The first edition was printed in 1663, during the author’s lifetime, as he died in 1667; and the last edition, with notes by Mr. C. F. Partington, is dated 1825. This last edition professes on the title page to be “from the Original Manuscript”; and, at page 6, alludes to “a manuscript in the Marquis’s handwriting, having been preserved in the _Harleian_ Collection, appended to _an original copy_ of the Century of Inventions.” Now, as no other manuscript is known to exist, it is important to state distinctly that the Manuscript Century in question is neither original nor yet in the handwriting of the Marquis; it is evidently no more than one of those copies, which it was then a common practice to circulate; and the MS. bound up in the same volume with this interesting document, relating to a method of “Cypher writing,” is _not_ in the Marquis’s handwriting. So far, therefore, from “The Century of Inventions of the Marquis of Worcester, from the Original MS.” being what it thus distinctly professes, it is an amalgamation of the Harleian MS. copy, and the first printed edition. This obliges the introduction of two Nos. 88; but unfortunately there is neither mark, note, nor observation to guide or guard the reader even as to the editor’s numerous emendations; and the result has been such as to render this the most unreliable of all the reprints of the “Century,” which will appear more evident by the unauthorised readings, marked P, in the notes. The “Century” remained in manuscript from 1655, the period of its author’s release from the Tower, until 1663, the date of the first printed edition; the title page of which repeats the date of its composition, adding, “my former notes being lost;” as he was, however, the inventor of many ciphers or kinds of short-hand, it is probable his lost notes would be written so as to be unreadable without the key. It was printed soon after the passing of the Act for his “Water-commanding Engine,” which is mentioned in the Dedication to the Houses of Parliament. It has been frequently reprinted singly, as well as produced entire in larger works, of all which publications a list is hereunto annexed. We subjoin the title pages of the “Century”:-- From the Harleian MS. in the British Museum. “From August ye 29th to Sept. From the printed edition of 1663. ye 21st, 1659.