To the book collector and the Librarian, books of bibliography are the tools of the profession. Without them he would be lost in a maze of literature without a clue. With them, his path is plain, and, in exact proportion to his acquaintance with them, will his knowledge and usefulness extend. Bibliography may be defined as the science which treats of books, of their authors, subjects, history, classification, cataloguing, typography, materials (including paper, printing and binding) dates, editions, etc. This compound word, derived from two Greek roots, Biblion, book, and graphein, to write, has many analogous words, some of which, ignorantly used to express a bibliographer, may be set down for distinction: as, for example—Bibliopole—a seller of books, often erroneously applied to a librarian, who buys but never sells: Bibliophile, a lover of books, a title which he should always exemplify: Bibliopegist, a book-binder: Bibliolater, a worshipper of books: Bibliophobe, a hater of books: Bibliotaph, a burier of books—one who hides or conceals them: Bibliomaniac, or bibliomane, one who has a mania or passion for collecting books. (Bibliomania, some one has said, is a disease: Bibliophily is a science: The first is a parody of the second.) Bibliophage, or bibliophagist, a book-eater, or devourer of books. Bibliognost, one versed in the science of books. Biblioklept, a book thief. (This, you perceive, is from the same Greek root as kleptomaniac.) Bibliogist, one learned about books, (the same nearly as bibliographer); and finally, Bibliothecary, a librarian.

This brings me to say, in supplementing this elementary list (needless for some readers) that Bibliotheca is Latin for a library; BibliothÈque is French for the same; BibliothÉcaire is French for Librarian, while the French word Libraire means book seller or publisher, though often mistaken by otherwise intelligent persons, for librarian, or library.

The word "bibliotechny" is not found in any English dictionary known to me, although long in use in its equivalent forms in France and Germany. It means all that belongs to the knowledge of the book, to its handling, cataloguing, and its arrangement upon the shelves of a library. It is also applied to the science of the formation of libraries, and their complete organization. It is employed in the widest and most extended sense of what may be termed material or physical bibliography. Bibliotechny applies, that is to say, to the technics of the librarian's work—to the outside of the books rather than the inside—to the mechanics, not the metaphysics of the profession. The French word "BibliothÉconomie," much in use of late years, signifies much the same thing as Bibliotechnie, and we translate it, not into one word, but two, calling it "library economy." This word "economy" is not used in the most current sense—as significant of saving—but in the broad, modern sense of systematic order, or arrangement.

There are two other words which have found their way into Murray's Oxford Dictionary, the most copious repository of English words, with illustrations of their origin and history, ever published, namely, Biblioclast—a destroyer of books (from the same final root as iconoclast) and Bibliogony, the production of books. I will add that out of the fifteen or more words cited as analogous to Bibliography, only three are found used earlier than the last quarter century, the first use of most having been this side of 1880. This is a striking instance of the phenomenal growth of new words in our already rich and flexible English tongue. Carlyle even has the word "Bibliopoesy," the making of books,—from Biblion, and poiein—to make.

Public libraries are useful to readers in proportion to the extent and ready supply of the helps they furnish to facilitate researches of every kind. Among these helps a wisely selected collection of books of reference stands foremost. Considering the vast extent and opulence of the world of letters, and the want of experience of the majority of readers in exploring this almost boundless field, the importance of every key which can unlock its hidden stores becomes apparent. The printed catalogue of no single library is at all adequate to supply full references, even to its own stores of knowledge; while these catalogues are, of course, comparatively useless as to other stores of information, elsewhere existing. Even the completest and most extensive catalogue in the world, that of the British Museum Library, although now extended to more than 370 folio volumes in print, representing 3,000 volumes in manuscript, is not completed so as to embrace the entire contents of that rich repository of knowledge.

From lack of information of the aid furnished by adequate books of reference in a special field, many a reader goes groping in pursuit of references or information which might be found in some one of the many volumes which may be designated as works of bibliography. The diffidence and reserve of many students in libraries, and the mistaken fear of giving trouble to librarians, frequently deprives them of even those aids which a few words of inquiry might bring forth from the ready knowledge of the custodians in charge.

That is the best library, and he is the most useful librarian, by whose aid every reader is enabled to put his finger on the fact he wants, just when it is wanted. In attaining this end it is essential that the more recent, important, and valuable aids to research in general science, as well as in special departments of each, should form a part of the library. In order to make a fit selection of books (and all libraries are practically reduced to a selection, from want of means to possess the whole) it is indispensable to know the relative value of the books concerned. Many works of reference of great fame, and once of great value, have become almost obsolete, through the issue of more extensive and carefully edited works in the same field. While a great and comprehensive library should possess every work of reference, old or new, which has aided or may aid the researches of scholars, (not forgetting even the earlier editions of works often reprinted), the smaller libraries, on the other hand, are compelled to exercise a close economy of selection. The most valuable works of reference, among which the more copious and extensive bibliographies stand first, are frequently expensive treasures, and it is important to the librarian furnishing a limited and select library to know what books he can best afford to do without. If he cannot buy both the Manuel du libraire by Brunet, in five volumes, and the TrÉsor des livres rares et prÉcieux of Graesse, seven volumes, both of which are dictionaries of the choicer portions of literature, it is important to know that Brunet is the more indispensable of the two. From the 20,000 reference books lying open to the consultation of all readers in the great rotunda of the British Museum reading room, to the small and select case of dictionaries, catalogues, cyclopaedias, and other works of reference in a town or subscription library, the interval is wide indeed. But where we cannot have all, it becomes the more important to have the best; and the reader who has at hand for ready reference the latest and most copious dictionary of each of the leading languages of the world, two or three of the best general bibliographies, the most copious catalogue raisonnÉ of the literature in each great department of science, the best biographical dictionaries, and the latest and most copious encyclopaedias issued from the press, is tolerably well equipped for the prosecution of his researches.

Next in importance to the possession in any library of a good selection of the most useful books of reference, is the convenient accessibility of these works to the reading public. Just in proportion to the indispensability and frequency of use of any work should be the facility to the reader of availing himself of its aid. The leading encyclopaedias, bibliographies, dictionaries, annuals, and other books of reference should never be locked up in cases, nor placed on high or remote shelves. There should be in every library what may be termed a central bureau of reference. Here should be assembled, whether on circular cases made to revolve on a pivot, or on a rectangular case, with volumes covering both sides, or in a central alcove forming a portion of the shelves of the main library, all those books of reference, and volumes incessantly needed by students in pursuit of their various inquiries. It is important that the custodians of all libraries should remember that this ready and convenient supply of the reference books most constantly wanted, serves the double object of economizing the time of the librarian and assistants for other labor, and of accommodating in the highest degree the readers, whose time is also economized. The misplacement of volumes which will thus occur is easily rectified, while the possibility of loss through abstraction is so extremely small that it should not be permitted to weigh for a moment in comparison with the great advantages resulting from the rule of liberality in aiding the wants of readers.

Bibliography, in its most intimate sense, is the proper science of the librarian. To many it is a study—to some, it is a passion. While the best works in bibliography have not always been written by librarians, but by scholars enamored of the science of books, and devotees of learning, it is safe to say that the great catalogues which afford such inestimable aid to research, have nearly all been prepared in libraries, and not one of the books worthy of the name of bibliography, could have been written without their aid.

In viewing the extensive field of bibliographies, regard for systematic treatment requires that they be divided into classes. Beginning first with general bibliographies, or those claiming to be universal, we should afterwards consider the numerous bibliographies of countries, or those devoted to national literature; following that by the still more numerous special bibliographies, or those embracing works on specially designated subjects. The two classes last named are by far the most numerous.

Although what may be termed a "universal catalogue" has been the dream of scholars for many ages, it is as far as ever from being realized—and in fact much farther than ever before, since each year that is added to the long roll of the past increases enormously the number of books to be dealt with, and consequently the difficulties of the problem. We may set down the publication of a work which should contain the titles of all books ever printed, as a practical impossibility. The world's literature is too vast and complex to be completely catalogued, whether on the coÖperative plan, or any other. Meanwhile the many thousands of volumes, each of which has been devoted to some portion of the vast and ever-increasing stores of literature and science which human brains have put in print, will serve to aid the researches of the student, when rightly guided by an intelligent librarian.

Notwithstanding the hopeless nature of the quest, it is true that some men of learning have essayed what have been termed universal bibliographies. The earliest attempt in this direction was published at ZÜrich in 1545, under the title of "Bibliotheca Universalis," by Conrad Gesner, a Swiss scholar whose acquisition of knowledge was so extensive that he was styled "a miracle of learning." This great work gave the titles of all books of which its author could find trace, and was illustrated by a mass of bibliographical notes and criticism. It long held a high place in the world of letters, though it is now seldom referred to in the plethora of more modern works of bibliography. In 1625, the bookseller B. Ostern put forth at Frankfort, his BibliothÈque Universelle, a catalogue of all books from 1500 to 1624. In 1742, Th. Georgi issued in eleven folio volumes, his Allgemeines EuropÄisches BÜcher-lexikon, claiming to represent the works of nearly all writers from 1500 down to 1739. This formidable catalogue may perhaps be said to embrace more forgotten books than any other in the literary history of the world.

Almost equally formidable, however, is the bibliography of that erudite scholar, Christian G. JÖcher, who put forth in 1750, at Leipzig, his Allgemeines Gelehrten-lexicon, in which, says the title page, "the learned men of all classes who have lived from the beginning of the world up to the present time, are described." This book, with its supplement, by Adelung and Rotermund, (completed only to letter R), makes ten ponderous quarto volumes, and may fairly be styled a thesaurus of the birth and death of ancient scholars and their works. It is still largely used in great libraries, to identify the period and the full names of many obscure writers of books, who are not commemorated in the catalogues of universal bibliography, compiled on a more restrictive plan.

We come now to the notable catalogues of early-printed books, which aim to cover all the issues of the press from the first invention of printing, up to a certain period. One of the most carefully edited and most readily useful of these is Hain, (L.) Repertorium Bibliographicum, in four small and portable octavo volumes, published at Stuttgart in 1826-38. This gives, in an alphabet of authors, all the publications found printed (with their variations and new editions), from A. D. 1450 to A. D. 1500.

More extensive is the great catalogue of G. W. Panzer, entitled Annales Typographici, in eleven quarto volumes, published at Nuremberg from 1793 to 1803. This work, which covers the period from 1457 (the period of the first book ever printed with a date) up to A. D. 1536, is not arranged alphabetically (as in Hain's Repertorium) by the names of authors, but in the order of the cities or places where the books catalogued were printed. The bibliography thus brings together in one view, the typographical product of each city or town for about eighty years after the earliest dated issues of the press, arranged in chronological order of the years when printed. This system has undeniable advantages, but equally obvious defects, which are sought to be remedied by many copious indexes of authors and printers.

Next in importance comes M. Maittaire's Annales Typographici, ab artis inventae origine ad annum 1664, printed at The Hague (Hagae Comitum) and completed at London, from 1722-89, in eleven volumes, quarto, often bound in five volumes. There is besides, devoted to the early printed literature of the world, the useful three volume bibliography by La Serna de Santander, published at Brussels in 1805, entitled Dictionnaire bibliographique choisie du quinziÈme siÈcle, Bruxelles, 1803, embracing a selection of what its compiler deemed the more important books published from the beginning of printing up to A. D. 1500. All the four works last named contain the titles and descriptions of what are known as incunabula, or cradle-books (from Latin cunabula, a cradle) a term applied to all works produced in the infancy of printing, and most commonly to those appearing before 1500. These books are also sometimes called fifteeners, or 15th century books.

Of general bibliographies of later date, only a few of the most useful and important can here be named. At the head of these stands, deservedly, the great work of J. C. Brunet, entitled Manuel du Libraire et de l'amateur des livres, the last or 5th edition of which appeared at Paris in 1860-64, in five thick octavo volumes. The first edition of Brunet appeared in 1810, and every issue since has exhibited not only an extensive enlargement, but great improvement in careful, critical editorship. It embraces most of the choicest books that have appeared in the principal languages of Europe, and a supplement in two volumes, by P. Deschamps and G. Brunet, appeared in 1878.

Next to Brunet in importance to the librarian, is J. G. T. Graesse's TrÉsor des Livres rares et prÉcieux, which is more full than Brunet in works in the Teutonic languages, and was published at Dresden in six quarto volumes, with a supplement, in 1861-69. Both of these bibliographies aim at a universal range, though they make a selection of the best authors and editions, ancient and modern, omitting however, the most recent writers. The arrangement of both is strictly alphabetical, or a dictionary of authors' names, while Brunet gives in a final volume a classification by subjects. Both catalogues are rendered additionally valuable by the citation of prices at which many of the works catalogued have been sold at book auctions in the present century.

In 1857 was published at Paris a kind of universal bibliography, on the plan of a catalogue raisonnÉ, or dictionary of subjects, by Messrs. F. Denis, PinÇon, and De Martonne, two of whom were librarians by profession. This work of over 700 pages, though printed in almost microscopic type, and now about forty years in arrears, has much value as a ready key to the best books then known on nearly every subject in science and literature. It is arranged in a complete index of topics, the books under each being described in chronological order, instead of the alphabetical. The preponderance is given to the French in the works cited on most subjects, but the literature of other nations is by no means neglected. It is entitled Nouveau Manuel de Bibliographie universelle, and being a subjective index, while Brunet and Graesse are arranged by authors' names, it may be used to advantage in connection with these standard bibliographies.

While on this subject, let me name the books specially devoted to lists of bibliographical works—general and special. These may be termed the catalogues of catalogues,—and are highly useful aids, indeed indispensable to the librarian, who seeks to know what lists of books have appeared that are devoted to the titles of publications covering any period, or country, or special subject in the whole circle of sciences or literatures. The first notably important book of reference in this field, was the work of that most industrious bibliographer, Gabriel Peignot, who published at Paris, in 1812, his Repertoire bibliographique universelle, in one volume. This work contains the titles of most special bibliographies, of whatever subject or country, published up to 1812, and of many works bibliographical in character, devoted to literary history.

Dr. Julius Petzholdt, one of the most learned and laborious of librarians, issued at Leipzig in 1866, a Bibliotheca bibliographica, the fuller title of which was "a critical catalogue, exhibiting in systematic order, the entire field of bibliography covering the literature of Germany and other countries." The rather ambitious promise of this title is well redeemed in the contents: for very few catalogues of importance issued before 1866, are omitted in this elaborate book of 931 closely printed pages. Most titles of the bibliographies given are followed by critical and explanatory notes, of much value to the unskilled reader. These notes are in German, while all the titles cited are in the language of the books themselves. After giving full titles of all the books in general bibliography, he takes up the national bibliographies by countries, citing both systematic catalogues and periodicals devoted to the literature of each in any period. This is followed by a distributive list of scientific bibliographies, so full as to leave little to be desired, except for later issues of the press. One of the curiosities of this work is its catalogue of all the issues of the "Index Librorum Prohibitorum", or books forbidden to be read, including 185 separate catalogues, from A. D. 1510 to A. D. 1862.

The next bibliographical work claiming to cover this field was in the French language, being the Bibliographie des bibliographies of LÉon VallÉe, published in 1883 at Paris. This book, though beautifully printed, is so full of errors, and still fuller of omissions, that it is regarded by competent scholars as a failure, though still having its uses to the librarian. It is amazing that any writer should put forth a book seventeen years after the great and successful work of Petzholdt, purporting to be a catalogue of bibliographies, and yet fail to record such a multitude of printed contributions to the science of sciences as VallÉe has overlooked.

Some ten years later, or in 1897, there came from the French press, a far better bibliographical work, covering the modern issues of books of bibliography more especially, with greater fullness and superior plan. This is the Manuel de Bibliographie gÉnÉrale, by Henri Stein. This work contains, in 915 well-printed pages, 1st. a list of universal bibliographies: 2d. a catalogue of national bibliographies, in alphabetical order of countries: 3d. a list of classified bibliographies of subjects, divided into seventeen classes, namely, religious sciences, philosophical sciences, juridical, economic, social, and educational sciences, pure and applied sciences, medical sciences, philology and belles lettres, geographical and historical sciences, sciences auxiliary to history, archaeology and fine arts, music, and biography. Besides these extremely useful categories of bibliographical aids, in which the freshest publications of catalogues and lists of books in each field are set forth, M. Stein gives us a complete geographical bibliography of printing, on a new plan. This he entitles "GÉographie bibliographique," or systematic lists of localities in every part of the world which possessed a printing press prior to the 19th century. It gives, after the modern or current name of each place, the Latin, or ancient name, the country in which located, the year in which the first printed publication appeared in each place, and finally, the authority for the statement. This handy-list of information alone, is worth the cost of the work, since it will save much time of the inquirer, in hunting over many volumes of Panzer, Maittaire, Hain, Dibdin, Thomas, or other authors on printing, to find the origin of the art, or early name of the place where it was introduced. The work contains, in addition, a general table of the periodicals of all countries, (of course not exhaustive) divided into classes, and filling seventy-five pages. It closes with a "repertory of the principal libraries of the entire world," and with an index to the whole work, in which the early names in Latin, of all places where books were printed, are interspersed in the alphabet, distinguished by italic type, and with the modern name of each town or city affixed. This admirable feature will render unnecessary any reference to the Orbis Latinus of Graesse, or to any other vocabulary of geography, to identify the place in which early-printed books appeared. Stein is by no means free from errors, and some surprising omissions. One cardinal defect is the absence of any full index of authors whose books are cited.

There are also quite brief catalogues of works on bibliography in J. Power's Handy Book about Books, London, 1870, and in J. Sabin's Bibliography: a handy book about books which relate to books, N. Y., 1877. The latter work is an expansion of the first-named.

We come now to the second class of our bibliographies, viz.: those of various countries. Here the reader must be on his guard not to be misled into too general an interpretation of geographical terms. Thus, he will find many books and pamphlets ambitiously styled "Catalogue AmÉricaine", which are so far from being general bibliographies of books relating to America, that they are merely lists of a few books for sale by some book-dealer, which have something American in their subject. To know what catalogues are comprehensive, and what period they cover, as well as the limitations of nearly all of them, is a necessary part of the training of a bibliographer, and is essential to the librarian who would economize his time and enlarge his usefulness.

Let us begin with our own country. Here we are met at the outset by the great paucity of general catalogues of American literature, and the utter impossibility of finding any really comprehensive lists of the books published in the United States, during certain periods. We can get along tolerably well for the publications within the last thirty years, which nearly represent the time since systematic weekly bibliographical journals have been published, containing lists of the current issues of books. But for the period just before the Civil War, back to the year 1775, or for very nearly a century, we are without any systematic bibliography of the product of the American press. The fragmentary attempts which have been made toward supplying an account of what books have been published in the United States from the beginning, will hereafter be briefly noted. At the outset, you are to observe the wide distinction that exists between books treating of America, or any part of it, and books printed in America. The former may have been printed anywhere, at any time since 1492, and in any language: and to such books, the broad significant term "Americana" may properly be applied, as implying books relating to America. But this class of works is wholly different from that of books written or produced by Americans, or printed in America. It is these latter that we mean when we lament the want of a comprehensive American catalogue. There have been published in the United States alone (to go no farther into America at present) thousands of books, whose titles are not found anywhere, except widely scattered in the catalogues of libraries, public and private, in which they exist. Nay, there are multitudes of publications which have been issued in this country during the last two hundred years, whose titles cannot be found anywhere in print. This is not, generally, because the books have perished utterly,—though this is unquestionably true of some, but because multitudes of books that have appeared, and do appear, wholly escape the eye of the literary, or critical, or bibliographical chronicler. It is, beyond doubt true even now, that what are commonly accepted as complete catalogues of the issues of the press of any year, are wofully incomplete, and that too, through no fault of their compilers. Many works are printed in obscure towns, or in newspaper offices, which never reach the great eastern cities, where our principal bibliographies, both periodical and permanent, are prepared. Many books, too, are "privately printed," to gratify the pride or the taste of their authors, and a few copies distributed to friends, or sometimes to selected libraries, or public men. In these cases, not only are the public chroniclers of new issues of the press in ignorance of the printing of many books, but they are purposely kept in ignorance. Charles Lamb, of humorous and perhaps immortal memory, used to complain of the multitudes of books which are no books; and we of to-day may complain, if we choose, of the vast number of publications that are not published.

Take a single example of the failure of even large and imposing volumes to be included in the "American Catalogue," for whose aid, librarians are so immeasurably indebted to the enterprise of its publishers. A single publishing house west of New York, printed and circulated in about four years time, no less than thirty-two elaborate and costly histories, of western counties and towns, not one of which was ever recorded by title in our only comprehensive American bibliography. Why was this? Simply because the works referred to were published only as subscription books, circulated by agents, carefully kept out of booksellers' hands, and never sent to the Eastern press for notice or review. When circumstances like these exist as to even very recent American publications (and they are continually happening) is it any wonder that our bibliographies are incomplete?

Perhaps some will suggest that there must be one record of American publications which is complete, namely, the office of Copyright at Washington. It is true that the titles of all copyright publications are required by law to be there registered, and copies deposited as soon as printed. It is also true that a weekly catalogue of all books and other copyright publications is printed, and distributed by the Treasury, to all our custom-houses, to intercept piratical re-prints which might be imported. But the books just referred to were not entered for copyright at all, the publishers apparently preferring the risk of any rival's reprinting them, rather than to incur the cost of the small copyright fee, and the deposit of copies. In such cases, there is no law requiring publishers to furnish copies of their books. The government guarantees no monopoly of publication, and so cannot exact a quid pro quo., however much it might inure to the interest of publisher and author to have the work seen and noticed, and preserved beyond risk of perishing (unless printed on wood-pulp paper) in the Library of the United States.

If such extensive omissions of the titles of books sometimes important, can now continually occur in our accepted standards of national bibliography, what shall we say of times when we had no critical journals, no publishers' trade organs, and no weekly, nor annual, nor quinquennial catalogues of American books issued? Must we not allow, in the absence of any catalogues worthy of the name, to represent such periods, that all our reference books are from the very necessity of the case deplorably incomplete? Only by the most devoted, indefatigable and unrewarded industry have we got such aids to research as to the existence of American publications, as Haven's Catalogue of American publications prior to 1776, Sabin's Bibliotheca Americana, and the American Catalogues of Leypoldt, Bowker, and their coadjutors.

These illustrations are cited to guard against the too common error of supposing that we have in the numerous American catalogues that exist, even putting them all together, any full bibliography of the titles of American books. While it cannot be said that the lacunae or omissions approach the actual entries in number, it must be allowed that books are turning up every day, both new and old, whose titles are not found in any catalogue. The most important books—those which deserve a name as literature, are found recorded somewhere—although even as to many of these, one has to search many alphabets, in a large number of volumes, before tracing them, or some editions of them.

One principal source of the great number of titles of books found wanting in American catalogues, is that many books were printed at places remote from the great cities, and were never announced in the columns of the press at all. This is especially true as to books printed toward the close of the 18th century, and during the first quarter of the 19th. Not only have we no bibliography whatever of American issues of the press, specially devoted to covering the long period between 1775 and 1820, but multitudes of books printed during that neglected half-century, have failed to get into the printed catalogues of our libraries. As illustrations we might give a long catalogue of places where book-publication was long carried on, and many books of more or less importance printed or reprinted, but in which towns not a book has been produced for more than three-quarters of a century past. One of these towns was Winchester, and another Williamsburg, in Virginia; another was Exeter, New Hampshire, and a fourth was Carlisle, Pa. In the last-named place, one Archibald Loudon printed many books, between A. D. 1798, and 1813, which have nearly all escaped the chroniclers of American book-titles. Notable among the productions of his press, was his own book, A History of Indian Wars, or as he styled it in the title page, "A selection of some of the most interesting narratives of outrages committed by the Indians in their wars with the white people." This history appeared in two volumes from the press of A. Loudon, Carlisle, Pa., in 1808 and 1811. It is so rare that I have failed to find its title anywhere except in Sabin's Bibliotheca Americana, Field's Indian Bibliography, and the Catalogue of the Library of Congress. Not even the British Museum Library, so rich in Americana, has a copy. Sabin states that only six copies are known, and Field styles it, "this rarest of books on America," adding that he could learn of only three perfect copies in the world. A Harrisburg reprint of 1888 (100 copies to subscribers) is also quite rare.

Continuing the subject of American bibliography, and still lamenting the want of any comprehensive or finished work in that field which is worthy of the name, let us see what catalogues do exist, even approximating completeness for any period. The earlier years of the production of American books have been partially covered by the "Catalogue of publications in what is now the United States, prior to 1776." This list was compiled by an indefatigable librarian, the late Samuel F. Haven, who was at the head of the Library of the American Antiquarian Society, at Worcester, Mass. It gives all titles by sequence of years of publication, instead of alphabetical order, from 1639 (the epoch of the earliest printing in the United States) to the end of 1775. The titles of books and pamphlets are described with provoking brevity, being generally limited to a single line for each, and usually without publishers' names, (though the places of publication and sometimes the number of pages are given) so that it leaves much to be desired. Notwithstanding this, Mr. Haven's catalogue is an invaluable aid to the searcher after titles of the early printed literature of our country. It appeared at Albany, N. Y., in 1874, as an appendix [in Vol 2] to a new (or second) edition of Isaiah Thomas's History of Printing in America, which was first published in 1810. In using it, the librarian will find no difficulty, if he knows the year when the publication he looks for appeared, as all books of each year are arranged in alphabetical order. But if he knows only the author's name, he may have a long search to trace the title, there being no general alphabet or index of authors. This chronological arrangement has certain advantages to the literary inquirer or historian, while for ready reference, its disadvantages are obvious.While there were several earlier undertakings of an American bibliography than Haven's catalogue of publications before the American revolution, yet the long period which that list covers, and its importance, entitled it to first mention here. There had, however, appeared, as early as the year 1804, in Boston, "A Catalogue of all books, printed in the United States, with the prices, and places where published, annexed." This large promise is hardly redeemed by the contents of this thin pamphlet of 91 pages, all told. Yet the editor goes on to assure us—

The really remarkable thing about this catalogue is that it was the very first bibliographical attempt at a general catalogue, in separate form, in America. It is quite interesting as an early booksellers' list of American publications, as well as for its classification, which is as follows: "Law, Physic, Divinity, Bibles, Miscellanies, School Books, Singing Books, Omissions."

The fact that no subsequent issues of the catalogue appeared, evinces the very small interest taken in bibliographic knowledge in those early days.

This curiosity of early American bibliography gives the titles of 1338 books, all of American publication, with prices in 1804. Here are samples: Bingham's Columbian Orator, 75 cts.: Burney's Cecilia, 3 vols. $3: Memoirs of Pious Women, $1.12: Belknap's New Hampshire, 3 vols. $5: Mrs. Coghlan's Memoirs, 62½ cts.: Brockden Brown's Wieland, $1: Federalist, 2 vols. $4.50: Dilworth's Spelling Book, 12½ cts.: Pike's Arithmetic, $2.25.

The number of out-of-the-way places in which books were published in those days is remarkable. Thus, in Connecticut, we have as issuing books, Litchfield, New London and Fairhaven: in Massachusetts, Leominster, Dedham, Greenfield, Brookfield, and Wrentham: in New Hampshire, Dover, Walpole, Portsmouth, and Exeter: in Pennsylvania, Washington, Carlisle, and Chambersburg: in New Jersey, Morristown, Elizabethtown, and Burlington. At Alexandria, Va., eight books are recorded as published.

This historical nugget of the Boston bookmongers of a century ago is so rare, that only two copies are known in public libraries, namely, in the Library of Congress, and in that of the Massachusetts Historical Society. It was reprinted in 1898, for the Dibdin Club of New York, by Mr. A. Growoll, of the Publishers' Weekly, to whose curious and valuable notes on "Booktrade Bibliography in the United States in the 19th century," it forms a supplement.

The next catalogue of note claiming to be an American catalogue, or of books published in America, was put forth in 1847, at Claremont, N. H., by Alexander V. Blake. This was entitled, "The American Bookseller's complete reference trade-list, and alphabetical catalogue of books, published in this country, with the publishers' and authors' names, and prices." This quarto volume, making 351 pages (with its supplement issued in 1848) was the precursor of the now current "Trade List Annual," containing the lists of books published by all publishers whose lists could be secured. The titles are very brief, and are arranged in the catalogue under the names of the respective publishers, with an alphabetical index of authors and of anonymous titles at the end. It served well its purpose of a book-trade catalogue fifty years ago, being the pioneer in that important field. It is now, like the catalogue of 1804, just noticed, chiefly interesting as a bibliographical curiosity, although both lists do contain the titles of some books not elsewhere found.

Mr. Orville A. Roorbach, a New York bookseller, was the next compiler of an American bibliography. His first issue of 1849 was enlarged and published in 1852, under this title: "Bibliotheca Americana: a catalogue of American publications, including reprints and original works, from 1820 to 1852, inclusive." This octavo volume of 663 pages, in large, clear type, closely abbreviates nearly all titles, though giving in one comprehensive alphabet, the authors' names, and the titles of the books under the first word, with year and place of publication, publisher's name, and price at which issued. No collation of the books is given, but the catalogue supplies sufficient portions of each title to identify the book. It is followed in an appendix by a catalogue of law books, in a separate alphabet, and a list of periodicals published in the United States in 1852.

Roorbach continued his catalogue to the year 1861, by the issue of three successive supplements: (1) covering the American publications of 1853 to 1855: (2) from 1855 to 1858: (3) from 1858 to 1861. These four catalogues, aiming to cover, in four different alphabets, the issues of the American press for forty years, or from 1820 to 1861, are extremely useful lists to the librarian, as finding lists, although the rigorously abbreviated titles leave very much to be desired by the bibliographer, and the omissions are exceedingly numerous of books published within the years named, but whose titles escaped the compiler.

Following close upon Roorbach's Bibliotheca Americana in chronological order, we have next two bibliographies covering American book issues from 1861 to 1871. These were compiled by a New York book dealer named James Kelly, and were entitled The American Catalogue of Books, (original and reprint) published in the United States from Jan., 1861, to Jan., 1866, [and from Jan., 1866, to Jan., 1871] with date of publication, size, price, and publisher's name. The first volume contained a supplement, with list of pamphlets on the civil war, and also a list of the publications of learned societies. These very useful and important catalogues cover ten years of American publishing activity, adding also to their own period many titles omitted by Roorbach in earlier years. Kelly's catalogues number 307 and 444 pages respectively, and, like Roorbach's, they give both author and title in a single alphabet. Names of publishers are given, with place and year of publication, and retail price, but without number of pages, and with no alphabet of subjects.

Next after Kelly's catalogue came the first issue of the "American Catalogue," which, with its successive volumes (all published in quarto form) ably represents the bibliography of our country during the past twenty-five years. The title of the first volume, issued in 1880, reads "American Catalogue of books in print and for sale (including reprints and importations) July 1, 1876. Compiled under direction of F. Leypoldt, by L. E. Jones." This copious repository of book-titles was in two parts: (1) Authors, and (2) Subject-index. Both are of course in alphabetical order, and the titles of books are given with considerable abbreviation. The fact that its plan includes many titles of books imported from Great Britain, (as supplying information to book-dealers and book-buyers) prevents it from being considered as a bibliography of strictly American publications. Still, it is the only approximately full American bibliography of the publications current twenty-five years ago. As such, its volumes are indispensable in every library, and should be in its earliest purchase of works of reference. The limitation of the catalogue to books still in print—i. e., to be had of the publishers at the time of its issue, of course precludes it from being ranked as a universal American bibliography.

The first issue in 1880 was followed, in 1885, by the "American Catalogue, 1876-1884: books recorded (including reprints and importations), under editorial direction of R. R. Bowker, by Miss A. I. Appleton." This appeared in one volume, but with two alphabets; one being authors and titles, and the other an alphabet of subjects. As this volume included eight years issues of the American press, the next bibliography published covered the next ensuing six years, and included the books recorded from July, 1884 to July, 1890. This appeared in 1891, edited with care by Miss Appleton and others.

In 1896 appeared its successor, the "American Catalogue, 1890-95. Compiled under the editorial direction of R. R. Bowker." This catalogue records in its first volume, or alphabet of authors: (1) author; (2) size of book; (3) year of issue; (4) price; (5) publisher's name. The names of places where published are not given with the title, being rendered unnecessary by the full alphabetical list of publishers which precedes, and fixes the city or town where each published his books. This same usage is followed in succeeding issues of the American Catalogue.

This indispensable bibliography of recent American books, in addition to its regular alphabets of authors and titles (the latter under first words and in the same alphabet with the authors) and the succeeding alphabet of subjects, prints a full list of the publications of the United States government, arranged by departments and bureaus; also a list of the publications of State governments, of Societies, and of books published in series.

This last issue has 939 pages. Its only defects (aside from its inevitable omissions of many unrecorded books) are the double alphabet, and the want of collation, or an indication of the number of pages in each work, which should follow every title. Its cost in bound form is $15, at which the two preceding American catalogues 1876-84, and 1884 to 1890 can also be had, while the catalogue of books in print in 1876, published in 1880, is quite out of print, though a copy turns up occasionally from some book-dealer's stock.

The American Catalogue has now become a quinquennial issue, gathering the publications of five years into one alphabet; and it is supplemented at the end of every year by the "Annual American Catalogue," started in 1886, which gives, in about 400 pages, in its first alphabet, collations of the books of the year (a most important feature, unfortunately absent from the quinquennial American Catalogue.) Its second alphabet gives authors, titles, and sometimes subject-matters, but without the distribution into subject-divisions found in the quinquennial catalogue; and the titles are greatly abridged from the full record of its first alphabet. Its price is $3.50 each year.

And this annual, in turn, is made up from the catalogues of titles of all publications, which appear in the Publishers' Weekly, the carefully edited organ of the book publishing interests in the United States. This periodical, which will be found a prime necessity in every library, originated in New York, in 1855, as the "American Publishers' Circular," and has developed into the recognized authority in American publications, under the able management of R. R. Bowker and A. Growoll. For three dollars a year, it supplies weekly and monthly alphabetical lists of whatever comes from the press, in book form, as completely as the titles can be gathered from every source. It gives valuable notes after most titles, defining the scope and idea of the work, with collations, features which are copied into the Annual American Catalogue.

I must not omit to mention among American bibliographies, although published in London, and edited by a foreigner, Mr. N. TrÜbner's "Bibliographical Guide to American literature: a classed list of books published in the United States during the last forty years." This book appeared in 1859, and is a carefully edited bibliography, arranged systematically in thirty-two divisions of subjects, filling 714 pages octavo. It gives under each topic, an alphabet of authors, followed by titles of the works, given with approximate fullness, followed by place and year of publication, but without publishers' names. The number of pages is also given where ascertained, and the price of the work quoted in sterling English money. This work, by a competent German-English book-publisher of London, is preceded by a brief history of American literature, and closes with a full index of authors whose works are catalogued in it.

We come now to by far the most comprehensive and ambitious attempt to cover not only the wide field of American publications, but the still more extensive field of books relating to America, which has ever yet been made. I refer to the "Bibliotheca Americana; a dictionary of books relating to America," by Joseph Sabin, begun more than thirty years ago, in 1868, and still unfinished, its indefatigable compiler having died in 1881, at the age of sixty. This vast bibliographical undertaking was originated by a variously-gifted and most energetic man, not a scholar, but a bookseller and auctioneer, born in England. Mr. Sabin is said to have compiled more catalogues of private libraries that have been brought to the auctioneer's hammer, than any man who ever lived in America. He bought and sold, during nearly twenty years, old and rare books, in a shop in Nassau street, New York, which was the resort of book collectors and bibliophiles without number. He made a specialty of Americana, and of early printed books in English literature, crossing the Atlantic twenty-five times to gather fresh stores with which to feed his hungry American customers. During all these years, he worked steadily at his magnum opus, the bibliography of America, carrying with him in his many journeys and voyages, in cars or on ocean steamships, copy and proofs of some part of the work. There have been completed about ninety parts, or eighteen thick volumes of nearly 600 pages each; and since his death the catalogue has been brought down to the letter S, mainly by Mr. Wilberforce Eames, librarian of the Lenox Library, New York. Though its ultimate completion must be regarded as uncertain, the great value to all librarians, and students of American bibliography or history, of the work so far as issued, can hardly be over-estimated. Mr. Sabin had the benefit in revising the proofs of most of the work, of the critical knowledge and large experience of Mr. Charles A. Cutter, the librarian of the Boston Athenaeum Library, whose catalogue of the books in that institution, in five goodly volumes, is a monument of bibliographical learning and industry. Sabin's Dictionary is well printed, in large, clear type, the titles being frequently annotated, and prices at auction sales of the rarer and earlier books noted. Every known edition of each work is given, and the initials of public libraries in the United States, to the number of thirteen, in which the more important works are found, are appended. In not a few cases, where no copy was known to the compiler in a public collection, but was found in a private library, the initials of its owner were given instead.

This extensive bibliography was published solely by subscription, only 635 copies being printed at $2.50 a part, so that its cost to those subscribing was about $225 unbound, up to the time of its suspension. The first part appeared January 1, 1867, although Vol. I. bears date New York, 1868. It records most important titles in full, with (usually) marks denoting omissions where such are made. In the case of many rare books relating to America (and especially those published prior to the 18th century) the collations are printed so as to show what each line of the original title embraces, i. e. with vertical marks or dashes between the matter of the respective lines. This careful description is invaluable to the bibliographical student, frequently enabling him to identify editions, or to solve doubts as to the genuineness of a book-title in hand. The collation by number of pages is given in all cases where the book has been seen, or reported fully to the editor. The order of description as to each title is as follows: (1) Place of publication (2) publisher (3) year (4) collation and size of book. Notes in a smaller type frequently convey information of other editions, of prices in various sales, of minor works by the same writer, etc.

The fullness which has been aimed at in Sabin's American bibliography is seen in the great number of sermons and other specimens of pamphlet literature which it chronicles. It gives also the titles of most early American magazines, reviews, and other periodicals, except newspapers, which are generally omitted, as are maps also. As an example of the often minute cataloguing of the work, I may mention that no less than eight pages are occupied with a list of the various publications and editions of books by Dr. Jedediah Morse, an author of whom few of the present generation of Americans have ever heard. He was the earliest American geographer who published any comprehensive books upon the subject, and his numerous Gazetteers and Geographies, published from 1784 to 1826, were constantly reprinted, until supplanted by more full, if not more accurate works.

Upon the whole, Sabin's great work, although so far from being finished, is invaluable as containing immeasurably more and fuller titles than any other American bibliography. It is also the only extensive work on the subject which covers all periods, although the books of the last thirty years must chiefly be excepted as not represented. As a work of reference, while its cost and scarcity may prevent the smaller public libraries from possessing it, it is always accessible in the libraries of the larger cities, where it is among the foremost works to be consulted in any research involving American publications, or books of any period or country relating to America, or its numerous sub-divisions.

I may now mention, much more cursorily, some other bibliographies pertaining to our country. The late Henry Stevens, who died in 1886, compiled a "Catalogue of the American Books in the Library of the British Museum." This was printed by the Museum authorities in 1856, and fills 754 octavo pages. Its editor was a highly accomplished bibliographer and book-merchant, born in Vermont, but during the last forty years of his life resided in London, where he devoted himself to his profession with great learning and assiduity. He published many catalogues of various stocks of books collected by him, under such titles as "Bibliotheca historica," "Bibliotheca Americana," etc., in which the books were carefully described, often with notes illustrating their history or their value. He became an authority upon rare books and early editions, and made a valuable catalogue of the Bibles in the Caxton exhibition at London, in 1877, with bibliographical commentary. He was for years chief purveyor of the British Museum Library for its American book purchases, and aided the late James Lenox in building up that rich collection of Americana and editions of the Scriptures which is now a part of the New York Public Library. His catalogue of the American books in the British Museum, though now over forty years old, and supplanted by the full alphabetical catalogue of that entire library since published, is a valuable contribution to American bibliography.

Mr. Stevens was one of the most acute and learned bibliographers I have known. He was a man of marked individuality and independent views; with a spice of eccentricity and humor, which crept into all his catalogues, and made his notes highly entertaining reading. Besides his services to the British Museum Library, in building up its noble collection of Americana, and in whose rooms he labored for many years, with the aid of Panizzi and his successors, whom he aided in return, Stevens collected multitudes of the books which now form the choice treasures of the Lenox library, the Carter Brown library, at Providence, the Library of Congress, and many more American collections. To go with him through any lot of Americana, in one of his enterprising visits to New York, where he sometimes came to market his overflowing stores picked up in London and on the continent, was a rare treat. Every book, almost, brought out some verbal criticism, anecdote or reminiscence of his book-hunting experiences, which began in America, and extended all over Europe.He was not only an indefatigable collector, but a most industrious and accurate bibliographer, doing more work in that field, probably, than any other American. He wrote a singularly careful, though rapid hand, as plain and condensed as print, and in days before modern devices for manifolding writing were known, he copied out his invoices in duplicate or triplicate in his own hand, with titles in full, and frequent descriptive notes attached. His many catalogues are notable for the varied learning embodied. He was a most intelligent and vigilant book collector for more than forty years, his early labors embracing towns in New York and New England, as purveyor for material for Peter Force, of Washington, whose American Archives were then in course of preparation. Among the library collectors who absorbed large portions of his gathered treasures, were James Lenox, Jared Sparks, George Livermore, John Carter Brown, Henry C. Murphy, George Brinley, the American Geographical Society, and many historical societies. He was an authority on all the early voyages, and wrote much upon them. No one knew more about early Bibles than Henry Stevens.

His enterprise and ambition for success led him to bold and sometimes extensive purchases. He bought about 1865, the library of Baron von Humboldt, and this and other large ventures embarrassed him much in later years. He became the owner of the Franklin manuscripts, left in London by the great man's grandson, and collected during many years a library of Frankliniana, which came to the Library of Congress when the Franklin manuscripts were purchased for the State Department in 1881.

He was proud of his country and his State, always signing himself "Henry Stevens, of Vermont." His book-plate had engraved beneath his name, the titles, "G. M. B.: F. S. A." The last, of course, designated him as Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, but the first puzzled even his friends, until it was interpreted as signifying "Green Mountain Boy." His brother used jocosely to assure me that it really meant "Grubber of Musty Books."

As to his prices for books, while some collectors complained of them as "very stiff," they appear, when compared with recent sales of Americana, at auction and in sale catalogues, to be quite moderate. The late historian Motley told me that Mr. Stevens charged more than any one for Dutch books relating to America; but Mr. Motley's measure of values was gauged by the low prices of Dutch booksellers which prevailed during his residence in the Netherlands, for years before the keen demand from America had rendered the numerous Dutch tracts of the West India Company, etc., more scarce and of greater commercial value than they bore at the middle of this century.

As treating of books by American authors, though not so much a complete bibliography of their works, as a critical history, with specimens selected from each writer, Duyckinck's "Cyclopaedia of American Literature" deserves special mention. The last edition appeared at Philadelphia, in 1875, in two large quarto volumes. Equally worthy of note is the compilation by E. C. Stedman and Ellen M. Hutchinson, in eleven volumes, entitled "Library of American Literature," New York, 1887-90. A most convenient hand-book of bibliographical reference is Oscar F. Adams's "Dictionary of American Authors," Boston, 1897, which gives in a compact duodecimo volume, the name and period of nearly every American writer, with a brief list of his principal works, and their date of publication, in one alphabet.

Of notable catalogues of books relating to America, rather than of American publications, should be named White Kennet's "Bibliotheca Americana primordia," the earliest known catalogue devoted to American bibliography, London, 1713; O. Rich, Catalogue of Books relating to America, 1500-1700, London, 1832; Rich, "Bibliotheca Americana nova," books printed between 1700 and 1844, two volumes, London, 1835-46; H. Harrisse, "Bibliotheca Americana vetustissima," New York, 1866, and its supplement, Paris, 1872, both embracing rare early Americana, published from 1492 to 1551. This is a critically edited bibliography of the rarest books concerning America that appeared in the first half century after its discovery.

The important field of American local history has given birth to many bibliographies. The earliest to be noted is H. E. Ludewig's "Literature of American Local History," New York, 1846. Thirty years later came F. B. Perkins's "Check List for American Local History," Boston, 1876; followed by A. P. C. Griffin's "Index of articles upon American Local History in historical collections," Boston, 1889, and by his "Index of the literature of American local history in collections published in 1890-95," Boston, 1896. Closely allied to the catalogues of city, town, and county histories, come the bibliographies of genealogies and family histories, of which the last or 4th edition of D. S. Durrie's "Bibliographia genealogica Americana; an alphabetical index to American genealogies in county and town histories, printed genealogies, and kindred works," Albany, 1895, is the most comprehensive and indispensable. This work gives us an alphabet of family names, under each of which are grouped the titles of books in which that special name is treated, with citation of the page. It also gives the name and date of publication of the special family genealogies which are separately printed, whether book or pamphlet, with number of pages in each. The work is by a librarian, to whose laborious diligence Americans are deeply indebted.

Among other bibliographies of genealogy are Munsell's "American Genealogist: a catalogue of family histories," Albany, 1897. This work aims to give the titles of all separately printed American genealogies, in an alphabet of family names, giving titles in full, with place and year of publication, name of publisher, and collation, or number of pages.

For the multitudinous public documents of the United States, consult B. P. Poore's "Descriptive catalogue of the government publications of the United States, 1775-1881," Washington, 1885, and F. A. Crandall, Check list of public documents, debates and proceedings from 1st to 53d Congress (1789-1895), Washington, 1895; also,

Comprehensive index to the publications of the United States government, 1889-1893. The same—United States Catalogue of Public Documents, 1893 to 1895, Washington, 1896. Several biennial or annual lists of United States Documents have followed.

As supplementing these extensive catalogues, we have in the Appendix to the "American Catalogue" of 1885 a List of United States Government publications from 1880 to 1884; in that of 1891 a List from 1884 to 1890; and in that of 1896 a List covering the years 1891 to 1895.

A most important recent bibliography is found in H. C. Bolton's "Catalogue of Scientific and Technical Periodicals, 1665-1895," Washington, 1897.

There are also many sale catalogues of American books, with prices, some of which may be noted, e. g. J. R. Smith, Bibliotheca Americana, London, 1865; F. MÜller, Catalogue of books and pamphlets relating to America, Amsterdam, 1877, and later years. Ternaux-Compans, "BibliothÈque AmÉricaine;" books printed before 1700, Paris, 1837: P. TrÖmel, "BibliothÈque AmÉricaine," Leipzig, 1861: D. B. Warden, "BibliothÈque AmÉricaine," Paris, 1840: R. Clarke & Co., "Bibliotheca Americana," Cincinnati, 1874, 1878, 1887, 1891, and 1893.

There are, besides, important catalogues of some private libraries, devoted wholly or chiefly to books relating to America. Among these, the most extensive and costly is John R. Bartlett's catalogue of the library of J. Carter Brown, of Providence, in four sumptuous volumes, with fac-similes of early title-pages, of which bibliography only fifty copies were printed. It is entitled, "Bibliotheca Americana: a catalogue of books relating to North and South America," 1482-1800, 4 vols. large 8vo., Providence, 1870-82. The Carter Brown Library is now the richest collection of Americana in any private library in the world.

Among catalogues of libraries sold by auction, and composed largely of American books, are those of John A. Rice, New York, 1870: W. Menzies, New York, 1875: George Brinley, in five volumes, sold 1878 to 1886: Henry C. Murphy, New York, 1884: S. L. M. Barlow, New York, 1889: and Brayton Ives, New York, 1891.

The wide field of bibliography of English literature has given birth to many books. Only the more comprehensive can here be noted.

R. Watt's Bibliotheca Britannica, in four quarto volumes, Edinburgh, 1824, although now old, is still an indispensable work of reference, giving multitudes of titles of English books and pamphlets not found in any other bibliography. It of course abounds in errors, most of which have been copied in Allibone's Dictionary of English literature. This extensive work is a monument of labor, to which the industrious compiler devoted many years, dying of too intense study, at Glasgow, at the early age of forty-five, in the year 1819. The issue of the work in 1824, being thus posthumous, its errors and omissions are largely accounted for by the author's inability to correct the press. The plan of the work is unique. Vols. 1 and 2 contain the alphabet of authors and titles, with dates and publishers' prices when known. Vols. 3 and 4 contain an alphabet of subjects, in which the titles re-appear, with a key alphabet in italic letters attached to each title, by which reference is made to the author-catalogue, at a fixed place, where all the works of the author are recorded.

The work is printed in small type, with two crowded columns on a page, thus containing an enormous amount of matter. The key is quickly learned, and by its aid, and the alphabet of subjects, the librarian can find out the authors of many anonymous books. Watt is the only general bibliography of English literature which gives most of the obscure writers and their works.

Lowndes' Bibliographer's Manual of English Literature, in its second edition, enlarged by H. G. Bohn, is a most indispensable bibliography. This work is arranged alphabetically by authors' names, and aims to record all important books published in Great Britain, from the earliest times to about A. D. 1834. It is in eleven parts, or 6 vols. 16 mo. of very portable size, Lond., 1857-65. While it gives collations of the more important works, with publishers and dates, it fails to record many editions of the same work. Its quoted prices represent the original publisher's price, with very frequent additions of the sale prices obtained at book auctions. The chief defect of Lowndes' Manual is its total lack of any index of subjects.

S. Austin Allibone's "Critical Dictionary of English literature," Philadelphia, 1858-71, 3 volumes, with supplement by John F. Kirk, in 2 vols., Philadelphia, 1891, is a copious reference book, which, in spite of its many errors and crudities, should be in all libraries. It contains in abbreviated form most of the titles in Watt and Lowndes, with the addition of American authors, and of British books published since the period covered by Lowndes. The three volumes of Allibone accompany the titles of works by noted authors with many critical remarks, copied mostly from reviews and literary journals. This feature of the book, which makes it rather a work of literary history and criticism than a bibliography pure and simple, has been dropped in Mr. Kirk's supplement, which thus becomes properly a bibliography. The publications of England and America, from about 1850 to 1890, are more fully chronicled in this work of Kirk than in any other bibliography.

The important "English Catalogue of Books," from A. D. 1835 to 1897, in 5 vols., with its valuable Index of Subjects, in 4 vols., from 1857 up to 1889, is so constantly useful as to be almost indispensable in a public library. It records, in provokingly brief one-line titles, with publisher's name, year of issue, and price, all books published in Great Britain whose titles could be secured. It thus subserves the same purpose for English publications, which the American Catalogue fulfills for those of the United States. Both are in effect greatly condensed bibliographies, enabling the librarian to locate most of the published literature in the English language for many years back. The English catalogue, from 1897 to date, is supplemented by its annual issues, entitled "the English Catalogue of Books for 1898," etc.

I have said that accuracy should be one of the cardinal aims of the librarian: and this because in that profession it is peculiarly important. Bibliography is a study which approaches very nearly to the rank of an exact science; and the practice of it, in application to the daily work of the librarian, is at once a school of accuracy, and a test of ability. A habit of analytical methods should be assiduously cultivated, without which much time will be lost in fruitless searches in the wrong books to find what one wants. As a single illustration of this need of method, suppose that you want to find the title of a certain book with its full description, a want likely to occur every hour in the day, and sometimes many times an hour. The book is perhaps Sir Walter Scott's Life of Napoleon,—9 vols., London, 1827, and your object is to trace its title, published price, etc., among the numerous bibliographies of literature. You begin by a simple act of analysis—thus. This is a London, not an American book—hence it is useless to look in any American catalogue. It is written in English, so you are dispensed from looking for it in any French or other foreign bibliography. Its date is 1827, London. Therefore among the three leading English reference books in bibliography, which are Watt's Bibliotheca Britannica, Lowndes' Bibliographer's Manual, and the English Catalogue, you at once eliminate the former as not containing the book. Why do you do this? Because Watt's great work, in four huge quartos, though invaluable for the early English literature, stops with books published before the date of its issue, 1824. Your book is published in 1827, and of course could not appear in a catalogue of 1824. Shall you refer then to the English Catalogue for its title? No, because the five volumes of that useful work (though some imperfect book lists were published earlier), begin with the year 1835, and the book you seek bears date of 1827. You are then reduced, by this simple process of analyzing in your mind the various sources of information, and rejecting all except one, namely Lowndes' Bibliographer's Manual, to a search in a single catalogue for your title. This simplifies matters greatly, and saves all the time which might otherwise have been lost in hunting fruitlessly through several works of reference. Lowndes' invaluable Manual was published in 1834, and though a second edition, edited by Bohn, appeared thirty years later, it does not contain books published after that date, unless they are later editions of works issued earlier. You find in it your Scott's Napoleon, date 1827, with its published price, £4. 14. 6, and an account of other later editions of the book. Of course you will observe that it is necessary to know what period of years is covered by the various bibliographies, and to carry those dates perpetually in your memory, in order thus to simplify searches, and save time. Once learned, you will have the comfort of knowing where to turn for light upon any book, and the faculty of accurate memory will reward the pains taken to acquire it.

I must not omit to include, in noting the more useful and important English bibliographies, the very copious list of works appended to each biography of British writers, in the new "Dictionary of National Biography," Lond., 1885-1900. This extensive work is nearly finished in about 65 volumes, and constitutes a rich thesaurus of information about all British authors, except living ones.

Living characters, considered notable, and brief note of their books, are recorded in "Men and Women of the Time," 15th ed. London, 1899—but this book, although highly useful, is far from being a bibliography.

I should not omit to mention among useful librarians' aids, the "Book Prices Current; record of prices at which books have been sold at auction." This London publication began with the year 1887. No sales are reported of books bringing less than one pound sterling. The book-sales of 1898 were reported in 1899 of this issue, and the book is published in each case the next year. The similar catalogue entitled "American Book Prices Current" was begun with 1895, being compiled from the sale catalogues of American auctioneers, for that year, and the prices brought at auction in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago, are recorded for all notable books, but limited to works bringing as much as $3 or upward. Five years' reports, in as many volumes, have now been issued, and the publication is to be continued. Its utility of course consists in informing librarians or collectors of the most recent auction values of books. At the same time, a word of caution is required, since it is not safe to judge of average commercial values, from any isolated bid at an auction sale.

A very useful classed catalogue, published by the British Museum library, and edited by G. K. Fortescue, an assistant librarian, is the so-called "Subject-index to modern works," of which three volumes have appeared, beginning with the accessions of 1880-85, each covering five years additions of new works, in all European languages, to that library. The third volume embraces the years 1890 to 1895, and appeared in 1896. As this is not confined to works in English, it should be classed with universal bibliography. As containing most of the latest books of any note, all three volumes are important aids to research. They are printed in large type, in which it is a refreshment to the eye to read titles, after the small and obscure print of Watt's Bibliotheca Britannica, and the but little better type of Lowndes' Manual, and of the English Catalogue. A collation of pages is also added in most cases, and the importance of this can hardly be overrated. These catalogues of the British Museum Library abound in pamphlets, English, French, German, Italian, etc., evincing how large a share of attention is given to the minor literature coming from the press in the more recent years.

W. H. D. Adams's "Dictionary of English Literature," London, 1880, and later, in a compact volume, gives authors and titles of the more important English and American books. Also, in the same alphabet, an index to the titles, as well as authors, by the first word, and to many sayings or quotations, with their original sources. It is a highly useful book, although its small bulk leaves it far from being a comprehensive one.

Chambers' Cyclopaedia of English Literature, in 2 vols., London, 1876, has an account of the most notable British writers, with specimens of their works, and forms what may be termed an essential part of the equipment of every public library.

The Library Association of the United Kingdom, since 1888, the date of its organization, has published Transactions and Proceedings; also, since 1889, "The Library," a periodical with bibliographical information.

It may be noted, without undue expression of pride, that America first set the example of an organized national association of Librarians (founded in 1876) followed the same year by a journal devoted to Library interests. That extremely useful periodical, the Library Journal, is now in its twenty-fourth volume. Its successive issues have contained lists of nearly all new bibliographical works and catalogues published, in whatever language.

The London Publisher's Circular, first established in 1838, is a weekly organ of the book-publishing trade, aiming to record the titles of all British publications as they appear from the press. It gives, in an alphabet by authors' names, the titles in much abbreviated form, with publisher, size in inches, collation, price, and date, with a fairly good index of titles or subjects, in the same alphabet. Covering much the same ground, as a publishers' periodical, is "The Bookseller," issued monthly since 1858, with lists of the new issues of the British press, and critical notices. In addition to the English catalogue, there is the extensive Whitaker's "Reference catalogue of current literature," published every year, which now makes two large volumes, and embraces the trade catalogues of English publishers, bound up in alphabetical order, with a copious index, by authors and titles, in one alphabet, prefixed.

While on English bibliographies, I must note the important work on local history, by J. P. Anderson, "Book of British Topography," London, 1881. This gives, in an alphabet of counties, titles of all county histories or descriptive works of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, followed in each county by a list of town histories or topographical works. The arrangement under each town is chronological. Its only want is a collation of the books. British genealogy, or the history of families, is treated bibliographically in G. W. Marshall's "The Genealogist's Guide," London, 1893, which gives an alphabet of family names, with references in great detail to county and town histories, pedigrees, heralds' visitations, genealogies, etc., all over Great Britain, in which any family is treated.

The wide field of foreign bibliography, by countries, cannot here be entered upon, nor can I now treat of the still more extensive range of works devoted to the bibliography of various subjects.