"THE COMPLETE PEERAGE."
[To the Editor of the SrEcraroa.] Sra,—We venture to invite the attention of your readers to the memorial regarding The Complete Peerage which has been drawn up by some Members of the House of Lords and others who desire to see the completion of this work assured. The memorial has been signed by the Duke of Northumberland, the Marquess of Salisbury, the Marquess of Crewe, the Mar- quess of Sligo, the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, the Earl
of Kintore, the Earl Spencer, the Earl of Malmesbury, the Earl of Arran, the Earl of Desert, the Earl of Donoughmore, the Earl Howe, the Earl of Birkenhead, the Viscount Halifax, the Viscount Mersey, the Lord Southborough and the Lord Queenborough.
For nearly sixty years there has been in preparation a history of all the Lords of Parliament from the Conquest to the present day. The title of this history is The Complete Peerage, but this conveys no impression of its national im- portance. It is far more than a peerage in the ordinary acceptation of the term : it is a complete record of the origin and growth of the English Parliament, which is the mother of all Parliaments. It contains a mass of hitherto unpub- lished information which throws light upon every aspect of English history. It is a record of the public service of every man who at any time played a part in the Great Council of England, the first of all Parliamentary institutions. The work was originally planned to cover the period down to the end of the reign of Queen Victoria. It was to appear in twelve volumes, of which five have already been published. It is now proposed that an additional volume shall deal with the subsequent creations down to the present day.
The entire cost of the volumes already published has been borne by the Hon. Vicary Gibbs, not only without expectation of profit, but actually in anticipation of loss. The original subscription was fixed at a guinea a volume, but, owing to the increased cost of production due to the War, the pub- lication of the first five volumes has resulted in a loss of many thousands of pounds. The price to new subscribers has now been raised to three and a-half guineas a volume, all of which will be applied, not to making good Mr. Gibbs's loss, but to meeting future expenses.
We endorse the opinion of Professors C. H. Firth of Oxford, A. F. Pollard of London, T. F. Tout of Manchester, and the
late Sir George Prothero, who recently described The Complete Peerage as "a valuable and scholarly work, which we regard as indispensable in all well-equipped public, private and academic libraries. We consider that for the credit of our National scholarship, the maintenance of the project is of great importance."
Any peer who is in a position to further this undertaking by subscribing for sets for presentation in his name to some of the many hundreds of public and educational libraries which are prevented by lack of funds from acquiring the volumes, or by purchasing a set for his own library, will have the satisfaction of feeling that he is contributing to a permanent memorial of the historic institution to which he belongs. Major Evan Baillie Martin, C.V.O., D.S.O., Secretary of The Complete Peerage, will be happy to answer inquiries addressed to him at 27 The Terrace, Barnes, S.W.13.—We are,
Sir, &c.,
VICARY GIBE S, H. A. DOUBLEDAY, 110WARD DE WALDEN, Joint Editors of The Complete Peerage.
[We cordially agree with the authorities cited in regarding
The Complete Peerage as a most valuable work, which deserves encouragement. We gave reasons for thinking so in the review of the fifth volume, published in the Spectator of October 22nd, 1921. It should always be remembered that the initiative in this field of research was taken by the late G. E. Cokayne, Clarenceux King-of-Arms, who between 1887 and 1898 produced single-handed the first edition of The Complete Peerage in eight volumes. Mr. Vicary Gibbs, however, has enlarged the scope of his uncle's work to such an extent as to produce what is virtually a new book. It ought to be in every historical library.—En. Spectator.]
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