Supplementary catalogues were printed up till 1853; since then the additions have been kept up in manuscript catalogues. A general class catalogue, all the collections, has been commenced, and the printing of it has begun. The first part is a cata logue of ancient and illuminated manuscripts, illustrated with photographic fac-simiks, of which several volumes are published.
The right of using the reading-room includes the privilege of consulting the manu scripts. During 1872, the number of deliveries of manuscripts to readers in the read ing-room amounted to 21,709. To artists and others in the rooms of the department, 1751 deliveries were made. These numbers do not include the volumes exhibited to visitors on private days.
Prints and collections of this department. managed by a keeper and two assistants, are kept in rooms in the n.w. angle of the building. 'they consist of prints and drawings bequeathed to the museum, in 1799, by the Rev. C. M. Cracherode; of those bequeathed in 1824 by Mr. Payne Knight; and of numerous smaller bequests and donations. No purchases were made for this department until about 1840, when a cum was first included in the estimates for this purpose. Since that time, the prints and drawings have been increasing at a rate equal to any of the other departments of the museum. The collection is arranged in schools. 1. The Italian school, containing orig inal drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Correggio, Tintoretto, Paul Veronese, Michael Angelo, Guido Reni, Salvator Rosa, and others. 2. The German school, con taining drawings by Albert Darer, Hans Holbein, Dietrich, Hollar, and others; and engravings by Lucas Cranach, Martin Schon, Gauer, and others. 3. The Dutch school, containing several superb originals of Rubens, an extensive and nearly complete set of the works of Rembrandt, with many drawings by A. Cuyp, Teniers, Van Dyck, etc.; and engravings and etchings by 13erghetn, Lucas van Leyden, Rembrandt, Ostade, etc. 4. The French school, with drawings by Watteau, Claude Lorraine, etc., and etchings and engravings by Bourdon, Boisseaux, Le Prince, etc. 5. The Spanish school, repre sented by some drawings of 31urillo, and others of less note. And, 6. The English school, containing drawings by R. Wilson, Wilkie, Stothard, Callcott, Gibson, etc.; a
splendid collection of Hogarth's prints, and specimens of the works of Barlow, Gay wood, Raimbach, Finden, Worlidge, Geikie, etc.
This department contains also an extensive and very valuable collection of works in niello; a beautiful silver cup, designed and carved by Benvenuto Cellini, and a wonder ful stone-carving in alto-relievo by Albert Dilrer, representing the birth of St. John Oriental Antiquities.—Within the last ten years the objects in the musetun, included under the name antiquities, have been divided into four departments. The first of them includes the Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities. The Egyptian monuments date from a period as remote as 2000 .years before the Christian era, and come down to the Moham medan invasion of Egypt, 640A.D. The collection has been obtained chiefly from these sources: the antiquities which fell into the hands of the British army at the capitulation. of Alexandria, presented by George III.; presents from gen. Vyse, the duke of North umberland, the marquis of Northampton, sir Gardner Wilkinson, and others; and acquisitions from the earl of Belwore, Mr. Salt, and M. Anastastie. The sculptures are formed of granite and basalt; they represent human and allegorical figures, sometimes of colossal size. There are several beautifully sculptured sarcophagi. Most of the monuments are inscribed with hieroglyphics (q.v.). The key to this dead and forgotten language was furnished by the celebrated Rosetta Stone (q.v.), which is placed in the center of the gallery. The smaller Egyptian remains are exhibited iu a gallery on the upper floor; they consist of objects relating to religion, as representations of divinities and sacred animals, in wood, metal, stone, and porcelain; of objects relating to civil and domestic life, as dress, personal ornaments, household furniture, artistic and writing implements, armor, and weapons of war, etc.; and of objects relating to death and burial, as mummies and coffins, with the scarabfei, amulets, and other ornaments found with them. A collection of papyri is exhibited on the n.w. staircase, containing extracts from the ritual of the dead.