largely to Miss Rowe's intelligent skill, devoted labour, and scrupulous fidelity to Professor Gross's intentions that the present edition owes whatever measure of completeness and accuracy it may claim.

As the work progressed, many difficulties of detail presented themselves, the solution of which required an amount of time and attention which men who were more than busy in other ways could give in scattered fragments only. The continued appearance of new books also made it imperative that some definite point of conclusion should be set, if the work were not to drag on beyond the period of usefulness. It was therefore determined to fix the end of the year 1910 as the terminus beyond which no attempt at completeness should be made. Only continuations and such notable books or articles as were specially called to the attention of the committee have been included after that date.

The editors were aware that Professor Gross, partly of his own motion and partly as the result of friendly suggestion, would probably have made certain changes in the arrangement of the material; but they did not feel at liberty to undertake such alterations except in rare instances and where the general plan would not thereby be affected. Such a change, for example, has been made in the section on Local Records (§ 57), where the works relating to each county are now arranged under a separate head. A distinct addition has been made in the insertion of § 4d, which comprises works relating to Celtic philology. It is probable also that the author would have made certain omissions, notably of the older literature; but here again the editors have not ventured to use their own judgment. On the other hand, it did not seem to them likely that Professor Gross would have adopted the suggestion made

by some well-wishers that he should increase the proportion of titles primarily referring to other countries but containing matter of interest to students of English history. Such additions would certainly have enlarged the volume far beyond the limits which its author contemplated, and the editors have therefore made no attempt in this direction. In accordance with Dr. Gross's plan, the numbering of the old titles has in the main been retained, with sub-numerals employed for new titles. In matters of typography also, including the perplexing subject of capitalisation, the editors have followed the author's practice without change. They realise fully that, since Professor Gross was not able to make a final revision of his material, old or new, their work must be subject to chances of error and omission for which they have to ask indulgence.

The committee have been helped by the cordial co-operation of their colleagues, Professors G. L. Kittredge, F. N. Robinson, and, especially, H. L. Gray of Harvard University, and of Professor J. F. Baldwin of Vassar College. They are under great obligation to Professor T. F. Tout of Victoria University, Manchester, and to Dr. G. T. Lapsley, fellow and lecturer at Trinity College, Cambridge, England, who have been good enough to read the proof of the entire volume. Professor Tout particularly has shown the greatest interest in the undertaking, and has spared no pains to make it a success, as have also the Messrs. Longmans by their unfailing patience and ready assistance at every step of the way. For the Department of History

in Harvard University,

EPHRAIM EMERTON

CHARLES H. HASKINS

EDWIN F. GAY

July 1, 1914.

Committee.

PREFACE

ΤΟ

THE FIRST EDITION

ATTENTION has often been called to the need of a good bibliography of English history. There has been a deplorable waste of time and energy in historical investigation, because the literature of English history has so long remained unarranged and unanalysed, and therefore students have often been obliged to grope their way through unclassified catalogues in a futile search for bibliographical information. 'In this respect,' says Mr. H. R. Tedder, in the Library Chronicle, 1886, iii. 185, 'we are still in arrear of almost every other civilised country. . . . It is a slur upon English bibliography and upon English historical research that "our island story," told in so many ways and by so many writers, should be yet without an adequate record of its literature.' In a paper read before the Royal Historical Society (Transactions, 1897, xi. 19-30) Mr. Frederic Harrison also emphasises the need of a treatise which should aid students of English history in some such way as the bibliographies of Dahlmann-Waitz and Monod aid students of German and French history. Mr. Tedder and Mr. Harrison both demand, however, that the proposed bibliography, unlike those of Dahlmann-Waitz and Monod, should give some account of the contents and a brief estimate of the

1 For existing bibliographies, see below, § 2.

b

value of the books named; and they agree in asserting that the labour of preparing such a treatise can be successfully undertaken only by some method of co-operation on the part of various experts. But a co-operative scheme of this sort is difficult to initiate and to carry out; and, as no such scheme has as yet been undertaken, I have ventured to put forth a bibliography of that part of the subject which extends from the earliest times to 1485.

The main object of this Preface is to explain the scope and arrangement of the volume. The book contains a systematic survey of the printed materials relating to the political, constitutional, legal, social, and economic history of England, Wales, and Ireland. The manuscript materials are dealt with only incidentally; in this branch of the subject we already have some good guides, like T. D. Hardy and S. R. Scargill Bird.1 Scotland has been omitted, because in the middle ages her government and institutions were foreign to those of England; but so far as Scotland influenced the current of English history she has received consideration. Even within the above-mentioned limits, this bibliography does not profess to be exhaustive: it comprises only select lists of books; worthless and obsolete treatises are omitted, except in the case of a few recent works which are mentioned merely in order that the student may be warned to shun them. Greater fulness has been sought in the sections dealing with the original sources, and it is hoped that no printed source of prime importance has been overlooked. Besides books and pamphlets, the work includes a selection of papers found in collective essays, in journals, and in the transactions of societies; many valuable treasures lie buried in these by-ways of literature. An effort has also 1 See Nos. 45, 459. For the archives, see §§ 12, 13. Pt. iv. also contains many calendars and catalogues of public and local records.