See Franklin's Memoirs of General Thomas.— Scott's Memoirs of Eradut Khan.—Franklin's Tracts. —Elphinstone's Account of Caubul. (s.) BIBLIOGRAPHY.Bibliography.
• THE branch of knowledge to which the term Biblio graphy is now universally applied, would certainly be more correctly designated by the wdrd Bibliology. It was originally employed to denote skill in the perusing and judging of ancient Manuscripts ;• but is, at pre sent, appropriated to the Knowledge of Books, in re ference to their Constituent parts, their Editions and different degrees of Rareness, their Subjects and Classes.
It is in France, Germany, and Italy, that this spe cies of knowledge has been most largely and success fully cultivated; for though it will appear in the se quel, that Britain has produced some valuable works in this department, it will also appear, that our Bibli ographical labours have been greatly surpassed by the Continental Nations. It is to France, in particu lar, that we are indebted for the most popular and useful treatises in Bibliography ; but whilst we make this acknowledgment, in which all who have had any experience of their utility will concur, we must add, that some of her Bibliographers have lately fallen into a very extravagant mode of describing the nature and rank of this branch of Learning. They go so far as to represent it as a Universal Science, in whose ample range all other sciences, and all other kinds of knowledge, are compre hended. La Bibliographie etant la plus ntendue de toutes les sciences, sembk devoir les relfermer toutes, is the language of one; j La Bibliographie est.la plus vote et la plus universelle de toutes les connoissances humaines, is the language of another ; t though, no thing surely can be more preposterously illogical than to view it in this light, merely because it is conver sant about Books, and because Books are the vehi cles of all sorts of knowledge. Yet this is the sole foundation that we can discover for these extravagant representations ; which tend, as in all other cases of extravagant pretension, to bring ridicule upon a sub ject, that, were its nature and objects simply and cor rectly defined, could not fail to appear both useful and important. We have already stated, in a gene ral way, what kind of knowledge of Books it is, to which the appellation of Bibliographical knowledge is applied ; but, in order more fully to illustrate its nature and scope, as well as to point out its limits and its utility, we shall now endeavour to detail some what more particularly the chief Qbjects of inquiry which it embraces.
It is the business of the Bibliographer, then, to trace the history of Books in regard to their forms and all other constituents, and, consequently, to trace the beginnings and progress of Typography. It belongs to him, in a particular manner, to mark the differences of editions, and to indicate that edi tion of every Book which is esteemed the most cor rect and valuable. In the case of Books published without the names of their authors, or under feigned names, it is his business to assign those names with which the discoveries of Literary History may have furnished him. All remarkable facts attaching to the history of Books,—such as the number of their edi tions, their rareness, their having been condemned to the flames, or suppressed, belong to the province of Bibliographical inquiry. Further, every one who en gages in any particular line of study, must of course wish to know what nooks have been published in re Bard to it, or in regard to any particular point that interests his curiosity ; now, it is the business of the Bibliographer to furnish this most species of in formation : in other words, the compilation of Cata logues of the Books which have appeared in the various Branches of Knowledge, constitutes another grand de partment of Bibliography. It is by means of such Ca talogues that, to use the words of Dr Johnson, " th e'Stu dent comes to know what has been written on every part of learning; that he avoids the hazards of encoun tering difficulties which have already been cleared ; of discussing questions which have already been decided; and of digging in mines of literature which have al ready been exhausted." (Preface to the Catalogus Bibliothecce Harleiana.) Such is the outline of the principal objects and pursuits of the Bibliographer ;- and while it must ap pear abundantly evident that his Science, as it is called, has no pretensions to those lofty epithets upon which we have animadverted ; it must, we think, be allowed by every one, that it embraces many curious, as well as interesting subjects of in quiry ; and that it is calculated to afford very useful aids to every other species of intellectual occupation. This view of it will be fully confirmed by the details which we are to offer in the course of this article ; in which we propose to point out the progress and best sources of information, in regard to all those departments of Bibliographical knowledge, to which we have alluded. In doing so, we shall divide the subject into such a number of heads, as shall appear • best suited to the purposes intended.