Manuscript Catalogues of the Early Museum Collections

'Given the competing demands of routine museum life, the tackling of a project in the nature of the present volume is not to be lightly undertaken. Many hours of painstaking transcription are demanded, followed by the incorporation of innumerable revisions and refinements as broad structure, essential detail and shades of nuance all emerge.' Thus begins the second part of editor Arthur MacGregor's publication of the Ashmolean Museum's Manuscript Catalogues of the Early Museum Collections. The Vice-Chancellor's Consolidated Catalogue (1695) includes an introduction and Inventory of the Visitors' catalogues, including The Book of the Vice-Chancellor; The Book of the Dean of Christ Church; The Book of the Principal of Brasenose; The Book of the Regius Professor of Medicine; Book of the Senior Proctor; and The Book of the Junior Proctor. There are also Glossaries of Latin terms used for natural specimens and Brazilian, Mexican, Nahuatl and other American Indian terms used for natural specimens in the catalogues. Indices are provided of English terms, Latin terms, and Brazilian, Mexican, Nahuatl and other American Indian terms.