Excerpt from Bibliotheca Dorsetiensis: Being a Carefully Compiled Account of Printed Books and Pamphlets Relating to the History and Topography of the County of Dorset

The present work is intended to serve as a contribution to Dorset Bibliography, and comprises a reference to those publications which have issued from the press upon the History and Topography of the County, on the Biography of its Natives, on the Social Life of its Inhabitants, and upon its Natural History. Every book or pamphlet mentioned, with hardly an exception, has been personally examined, and care has been taken to indicate the public library or private collection in which it may be found. It will be readily understood that this has been a matter of much patient labour, extending over a number of years. Public and Private Acts of Parliament relating to the county have been recorded, and it is hoped that this feature may render the work of service to professional men. Particulars of the Sale of Estates have been in many cases included, as these are often found to contain valuable topographical information. The collection has been made so far as possible complete, and although the writer does not claim to have exhausted all the stores of this department of county litera ture, yet he believes that few, if any, works of consequence have escaped his notice. He has not pretended to include works relating to the whole of England, and which would necessarily contain the county of Dorset, nor has he mentioned the articles occurring in magazines which have not been issued in a separate form. It must also be remembered that it has not fallen within the scope of the work to include any volumes of theolo gical or general literature, and such have not been mentioned except in a few cases where they contained some valuable local or personal allusion, or appeared to be of some historical significance. The plan of the under taking has been to give first of all the particulars of works relating to the county generally, classified under various heads, followed by those whichrelate to distinct parishes, arranged under their several names. On pages 271 to 279, and on page 291, are mentioned some works which were disco vered too late to be placed in their proper position. The compilation of the list of Dorset Printers has been a work of great labour, entailing many visits to the towns of Dorset, and inquiries in various directions. Still, in some cases, the dates given must be considered only as approximate. Those persons who may wish to avail themselves of the useful genealogical particulars contained in Private Acts of Parliament will find a collection of these, in thirty-nine volumes, in the Library of the Guildhall of the City of London.

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