he beautiful 1472 edition from the press of Nicolas Jenson of
Venice; and the earliest editions of Homer, Cicero, Horace, Virgil,
Tacitus, Terence, and Valerius Maximus.

The library also contained the Dante printed at Foligno in 1472, and
that printed at Florence in 1481; the first issue of the Latin
translation of the Letter of Columbus, printed at Rome in 1493; a fine
copy of the _Poliphili Hypnerotomachia_, printed by Aldus at Venice in
1499; the Aldine Petrarch of 1501; several rare Missals and Books of
Hours, the most notable of them being a vellum copy of the Vallombrosa
Missal, printed at Florence in 1503; and a copy of the _Tewrdannck_,
also on vellum, printed at Nuremberg in 1517.

There were several Caxtons, among them being _The Myrrour of the World_
and Higden's _Polychronicon_.

The literature of the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. was well
represented, and the library contained a copy of that rare work,
Archbishop Parker's _De Antiquitate Ecclesiae Britannicae_.

The collection also comprised several fine and interesting manuscripts.
Deserving especial notice were a beautiful illuminated Office, on
vellum, of the Virgin Mary, executed for Francis I., King of France; the
original Report of Convocation to Henry VIII. on the Legality of his
proposed Divorce from Anne of Cleves, subscribed with the autograph
signatures of the Archbishop and all the Bishops and Clergy assembled in
Convocation, dated July 9th, 1540; and an autograph manuscript of
Dugdale's Visitation of the County of York in 1665-66.

Sir M. Masterman Sykes possessed an immense collection of prints. It
included a complete set of Bartolozzi's engravings which is said to have
cost Sir Mark nearly five thousand pounds; his collection of portraits
was considered to be one of the best in the kingdom; and Dibdin declared
that his 'Faithornes and Hollars almost defied competition.' He also
accumulated a considerable number of pictures, bronzes, coins and
medals.

All the collections were dispersed by sale in 1824. The books were sold
by Mr. Evans of Pall Mall in three parts, commencing on the 11th of May
and continuing until the 28th of June. The total amount realised was
eighteen thousand seven hundred and twenty-nine pounds, sixteen
shillings. The prices obtained were by no means high. The Gutenberg
Bible, which was a very fine one, fetched less than two hundred pounds,
and the copy of the Mentz Psalter, for which Mr. Quaritch subsequently
g