To the citizens of London, to its occasional visitants, as well as to the absent friends and relatives of those who dwell within its walls, Mr. Archer's projected work, entitled _Vestiges of Old London, a series of finished Etchings from original Drawings, with Descriptions, Historical Associations and other References_, will be an object of especial interest. The artistical portion will, we believe, be mainly founded on the collection of drawings in the possession of William Twopeny, Esq., while the literary illustrations will be derived entirely from original sources, and from the results of careful observation and inquiry.
It is said to have been a rule with Charles Fox to have every work bound in one volume if possible, although published in two or three. The public have long felt the convenience of such an arrangement; and the great booksellers have very wisely gratified their wishes in that respect. The handsome "monotome" edition of _The Doctor_ is doubtless well known to our readers. The success of that experiment has, we presume, induced Messrs. Longman to announce the _Complete Works of the Rev. Sydney Smith_, and _Mr. Macaulay's Critical Essays_, in the same cheap and convenient form. We believe, too, that another (the sixth) edition of that gentleman's _History of England from the Accession of James II._, is on the eve of publication.
Those of our readers who take an interest in that widely spread and popular subject, _The Dance of Death_, will remember that one of the most exquisite works of art in which expression is given to the idea on which this pictorial morality is founded, is the Alphabet Dance of Death--so delicately engraved on wood, (it is sometimes said by Holbein, who designed it,) but really by H. Lutzelburger, that the late Mr. Douce did not believe it could ever be copied so as to afford any adequate impression of the beauty of the original. A German artist, Heinrich Loedel, has, however, disproved the accuracy of this opinion; and the amateur may now, for a few shillings, put himself in possession of most admirable copies of a work which is a masterpiece of design, and a gem in point of execution, and of which the original is of the extremest rarity. There are two editions of this Alphabet; one published at Gottingen, with an accompanying dissertation by Dr. Adolf Ellisen; and the other at Cologne, with corresponding borders by Georg Osterwald.