of bibliography, little more than catalogues. In regard to particular sciences, many useful cata logues exist, commonly called Bibliothecæ. Well arranged and accurate catalogues of libraries, which are rich in particular departments, may be used with advantage by the bibliographer, as may, also, the annual catalogue of the book-fair at Leipsic. (See Books, Catalogues of Directions for the study of bibliography are contained in Achard's Cours de Bib liographie (Marseilles, 1807, 3 vols.), Th. Hartwell Horne's Introduction to the Study of Bibliography (London, 1814, 2 vols.), and Gabr. Peignot's Dictionnaire

aisonné de Bibliologie (Paris, 1802-4, 3 vols.)

Material Bibliography, often called, by way of eminence, bibliography, considers books in regard to their exterior, their history, &c., and has been principally cultivated in France and England. The different branches of material bibliography (see, also, Bibliomania) may here be mentioned the knowledge of the ancient eitions (incunabula, or, if classical authors, editiones principes), some of the best works on which are, G. Wfg. Panzer's Annales Typographici (Nuremberg, 1793—1803, 11 vols., 4to.), coming down to 1536; the Annales Typographici, by Maittaire (Hague, 1719 et seq., 11 vols., 4to.), which not only contains the titles, but investigates the subjects of works. More exact descriptions of particular an-, cient editions are found in Serna Santander's Dictionn. Bibliogr. der 15ième Siècle (Brussels, 1805, 3 vols.); Fossius' Catalogus Codicum, sec. 15, Impressor. Bibliotheca Magliabecchiana (Florence, 1793, 3 vols. fol.), and others. The study of rare books, on account of the vague principles on which it rests, is more difficult than is generally believed, and easily degenerates into superficial and capricious trifling. This has been more injured than promoted by I. Vogt's Catalogus Librorum Rariorum (Frankfort and Leipsic, 1793), and J. Jac. Bauer's Bibliotheca Libror. Rarior. Universalis (Nuremberg, 1770-91, 12 vols.) We may also mention here the catalogues of the books prohibited by the Roman church (Indices Librorum Prohibitorum et Expurgatorum). For the discovery of the authors of anonymous and pseudonymous works, we may use Barbier's Dictionnaire des Ouvrages anonymes et pseudonymes (Paris 1806-9, 4 vols.), which is valuable for its accuracy (but it contains only French and Latin works). We need not observe, what an important source of information, in the department of bibliography, are literary journals. (See Bibliomania.)

BIBLIOMANCY; divination performed by means of the Bible; also called sortes biblicæ, or sortes sanctorum. It consisted in taking passages at hazard, and drawing indications thence concerning things future. It was much used at the consecra. tion of bishops. It was a practice adopted from the heathens, who drew the same kind of prognostication from the works of Homer and Virgil. In 465, the council of Vannes condemned all who practised this art to be cast out of the communion of the church; as did the councils

of Agde and Auxerre. But, in the 12th century, we find it employed as a mode of detecting heretics. In the Gallican church, it was long practised in the election of bishops; children being employed, on behalf of each candidate, to draw slips of paper with texts on them, and that which was thought most favorable deIcided the choice. A similar mode was pursued at the installation of abbots, and the reception of canons; and this custom is said to have continued in the cathedrals of Ypres, St. Omer and Boulogne, as late as the year 1744. In the Greek church, we read of the prevalence of this custom as early as the consecration of Athanasius, on whose behalf the presiding prelate, Caracalla, archbishop of Nicomedia, opened the Gospels at the words, "For the devil and his angels." Matt. xxv. 41. The bishop of Nice first saw them, and adroitly turned over the leaf to another verse, which was instantly read aloud: "The birds of the air came and lodged in the branches thereof." Matt. xiii. 32. But, this passage appearing irrelevant to the ceremony, the first became gradually known, and the church of Constantinople was violently agitated by the most fatal divisions during the patriarchate.

BIBLIOMANIA is a word lately formed from the Greek, and signifies a passion for possessing curious books. The true bibliomanist is determined in the purchase of books, less by the value of their contents, than by certain accidental circumstances attending them. To be valuable in his eyes, they must belong to particular classes, be made of singular materials, or have something remarkable in their history. Some books acquire the character of belonging to particular classes, from treating of a particular subject of interest to the bibliomanist; others from something peculiar in their mechanical execution, or from the circumstance of having issued from a press of uncommon eminence, or because they once belonged to the library of an eminent man. Some of these collections are of much intrinsic value. Among them are, various editions of the Bible (the most complete is at Stuttgart); collections of editions of single classics (e. g., those of Horace and Cicero, in the city library at Leipsic); the editions in usum Delphini and cum notis variorum; the editions of Italian classics printed by the academy della Crusca; works printed by the Elzevirs, by Aldus, Comino in Padua, and Bodoni (the most complete collection of Bodoni's editions is in the library of the duchess

on blue vellum paper, with golden letters 2. Magna Charta, London, Whitaker 1816, folio, three copies upon purplecolored vellum, with golden letters; also, books printed from copperplates. Catalogues of these have been made by Peignot and others.-In France and England, the bibliomania often extends to the binding. In France, the bindings of Derome and Bozerian are most valued; in England, those of Charles Lewis and Roger Payne, several specimens of whose skill are to be seen in the library of lord Spencer; among others, the Glasgow edition of Eschylus, 1795, the binding of which cost £16 78. sterling. Payne is said to have sometimes received from 20 to 30 guineas for binding a single volume. This species of luxury is carried to such a height in London, that a copy of Macklin's Bible (4 vols. in folio), in red or blue morocco leather, costs 75 guineas, and Boydell's large edition of Shakspeare (9 vols. with large engravings) £132 sterling. Even the edges of books are often adorned with fine paintings. Many devices have been adopted to give a factitious value to bindings. Jeffery, a London bookseller, had Fox's History of King James II bound in fox-skin, in allusion to the name of the author; and the famous English bibliomanist Askew even had a book bound in human skin. In the library of the castle of Königsberg are 20 books bound in silver (commonly called the silver library.) These are richly adorned with large and beautifully engraved gold plates, in the middle and on the corners. To the exterior decorations of books belongs the bordering of the pages with single or double lines, drawn with the pen (exemplaire regle), commonly of red color-a custom which we find adopted in the early age of printing, in the works printed by Stephens. The custom of coloring engravings has been dropped, except in cases where the subject particularly requires it (for instance, in works on natural history, or the costumes of different nations), because the colors conceal the delicacy of the engraving. On this account, the colored copies of Durer's wood-cuts are esteemed less than those which are left uncolored. The other means of idle competition being almost all exhausted, the bibliomanists have lately hit upon the idea of enriching many works by the addition of engravings, illustrative indeed of the text of the book, but not particularly called for, and of preparing only single copies. Thus Long man, in London, offer an illustrated copy

d'Abrantes); the classics edited by Maittaire, Foulis, Barbou, Brindley, and others, and the celebrated Bipont editions; with others. It was more customary in former times than at present to make collections of books which have something remarkable in their history; e. g., books which have become very scarce, and such as have been prohibited. Of the first sort, the collections of Engel and Salthon were formerly among the most considerable. The one at Dresden is among the largest now existing. Books distinguished for remarkable mutilations have also been eagerly sought for. Those which appeared in the infancy of typography, called incunabula, from the Latin cunæ, a cradle, principally the first editions (editiones principes) of the ancient classics, are still in general request. Much of the value of a book, in the eyes of a bibliomanist, depends upon the material of which it is composed. An enormous price is frequently given for splendid proof impressions of copperplate engravings, and for colored impressions, for works adorned with miniatures and illuminated initial letters; likewise for such as are printed upon vellum. (The most considerable collection of vellum copies was sold at auction, in 1815, at the sale of M'Carthy's books, in Paris. A bibliographical work upon this subject is now preparing by van Praet, in Paris.)-Works printed upon paper of uncommon materials (e. g., Euvres du Marquis de Villeto, Lond. 1786, 16mo.), or various substitutes for paper (e. g., E. Bruckmann's Natural History of Asbestos, upon paper made of asbestos, Brunswick, 1727, 4to.), have been much sought after; likewise those printed upon colored paper. In Italy, the color of books of this sort is commonly blue; in France, rosecolor; in some ancient German books, the color is yellow; sometimes, though rarely, green. A list of books of this class is to be found in Peignot's Repertoire des Bibliographies speciales, Paris, 1810.-Other books, in high esteem among bibliomanists, are those which are printed on large paper, with very wide margins. True bibliomanists often measure the margin by inches and lines. In English advertisements of rare books, some one is often mentioned as particularly valuable on account of its being "a tall copy." If the leaves happen to be uncut, the value of the "opy is much enhanced.-Other works, highly valued by bibliomanists, are those which are printed with letters of gold or silver, or ink of singular color; e. g., 1. Fasti Napolionei, Paris, 1804, 4to., a copy