III. A Letter to John Gage, Esq. F.R.S. Director, by William Young Ottley, Esq. F.S.A., &c., on a Manuscript in the British Museum, believed by him to be of the Second or Third Century, and containing the translation of Aratus's astronomical Poem by Cicero, accompanied by Drawings of the Constellations: with a preliminary Dissertation in proof of the use of

Abstract

You are aware that I have, at intervals, employed myself a good deal in the manuscript room of the British Museum, during the last four years, in researches among the Illuminated MSS. of the fifteenth century, on the subject of Costume; for the purpose of helping me to form a right judgment of the ages and country of certain books of wood-engravings, which are known by bibliographers under the name of Block-Books; and are commonly supposed to have given rise to the invention of Typography: for the controversy concerning this subject has long occupied my attention; and, although so many books have been written upon it during the last two centuries, I have become more and more persuaded, that the evidence on both sides must be subjected to a nicer examination, and sifting, than it has yet had, before we can hope to come to a right decision concerning it.