eight branches, of which six were established before the consolidation by the board of education. There is also in operation a system of city travelling libraries, which are sent, on application, to distant sections of the city, to the fire departments and the telegraph offices, and which bring the library to many who would never otherwise come within its influence. The work of which the outlines are here but touched upon has been accomplished only by persistent devotion and enthusiasm; it has not been lavishly aided by money nor has it been widely exploited. Yet its resources have grown with its needs. The treasurer's report from January, 1896 (when the consolidation went into effect), to Sept. 30 of the same year, shows receipts of $76,407.35, and expenses of $70,023.46, of which $25,428.07 were spent for books; and by the ordinance of July 16, 1896, the city is authorized to borrow $1,000,000 for a library site and building. With this prospect before it, and the record of what has already been done behind it, he would be a bold prophet who ventured to limit the future possibilities of the Free Library of Philadelphia. Mr. Thomson's report should go on record as one of the most encouraging and inspiring library documents of recent years. Plainfield (N. J.) P. L. The directors have asked the city council for an appropriation of $3500 for the maintenance of the library during 1897. They have also presented a petition requesting that the sum of $14,000 be granted for the erection of a fire-proof addition to the library building in which to house the scientific library bequeathed by the late George H. Babcock, and which by the terms of the bequest is to be kept separate from the library proper. St. Louis (Mo.) P. L. The passage on March 18 of the bill authorizing a tax levy for the erection of a public library building in cities of over 10,000 inhabitants, on a two-thirds majority vote at city elections, was the signal for a vigorous and effective campaign on the part of the library authorities to obtain a favorable vote on the matter at the city election on April 6. Nothing was left undone in the way of notices, circulars, and newspaper notes to call the attention of people to the matter and to secure a representative vote. Unfortunately, the time and hard work devoted to urging the importance of the measure has proved ineffective. The total vote cast on the proposition was 54,956 for, and 19,535 against, which, while more than two-thirds of the entire vote on the matter was considerably less than twothirds of the total vote cast for mayor, which was over 90,000, and though it was at first thought that the majority might be construed to cover only those voting on the specific measure, it was finally decided on April 8 that there was no question of the defeat of the library levy. Somerville (Mass.) P. L. (24th rpt., 1896.) Added 5016; total 33,826. Issued, home use 148,193, of which 14,644 were delivered through the two agencies and 8939 to the grammar schools. This circulation is a gain of 40% over | any preceding year. Receipts $11,016.96; expenses $11,006.75. Mr. Hayes emphasizes the need of a card catalog, and the desirability of extending ref. erence work as far as practicable, as also of strengthening the co-operation between the library and schools. 66 In several sections of the city a neatlyframed and attractive notice, bearing a good picture of this library building, headed: The Public Library is the People's University,' has been set in a conspicuous place, calling attention to the library and giving the hours it is open to the public. A finding list in many instances is kept near the notice and is open for consultation at any time." Southport, Ct. Pequot L. A description of the Pequot Library building, with illustrations and plans, is given in the Scientific American, Building edition, for April, p. 57-58. Tennessee, lib. legislation in. On March 26 the house bill authorizing towns or cities of less than 10,000 population to levy a tax for the establishment and maintenance of public libraries came up for a third reading in the senate, recommended for passage, with a committee amendment making the provisions of the bill applicable to cities of 20,000 or less. The amendment was adopted, as was another amendment providing for the establishment of school libraries, and the bill passed. University of Colorado L., Boulder. (In Univ. catalog, 1896-97.) 'The librarian offers all in the use of the library, which enriches and new students of every department instruction facilitates the mastery of the other regular work of the curriculum. He gives familiar talks and practical drill under personal supervision, in the details of the use and purpose of classification, shelving, catalogs, indices, manuals, books of reference, and bibliography." Watertown (Mass.) F. P. L. (29th rpt., 1896.) Added 464; total 23,816. Issued, home use 33,643; lib. use 5516. New registration 269; total registration 7310. Receipts $3824.29; expenses $3804.67. The reading-room use has exceeded that of any previous year, and Mr. Whitney suggests that several more cases for books and periodicals be added to its equipment. During the year a complete fiction list was published, and its preparation was made the occasion for a much-needed rearrangement of the books in this department. The publication of a complete catalog of all classes in the library is much needed, and if the use made of the fiction list is sufficiently encouraging such a work may be undertaken. The need of a children's room, a room for historical collections, and a meeting-room for the trustees is presented, and space is given to a discussion of the best means of meeting the pressing need of more shelf room, of which the most satisfactory would be the installation of a two-story iron stack. Appended to the report is a finding list of the year's accessions. of perfidious Albion. M. Pairault in Le Bricà-brac proposes that the library raise the necessary money and for the present gain room by even second and third and other editions in which no change is made from the first. Gifts and Bequests. Webster City, Ia. At the city election held on March 1 the proposition to levy a tax to establish a public library, in accordance with the bequest of the late Kendall Young, was de-selling its triplicates or even its duplicates, or feated. This bequest was made public in July, 1896, at the time of Mr. Young's death (see L. J., Aug., '96, p. 384). By the terms of the will $25,000 was left for a permanent home for the library, $10,000 was set aside for the purchase of books, and the income of an estate of $200,000 was to be devoted to the maintenance of the library; a board of five life trustees was also appointed. The only condition was that the city should not come into possession of the fund until the death of Mrs. Young; but it was thought that the citizens would accept the provisions of the state library law and tax themselves to establish a library, as a nucleus to which the Young bequest could later be added, the trustees agreeing to eventually return to the city the money expended in such establishment. The result of the election seems to show, however, that the library will not become an established fact for some years to come. FOREIGN. London. H. Sotheran & Co. have put upon the market the fine collection of illuminated manuscripts and early printed books gathered by the late William Morris, in connection with his work at the Kelmscott Press. It includes about 110 manuscripts, all, save two or three, being in vellum, and about 800 printed books, most of them rare early works with wood-cuts. Many of the examples bear Morris's dated autograph and notes, and the collection is a specially comprehensive one, as it was chiefly intended to illustrate as widely as possible the original springs of typography, and includes specimens from many presses whose productions are even rarer than those of the more well-known ones. A full ms. catalog, made under Mr. Morris's direction, accompanies the library. This firm is also the agent for the sale of the famous Ashburnham ms. and the Ashburnham library, which it is desired to dispose of en bloc if possible to one of the large libraries or educational institutions. Marburg (Germany). Univ. L. ZEDLER, Gottfried. Geschichte der Universitätsbibliothek zu Marburg, von 1527-1887. Marburg, N. G. Elwert'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1896. 166 +2 p. O. Dr. Zedler is the librarian of the Royal Library of Wiesbaden. His monograph is an interesting study, typical of the history of a German university library from its first beginning; it is illustrated with two views and a diagram of the University of Marburg. Paris. Bibliothèque Nationale. The library is put to it to find places for its new books; but the Chambers have refused to vote for enlargement of the building, money which in their opinion would be more advantageously spent on part of a battle-ship to attack the commerce Athens, Ga. On March 12 the announcement was made that Jesse Spalding, of Chicago, had given $15,000 to Athens for the establishment of a public library and museum in that town. The corner-stone of the building will be laid August 11, and the matter is in charge of the local historical society. Librarians. CLARKE, Miss Elizabeth P., has completed her reorganization of the Matson Library, Princeton, Ill., and will take charge on May 1 of a new library to be opened in Racine, Wis. DAVIDSON, H: E., of the Library Bureau, returned from London on April 3 to arrange the details of the European post-conference trip of the A. L. A. ELMENDORF, Mr. and Mrs. H: L., arrived in New York from London on March 18. Mr. El mendorf is now actively engaged in arranging for the European post-conference trip of the A. L. A. HENRY, Prof. W. E., was elected state librarian of Indiana by the state board of education on March 25. He will succeed Mrs. Emma L. Davidson, who has held the office for two years. JEFFERSON, T: W., of Broadkiln hundred, Sussex county, Del., was on April 7 appointed state librarian of Delaware by Governor Tunnell, succeeding Peter C. Gruwell, who has held the office for six years. Mr. Jefferson's term is for four years; he has been a schoolteacher in Sussex county for several years. nounced of Gardner M. Jones, of the_Salem JONES-SANBORN. The engagement is an(Mass.) Public Library, and Miss Kate E. Sanborn, of the Manchester (N. H.) Public Library. SPERRY, S. Harrison, was on March 25 elected librarian of the Iowa City (Ia.) Public Library. THURSTON, Miss Mary D., was on March 8 elected librarian of the Leicester (Mass.) Public Library. TOBITT, Miss Edith, of the Pratt Institute Library School, has been appointed to a position on the staff of that library. Miss Tobitt was assistant at the Omaha (Neb.) Public Library at the time of her entrance to the library school. Cataloging and Classification. BOWDOIN COLLEGE L., Brunswick, Me. Bibliographical contributions, no. 6, March, 1897. One hundred books of 1896. 16 p. O. The sixth of the series of annual selected lists of books published in the United States, and fully up to the admirable standard of its predecessors. The list is a capital one, well rounded, and showing excellent judgment; it should be of wide usefulness to librarians. But 15 novels and children's books are included, because "along these lines the patrons of public libraries rarely fail to make known their wishes," while the chief aim of the compiler is to suggest representative books on subjects of permanent and general interest. As usual, references to leading critical reviews are appended to each entry. This list is, as a whole, the best limited selection of the literature of 1896 that we have seen. CINCINNATI (0.) P. L. Bulletin of books in the various departments of literature and science added during the year 1896. Cincinnati, 1897. 108 p. 1. O. CLASSIFICATION. The February number of The Library may be called a "Classification and cataloging" number, so considerable is the space devoted to these subjects. In it L. Stanley Jast discusses "The class list"; the same writer, with Mr. Brown, of the Clerkenwell Library, describes "The compilation of class lists"; and "Curiosities of cataloging" are presented by B. B. Woodward and C. Davies Sherborn. The trilogy is a suggestive one, and will repay careful reading. The remarkable increase in class lists of recent years, the desirability of brief annotation, and the various ways in which information not given in the title of a book may be compactly presented to the users of the list, are among the chief points touched upon. MILWAUKEE (Wis.) P. L. Quarterly index of additions, Oct. - Dec., 1896. 84 p. O. 15 c. Contains a list of the books in the library of Mr. Hans Crocker. The N. Y. P. L. Bulletin for March contains in addition to the report for February and the monthly list of principal purchases and gifts, a reprint of "Yate's account of a voyage to Virginia in 1619," lists of " periodicals relating to mathematics in the New York Public Library and Columbia University Library," of documents, portraits, etc., illustrating the Albany Congress of 1754, from the Emmet collection, and of "Gifts of American statute laws and legislative journals in 1895 and 1896." The OSTERHOUT F. L. (Wilkesbarre, Pa.) Newsletter contains in its March issue no. 4 of the reading lists in English history, covering the period from 1399 to 1485. The PROVIDENCE (R. I.) P. L. Bulletin for March contains reference list no. 43, an excellent and informing bibliography of "Crete and modern Greece.” In special catalog no. 12 are listed the additions to the "School duplicate collection," in order of grades. The SALEM (Mass.) P. L. Bulletin for March has special reading lists on Florence, Dante, Crete and Modern Greece. CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS have put into operation a new plan regarding the sale of the catalogs of their "model libraries." They now offer these catalogs separately to libraries possessing the books therein listed, selling them in lots of 100 and over, specially printed with the name, address, rules, regulations, etc., of the library. The illustrations and annotations of the catalogs make them useful and attractive, and the books included in them are owned by most public libraries. UNITED STATES, Dept. of Agriculture. Library bulletin, February, 1897: accessions to the department library, October - December, 1896. 16 p. 1. O. The WALTHAM (Mass.) P. L. Bulletin concludes in the March number the special list of books on Germany, begun in the February issue. WATERTOWN (Mass.) F. P. L. Catalogue of English prose fiction. Watertown, published by the trustees, 1897. 18 p. D. An attractive little finding list, similar in form and typography to the fiction list of the Brookline (Mass.) Public Library, and complete up to Feb. 15, 1897. An attempt is made at the descriptive annotation of "certain historical novels," but it is an inadequate one, and only strengthens the conviction that such annotation had best be left undone if it is impracticable to do it thoroughly. The Cutter Sanborn call numbers are used. FULL NAMES. Henderson, Ernest Flogg, Ph.D., author of "A history of Germany in the Middle Ages." I vol. O. London, 1894. W: J. J. The following are supplied by Harvard College Library: rights of married women in Virginia); Burks, Martin Parks (Notes on the property Clark, W: Lawrence (Handbook of the law of private corporations); the town of Lunenburg); Davis, Walter Alonzo (Some early records of the supreme court of California); Deering, James H: (Digest of the reports of Ewell, Marshall Davis, and La Mure, James W: (A manual of the law of domestic relations); Furman, Howard Van Fleet (A manual of practical assaying); Gill, A: Herman (Gas and fuel analysis for engineers). Bibliografy. CHILD-STUDY. Stowell, Agnes. Literature of child-study. (In Journal of Education, March 18, 1897. Continued from F. 25.) I col. COMPRESSED air illness. Snell, E. Hugh. Compressed air illness, or so-called caisson disease. Lond., H. K. Lewis, '96. 8+251 p. il. Incl. comprehensive bibliography; reviewed in Nature, Mr. 4, '97. FOODS. Blyth, Alex. Wynter. Foods: their composition and analysis. New 4th ed., rev. and enl. N. Y., Van Nostrand, 1896. 735 p. il. 8°. $7.50. Contains a series of bibliographies, noted in Nation, Mr. 25. considerable bibliography of the religion founded by Mohammed. PRAYER-BOOKS. Wright, John, D.D. Early prayer-books of America: being a descriptive account of prayer-books published in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. St. Paul, Minn. Privately printed, 1896. 15+ I-492 p. 8°. There are chapters on the prayer-books of the various denominations, from Roman Catholic to Unitarian. Pages 430 to 480 contain lists of the prayer-books published from 1561, with approximate prices. Many fac-simile title-pages of early prayer-books are given. PRINTS. Wedmore, Frederick. Fine prints. Lond., Redway, 1897. (The collector series.) Contains a five-page bibliography. INDEXES. THE MAGAZINE and the dRAMA: an index; compiled by James Harry Pence, a pamphlet of 190 pages issued in a limited edition by the Dunlap Society, is a most useful volume of HOWELLS, W: D. The Bookbuyer for March contains Part I of "A bibliography of the first editions of the writings of W. D. Howells," by Albert Lee. It is prefaced by a fac-simile of the cover of a rare copy of " Niagara revisit-reference for the subject treated. From Poole ed." Part 2, in the April no., includes books edited by Mr. Howells or containing articles by him. In all 81 titles are listed, of which 20 are in Part 2. MALACOLOGY. Of the fifth volume of the Journal of Malacology "a valuable feature is a descriptive bibliography of current malacological literature, compiled by Mr. E. R. Sykes and Mr. S. Pace."-Nature, F. 25, '97. MEIER, P. GABRIEL. Heinrich von Liegerz, bibliothekar von Einsiedeln im 14. Jahrhundert. Leipzig, Otto Harrassowitz, 1896. 2+68 p. 2 pl. 8° (17. Beiheft zum Centrabl. f. Bibliothekswesen,) pap., 3 m. It is supposed that Liegerz was born in Berne, Switzerland, in 1303. The first positive knowledge of him is his admission, in 1324, to the cloister at Einsiedeln, where he was appointed custos and librarian. In 1332 and in 1340 he appears as a witness to certain documents, and in 1360 his death is recorded. He aided considerably in making additions to the library. According to his lights he annotated copiously the books and manuscripts in the library, and was particularly active in preserving and binding the rare material collected in the library. He also added to the literature of his time by writing several historical accounts. As a study of the life and work of a librarian of 500 years ago, Mr. Meier's pamphlet is exceedingly interesting and instructive. MOHAMMEDANISM. Arnold, T. W. The preaching of Islam: a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith. Lond., Constable, 1896. 406 p. 8°. 12 S. The 11-p. list of authorities forms a very and Fletcher a large amount of material has been drawn, which has been reinforced by the the compiler's own work, and thus an author and subject key has been supplied to more than 170 periodicals. Mr. Pence has done his work well, and will, it is hoped, find many imitators in other ranges of literature. It is regrettable that so valuable a little manual should be limited in possession to the members of the club, as it ought to be in all public libraries. Nation, Mr. 27. CORRECTION. Annual literary index, 1896, is published by B. E. Calkins, and the bibliogp. 227, under "Montana": "Civics of Montana" raphy covers eight and a half pages. IMPERFECT SETS. Recognizing the importance of periodical literature in modern libraries, THE BOSTON BOOK COMPANY established its Library Department with the idea that a definite service could be rendered overworked librarians by an intelligent effort to supply them with sets of periodicals and Society transactions bibliographically complete and materially perfect. Under the old method, librarians were forced to buy such sets or parts of sets as appeared on booksellers' catalogues, or were privately offered to them, taking their chances as to the completeness or perfectness of the sets. Before the publication of "Poole's Index" the shortcomings of such a mode of purchase were not apparent, because the deficiencies in sets so bought were not brought to special notice; but in these days of thorough indexing the constant showing up of tantalizing defects obliges the conscientious librarian to assume the labor of collation, and the subsequent vexatious time and money cost involved in trying to make the defects good. It is exactly this burdensome and wasteful labor which THE BOSTON BOOK COMPANY has endeavored to save librarians, by supplying only sets which have passed through the hands of a conscientious and carefully trained staff of collators We find, however, that some librarians still prefer to buy sets by the old method, and to such librarians we wish to make it known, that while we consider our method the economical and preferable one to libraries in the end, we are entirely willing to sell uncollated sets to such as prefer to buy them. We have always a great many uncollated sets on hand (because conscientious collation is a tedious and time-consuming work) and we can offer them as cheaply as any other dealers. In such cases we will make an offer of the volumes actually on hand, but will not undertake that every page, title-page, index, supplement, appendix, plate, or map is supplied, as we do ordinarily. THE BOSTON BOOK COMPANY only asks that a fair comparison of price and quality be made, and is perfectly willing to sell to librarians on any method they may prefer. Remainder Stock of Poole Sets. We have bound up for libraries a few sets of two periodicals that are to be included in the next supplement to "Poole's Index," viz.: "The Law Quarterly Review," of London, 12 vols., cloth, $30.00 (regular price in law sheep, $48.00, net); and "The Juridical Review," of Edinburgh, 7 vols., cloth, $24.50 (regular price in law sheep, $33.25, net). This special price for cloth sets applies only to our stock now on hand. These two sets are recommended to the attention of librarians of General Libraries. Sample numbers will be sent on application. THE BOSTON BOOK CO., 15% Beacon Street, BOSTON, MASS. |