Note 706 — Chapter XVIII · VINCENT FIGGINS, 1792.

This important enquiry was the result of an address of the House of Commons to the King, in 1800, setting forth the necessity of a better provision for the arrangement, preservation and use of the various Public Records scattered among the numerous offices of the kingdom. The Commission thereupon appointed were empowered to take all necessary measures to “methodize, regulate and digest the records, etc.”, preserved in all Public Offices and repositories, and “to superintend the printing of such calendars and indexes and original records and papers” as it should be deemed desirable to print. With this large task before them, the Commissioners went actively to work, and in 1800 and 1806 published their first Reports. The following important publication, issued under the Direction of the Commission, was commenced in 1800:—Reports from the Commissioners appointed to execute the measures recommended by a Select Committee of the House of Commons respecting the Public Records of the Kingdom, etc., London, 1800–19, 2 vols., folio. The appendix forming the second volume contains facsimiles of all the Charters (including Magna Charta) and Inrollments from Stephen to William and Mary, with the Seals inserted in the several works printed under the Commission. The list of the subsequent publications of the Commission is very extensive, and includes verbatim copies, with all abbreviations and contractions, of the most important documents in the kingdom.