§ MR. H. S. NORTHCOTE (for Mr. Bulwer)asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, What is the cause of the great length of the preface to the last volume of the National Manuscripts of Ireland; did the unusual length of that preface substantially add to the price of the volume (£5 5s.); and, is that preface now published as a separate volume, and sold at the small price of two shillings?
§ MR. COURTNEYSir, the work in question being published under the sole superintendence of the Master of the Rolls in Ireland, I have communicated with his Honour on the subject. He informs me that the increased length of the introduction is rendered necessary by the nature and history of the documents of which it contains facsimiles. No comparison, he says, can be justly made between them and those facsimiled in former parts, in judging of an introduction or an appendix to them. He thinks that only a few passages of the introduction could with advantage have been omitted, and had the introduction been altogether omitted, the reduction in price would have been only 6s. or 7s. The introduction has been published separately in a smaller size, and is sold for 2s. This has been done for each volume, and is considered to help the sale of the larger work.