followed, conducted by the University, for the benefit of those students who chose to have such a test applied to their work and studies, and who were ambitious to receive the certificate of proficiency which was awarded to those who were successful in getting the requisite number of marks. The number of students who thus entered, both male and female, and the marks which a very large percentage of them gained, have been equally gratifying, if not more so, than the success of the popular lectures. At present, the Public Free Libraries Act does not empower Library Committees to pay for lectures out of the Library rate; but the results at Liverpool are conclusively such as to make it an important consideration how far Library Committees should have the power, in any future amended Bill, to work in this direction for the common weal, should they choose to do so; and it is to be hoped that the clause proposed by Sir James Picton to this effect in the new Free Libraries Bill drafted at Manchester, coupled with the power to make a small charge if necessary, will receive the approval of the Legislature.

LIBRARY NOTES.

P. C.

ASHTON.-The formal opening of the new Free Public Library took place on Saturday, March 25. The opening ceremony was performed by the Mayoress, Mrs. Andrew, who is the niece of the late Mr. George Heginbottom, to whom the establishment of the Library is largely due, Mr. Heginbottom having left a sum of £500, which was to go to the Mechanics' Institution, if a Free Library was not founded in five years. The collection of books dedicated to the public includes over 2,000 volumes, purchased with this bequest, and 1,000 volumes presented by Mr. Hugh Mason, M.P., the rest being presented by private persons and societies in the neighbourhood. The Library opened with 3,900 volumes, which are to be used, at present, only upon the premises. After the Library had been declared open, a public meeting was held in the large assembly room, at which addresses were delivered by the Mayor, Mr. Councillor Parry, Chairman of the Free Library Committee, Rev. Thomas Green, Mr. Alderman Heginbottom, the Rev. J. D. Kelly, &c., &c. The Librarian is Mr. Naylor.

CAMBRIDGE. In a report of the Library Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, dated March 1, 1882, the following recommendations are made to the Senate:-1. That a sum of £3,500 instead of £3,000 be annually contributed from the University Chest towards the maintenance of the Library; 2. That the debt on the general fund of the Library, amounting to £1,181 48. 2d., be discharged from the University Chest by instalments; 3. That certain increases be made in the rates of increase in the salaries of the library assistants; 4. That the Library be open six hours on Saturday instead of four hours only, as heretofore. In the discussion on the report, which took place on March 14 (see Cambridge Uni versity Reporter, March 21), the only point touched upon was the

question of keeping open the Library two extra hours weekly, and the consequent hardship to the staff.

CARDIFF. The new building, which is intended to accommodate the Free Library, Museum, and Science and Art Schools, will be opened on the 1st of June with an imposing ceremony. The building has cost about £12,000, and is admirably arranged for its purpose. The late Mr. W. Menelaus has presented £10,000 worth of pictures, to" form an Art Gallery, or at least to commence one." Over 1,000 volumes of books have just been presented by a retired county court judge, Mr. Thomas Falconer, who resides in the neighbourhood.

CARLISLE.-Dr. Robert Elliott, the Medical Officer of Health for Carlisle, has called the attention of the local library authorities to the possibility of scarlet fever being spread by means of books lent to persons sick and convalescent of the disease. He suggests that by the aid of lists of the books circulated the course of the fever might be traced.

EDINBURGH.-LITERARY INSTITUTE.-At a meeting of the subscribers, held on the 29th of March, the directors proposed that a committee of the subscribers should be appointed to co-operate with the directors, in order to maintain and extend the work of the Institute. The Institute was started as a limited liability company, and many of the original shareholders have died or removed from the south side, so that the shares were now in comparatively few hands. There was a danger of the Institute not being kept up unless it were more largely supported. It was agreed to adopt the suggestion, and a committee of twenty-six appointed, including three ladies.

EDINBURGH.-PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTION.-The annual meeting of the members was held on the 28th March in the Library. The Directors reported a surplus of £83 18s. on the year's income of £2,159 78. 5d.; 574 new books had been added to this Library, exclusive of 109 vols. purchased to replace worn out or missing volumes. The new catalogue contained a list of 24,000 volumes. Treasurer Harrison observed that during the whole 36 years of its existence the Institution had been carried on successfully upon the lines on which it was established. The Institution had offered to its members a news-room, a reading-room, a library, and a course of lectures by the best men to be found within the four seas, at a time when any one of these promises might have appeared rather too much to make in the whole subscription; yet the Institution had been carried on entirely through the guinea subscriptions of its members, and it had moreover saved upwards of £4,000 in money. He did not think that in Great Britain, or anywhere else, anything similar had been done, or done with anything like the same success. Mr. Gladstone was re-elected President of the Institution.

LIVERPOOL.-An interesting ceremony took place at the Free Public Library on Friday, the 31st March, in connection with the appointment of Mr. John Frowde as Librarian to the Free Library

about to be established in Barrow-in-Furness. Mr. Frowde has been an assistant at the Liverpool Free Public Library for eleven years, and, in token of the esteem and respect felt for him, his colleagues in the Institution met and presented him with a gold watch chain and a handsome illuminated address, this latter being the work of his junior colleague, Mr. J. H. Quinn. Mr. Cowell, in making the presentation, addressed a few well-chosen words of the general feeling of appreciation of the many and valuable qualities possessed by Mr. Frowde, to which the latter suitably replied.

LONDON. BRITISH MUSEUM.-A notice has been issued by Mr. Bond, Principal Librarian, announcing that in the reading-room the electric light will be continued during the month of April, so that readers can remain till 8 p.m. From the 1st May to the 1st December the closing time will be 7 p.m., and during the remainder of the year 8 p.m. The galleries will be open to the public every day in the year, except Christmas Day and Good Friday.

LONDON.-LONDON INSTITUTION.-Mr. James Macdonald Horsburgh, M.A. Oxon, senior master of modern subjects at Radley College, has been chosen, out of 44 candidates, to succeed Mr. Nicholson as principal librarian and superintendent of the London Institution. Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole, B.A. Oxon, the Orientalist, stood next, and after him Mr. J. Y. W. MacAlister, librarian of the Leeds Library. No one over 40 years of age was allowed to compete, but these three gentlemen were all under 29.

PARIS.-It is announced from Paris that, in order to guard as far as possible against the danger of fire, the authorities of the Bibliothèque Nationale are about completely to isolate that building, with its valuable manuscripts and books, from the surrounding houses. The cost of this measure will be 3,200,000 francs. Many occupiers of houses in the Rue Vivienne and the Rue Colbert will be compelled in consequence to quit their residences in July next, when the work will be carried out.

READING.-The Free Public Library Committee have invited applications for the office of Librarian for the Free Public Library about to be established. Applications were to be sent to the town clerk by the 12th of April. We notice that the Committee limited the number of testimonials which might be sent to three, and that they invited the applicants to name their own salary.

Mr. Edward Edwards proposes to publish a second edition of his" Memoirs of Libraries," for subscribers only. It is to be in three volumes, and the price of each volume will be £1 12s. Much of the matter contained in the first edition will be omitted, especially the accounts of ancient libraries, and a good deal of merely documentary matter. The strictly narrative portions will be extended, and new chapters will be added. The whole will be thoroughly revised, and some new illustrations will be added. Mr. Edwards' prospectus contains a "Chronological Note of the Author's Chief

Labours and Writings (up to 1870, exclusive) on the History and Organisation of Libraries, Public and Private."

Mr. Cotgreave has now registered what he calls his "LongReacher," which was exhibited at our March Monthly Meeting. It is especially designed to save time and labour in taking down and replacing books upon high shelves in libraries and booksellers' shops, though it may be applied to many other purposes.

Mr. W. A. Cotton has published in his book on "Bromsgrove: Its History and Antiquities," a list of the books (100 vols. in number) in the Bromsgrove Church Library, which has been reprinted in full by the Bibliographer. To be useful, however, such lists should be more carefully prepared than that in question, which abounds in every conceivable fault of cataloguing. The books themselves are not of any special interest.

We have received from the compiler, Herr P. E. Richter, a List of the Additions to the Royal Public Library at Dresden, for 1881. It consists of an alphabetical part, with very full "systematic indexes in twenty-six classes, and the whole is very carefully done.

The Harvard University Bulletin for January, besides University intelligence and the list of accessions to the Library, contains another instalment of Mr. Scudder's elaborate "Bibliography of Fossil Insects." The present instalment chiefly consists of a list of Mr. Scudder's own contributions to the subject.

The January Bulletin of the Boston Public Library contains an extensive list of additions to the various departments of the Library. The Bibliography of the Renaissance concludes with "Part IV.-Biography." A new and enlarged List of Indexes to Periodicals in the Library is also printed, and the number concludes with the first instalment of books and articles, &c., on copyright and kindred subjects to be found in the Library.

LIBRARY CATALOGUES AND REPORTS. Catalogue of the Books in the Cheltenham Library. Fourth Edition. By Henry Basevi, Colonel, Retired List. Cheltenham, 1882. 8vo, pp. iv.-151.

A very neatly printed catalogue on the dictionary plan. Works of fiction have been excluded from the body of the catalogue and relegated to the appendix, a plan not without practical advantages in the case of a circulating library. The catalogue embraces over 11,000 volumes.

Leeds Public Library.

Catalogue of the Contents of Section N, Poetry and Dramatic Literature. James Yates. Leeds, January, 1882. 8vo, pp. 58.

Price 3d.

This catalogue includes 942 volumes. The contents of collected editions are set out, and the stores of the library exhibited under such main heads as "Ballads," "Drama," "Poems."

Leicester.

The Tenth Annual Report of the Free Library Com

mittee. Leicester, 1881. 8vo, pp. 32.

During the year ending April 9, 1881, the issues from the Reference Depart

ment were 29,456, as compared with 17,831 in the previous year. In the Lending Department, on the other hand, the issues fell from 174,456 in the previous year to 158,346, a decrease for which the Committee are unable to account. The total number of volumes in the library is 20,193, exclusive of the local collection (527 volumes). The rate (one halfpenny) produced £777 4s. Besides various tables, &c., the report includes the additions to the Leicestershire Department for the year.

Liverpool. Twenty-ninth Annual Report of the Committee of the Free Public Library, Museum, and Walker Art Gallery of the City of Liverpool. Liverpool, 1882. 8vo, pp. 27.

The number of volumes issued in the Reference Library was 828,525, besides the constant use of about 200 volumes of works of reference, of the use of which no account is kept. The number of volumes added during the year was 2,372, making the total number of volumes in the Reference Library 74,830. In the Lending Libraries the total issues were 423,051 volumes, 322,973 consisting of Prose Fiction. With the Reference and Lending Departments there is a small decrease from last year's issues. The number of volumes in the Lending Libraries is now 43,979. The Lecture season was very successful. The Report affords no financial information.

Norwich. Annual Report of the Free Library Committee to the Town Council. Norwich [1882]. 8vo, pp. 11.

The issues in the Lending Department were 32,836, and the attendance at the Reading-room has been registered four times daily, the number being 45,206. The number of volumes in stock is 6,300. The rate produced £937 10s.; of the expenditure, £274 198. 6d. was for interest and instalment of loan.

Plymouth. Fifth Report of the Free Public Library and Newsrooms Committee. Plymouth, 1882. 8vo, pp. 32.

The number of volumes in use in all departments was 162,048, being 9,803 less than in 1880. The decrease was principally in fiction and juvenile works. The Library now contains over 14,000 volumes and pamphlets. The amount received from the Corporation was £700. The Committee hope that the grant for the current year may be the full equivalent of a penny rate. The Report includes tables and library additions.

Rotherham. First Annual Report of the Committee of the Free Public Library. Rotherham, 1881. 8vo, pp. 12.

The issues for the year were 45,609, and the number of ticket-holders 2,810. The number of volumes in the Library is 2,862. A list of the year's additions is appended. There is no financial information.

Stoke-upon-Trent.

Third Annual Report of the Public Free Library Committee, 1880-81. Stoke [1881]. 8vo, pp. 19. The issues for the year ending November 6th, 1881, were 33,269, in the Lending Department, and 2,692 in the Reading-room. The number of volumes in the Library is 6,427, of which 1,043 are works of reference. The amount received from the overseers was £295 19s. 2d., and £123 10s. 6d, was received in subscriptions and donations.

Walsall. Twenty-third Annual Report of the Free Library Committee, 1880-81. Walsall, 1881. 8vo, pp. 15.

The issues show a considerable increase over the previous year, the total issues being, at the Chief Library, 63,443, and from the Bloxwich branch 7,611. The number of volumes in the Library is 11,135.

Wigan. Free Public Library.
Librarian. March 9th, 1882.

Fourth Annual Report of the Wigan, 1882. 8vo, pp. 25.

The year has been one of steady progress. The issues in the Lending Depart