PREFACE.
 

p
 

'^^jiS^^'^'^
 

io»
 

^•>^>SM:rxrxi
 

1
 


 


 

m9h^^S@^
 


 


 


 

pi
 


 


 

i
 


 


 

JT is now nearly forty years since the late
Professor Arber issued the first volume
of his Transcript of the Eegisters of the
Stationers' Company, the fourth volume
of which carries the Transcript down to
1640. These Eegisters were continued
by the Stationers' Company to 1708.
From 1710 a Register of Copyright Works has been continued at
Stationers' Hall under the provisions of the Copyright Acts of
1710 and 1842, and the well-known phrase,, ** Entered at Stationers'
Hall," has hitherto been deemed by many the hall-mark of copy¬
right. The new Copyright Act of 1911 has swept away all
formalities relating to copyright, and when the Act has been
adopted throughout the entire British Empire, registration of copy¬
right at Stationers' Hall will cease. At no time was the Register
complete, for in its inception it was simply a record of the property
of members of the Stationers' Company established by the Governing
Body with the object of avoiding disputes as to ownership, and it
does not include publications issued under Letters Patent and other
Royal grants, but it is the most valuable and extensive record of
publications in this country. The entries from 1640 to 1708 vary
considerably in their interest to the present generation, and the
many pages of entries of news letters and sermons may seem
somewhat monotonous.   Professor Arber, with indefatigable energy,