UNIVERSAL LIBRARIAN. CONTAINING A copious and candid Account of And a VIEW of the Undertakings of the LEARNED To which will be occafionally added, DISSERTATIONS on VARIOUS SUBJECTS, By a FELLOW of the ROYAL SOCIETY. VOL. I. PART I. LONDON: Printed for F. COGAN at the Middle-Temple-Gate Price Three Shillings, THE PREFACE. T HE Ufefulness of Literary Journals bas been fo largely and fo learnedly fhewn in feveral Prefaces to Books of that Kind, already published, and thofe Works themfelves, if but tolerably executed, have met with fo great Success and Approbation, that it is abfolutely needlefs for me to enlarge upon that Subject bere. The Invention of them is generally, and I think justly, attributed to Mr. Dennis Sallo, Ecclefiaftical Councellor of the Parliament. of Paris, who first published his Journal des Sçavans at Paris in 1665. This has been continued down to the prefent Time by the Abbè Gallois, the Prefident Coufin, Abbè Renaudot, Abbè de la Roque, Mr. Fraguier, and other learned Men; particularly Meffrs. Du Pin, Fontenelle, Andry, and the Abbè Vertot. This Defign was receiv'd, with great Applause all over Europe, and gave a Hint for the publishing the Transactions of our Royal Society, which first appeared in the fame. Year 1665. In 1701 was publish'd by Order of the Duke du Maine, Memoires pour L' Hiftoire des Sciences & des Beaux Arts, commonly call'd the Memoires de Trevoux. Thefe Memoirs were written by the Jefuits of Paris, and principally. by the Fathers Tournemine, Marquaire, Catrou, Germon, A 2 Germon, Tellier, and Buffier, well known to the Public by their other learned Writings. 1 About the Year 1668, the Giornale de Letterati was printed at Rome, wrote by the Abbot Francefco Nazari, and has been continued ever fince at Rome, Venice, and Florence. In the Year 1682, were first published at Leipfick by Otto Menckenius, and continued by bis Son, the Acta Eruditorum ; In Holland, Mr. Bayle publifb'd his Nouvelles de la Republique de Lettres, which was dropt in 1689, and again reviv'd by Mr. Jaques Ber-` nard, who continued it to 1710, then dropt it again, and reaffumed it in 1716. In 1686, M. Le Clerc publifhed his Bibliotheque Universelle & Hiftorique, which Defign be continued in his Bibliotheque Choifie, and his Bibliotheque Ancienne & Moderne, to the Year 1727. In 1687 M. Henry Bafnage began his Hiftoire des Ouvrages des Sçavans, which be continued till the Fear 1709. In 1712, Philip Maffon, Minifter of the English Church at Dort, printed at Utrecht, Hiftoire Critique de la Republique des Lettres, which he continued till the Year 1718, in which Year appeared another Journal under the Title of L'Europe Savante, written by Meffrs. Beaufobre and de la Croze, two very learned Men of Berlin; the latter of whom was Library Keeper to the King of Pruffia. To this ten Years after fucceeded La Bibliotheque Raisonnée, wrote principally by M. De la Chapelle of the Hague, Mr. Barbeyrac, and others incidentally. And about the fame time appear'd the Journal Litteraire, wrote by Meffrs. Sallengre, Gravefande, &c. Befides thefe we have had in Germany the Journál Litteraire d'Allemagne, Biblotheque Ger manique, t manique, and many others. And in England, the Hiftorical Library, Obfervations on the Present State of Learning, Hiftoria Litteraria, Memoirs of Litterature, Bibliotheca Litteraria, &c. Thefe are some of the principal and most applauded Works of this Nature, (for I defign not a compleat Catalogue) that have been published in the feveral Parts of Europe, to near the prefent Time; and thefe fhall I endeavour to copy after, not by a fervile Imitation, but in the Accuracy, Atritt Impartiality, and inftructive Variety, of my Abstracts, Extracts, and Accounts. I propofe therefore in this Work, to take Notice of fuch Books only as are most valuable, and have been lately published, and principally those which from their being printed Abroad may not come to the Knowledge of the Generality of Readers, and fuch others as, tho' printed here, may by the Largeness of their Price, not be within the Compass of every private Fortune to purchase. And as many useful and valuable Originals are frequently wrote, or are to be found in public and private Libraries, and which being too small to be feparately published, are in a manner loft to the World, I intend to infert fome one or more of them in each of my future Volumes. To thefe I fell add an Account of the prefent State of Learning, in which I fhall not only endeavour to acquaint the Reader, what Bocks are printing or preparing for the Prefs by Men of real Learning and Eminence, but shall include a fhort Account, 1ft, of fuch Books which (tho' of fome Importance) yet do not require fo full an Abstract or Extract as others may do; 2dly, of fuch Works, of which (tho' they have great Merit, and deferve particular Abstracts or Extracts, |