* No doubt, as Mr. Benham suggests, "lot" is a
misprint for "lock."
its chief value from its " commercial " information. To know what the noticeable pictures sold in this country during this century have fetched is a very desirable thing for many collectors, who, however genuine their love of art, cannot afford to disregard the pecuniary value of their possessions. They will find here, not, indeed, an exhaustive statement, but one which is sufficiently wide in extent to bo very usefuL The very great pictures, some of those, for instance, which have from time to time been purchased for the nation at very high prices, are not included in the list, which, indeed, is chiefly drawn from the recorded transactions of ne great firm of art auctioneers ; but the number of works catalogued is upwards of eight thousand, and the prices range from the smallest sums, the "two pounds" which Sidney Smith used to make the limit of his pictorial purchases, up to four thousand.
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