VOL. 6.

C: A. CUTTER, General Editor. F: LEYPOLDT, Managing Editor.

Communications for the JOURNAL, exchanges, and editors' copies, should be addressed C: A. CUTTER, Boston Athenæum, Boston, Mass.

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THE extracts which we give in the Bibliografy from Mr. Hubbard's and Mr. Seaver's letters bring up again the still-vexed question of fiction or no fiction (or how much fiction) in public libraries. Will it ever be settled? We doubt it; for its settlement would require that all people should take the same view of the proper objects of libraries, and should have the same feelings toward fiction; whereas now there is the greatest diversity, from the extreme puritanism which holds cards, dancing, and novels, in all their forms and under all conditions, in utter abhorrence, through various degrees of mild aversion or mild contempt to discriminating approval and temperate enjoyment, and, finally, to complete absorption in them. The fact that there are persons in the last stage is made an excuse for the first, as drunkenness is the justification of teetotalism. For our own part, we cannot assent to the exclusive theory. It generally rests, we believe, on an ignorance of the character

No. 3.

of fiction-the misdeeds of some writers bringing condemnation on a whole class. It also proceeds, in part, from a misconception of the needs and capacities of human nature.

That reading of fiction alone, or in excess, does incapacitate for serious study requiring attention, is undoubted; that occasional reading of fiction not only does not do this, but actually, by cultivating the imagination, increases the power to derive profit from serious study, is equally certain. The whole good of historical research comes from applying the imagination to dry facts and thereby giving them life. It is not of the slightest importance to any man, or to the world, to know that Rameses 99th reigned from B. C. 10,000 to B. C. 9050, and not, as some erroneous Egyptologist may have asserted, from B. C. 9000 to B. C. 8050. It is only worth while to investigate such points because they go to form a skeleton, which some one may hereafter inspire with life. But it is of value to know what manner of man the king was, and what manner of men his subjects were, and to form a dramatic conception of their mode of life and ways of thinking and feeling. And the formation of that conception depends upon a faculty which can be cultivated by a judicious use of works of imagination-poetical, dramatic, fictitious. Total abstinence is folly; it is simply throwing away a good tool, not using, as one might say, a means of grace. But, on the other hand, novel-reading undirected, accompanied by no thought of improvement, carried to excess, is in danger of doing more harm than good. And here comes in the new idea of the librarian, according to which he is not a mere perpetual writer, nor a book-watchman, nor a registry clerk, but a professor of bibliografy, or better still, a teacher of reading, and, so far as he can be, an intellectual adviser, a mental doctor for his town. And since the librarian has been found insufficient to fulfill all these functions, here is where comes in the newly devised coöperation of librarian and

school-master, and the equally desirable coöperation of librarian and pastor. Indeed, here is a work in which all the educated portion of a town can take a part. It has been insisted very justly that the responsibility for the reading of the young rests not with the library, but with the parents. They alone, it is said, know the nature of their children-they alone are aware that this one is so sluggish that he positively needs the most sensational reading to stir him up and put some spirit into him, while that one, of a nervous, excitable disposition, must be carefully guarded against the very books that will do most good to the other. They alone have the knowledge and the authority, both of which the librarian lacks; they then should direct the children's reading, and the library should simply supply it, as the apothecary furnishes all sorts of drugs, among which the doctor selects what will suit this patient and that patient. It is a question, however, how many parents understand their children's characters as well as this implies, and it is certain that a majority of them have no such acquaintance with literature as would fit them for directing their children's reading. The natural inference is that since there is no one on whom the responsibility can rest, it is better that the young should not have access to the whole of a public library, but should have a library of their own, which is, in substance, Mr. Hubbard's idea. For a city library, where personal influence cannot be pervasive, this is perhaps best; in a country town, however, separation of departments is difficult and supervision of individual reading is possible. The grammar-school master knows every boy and girl in town, and, by some such methods as those introduced at the Wells School, he can secure an influence over their reading, and at least put them on the right track. Indeed, when this matter of school and library coöperation is fully understood and put in practice, they will be on the right track before they come to him. Then there will not be so much complaint of excessive reading of bad fiction; for the true way to keep out evil is to occupy its place beforehand with what is good.

MR. HUBBARD proposes an examining committee to decide what books shall be admitted into the Boston Public Library. In ordinary libraries, we take it, this work is done by the Library Committee. How careful their examinations are and what are their criteria of judgment we do not know. Probably there is a great difference in both, in different towns. But there is a body, and has been

for some years, the "Ladies' Commission,”—which examines books with very great care, so that any. thing which secures their approval may be confidently accepted by any of the class of libraries for which they work. This is a small class, to be sure,-Unitarian Sunday-schools, but they do not absolutely confine themselves to Sunday-school books, and we have thought it well worth while to secure the monthly publication of their lists for the service of our readers. If there are other similar bodies, we shall try to obtain their lists also.

WE regret to learn that Mr. S: R. Warren, Acting Librarian to the Bureau of Education, has resigned his position, to take effect April 1. His services as chief editor of the "Special report on libraries" will be remembered by all librarians with gratitude.

COMMUNICATIONS.

INJURIOUS INSECTS.

PUBLIC LIBRARY, TAUNTON, MASS.,
Feb. 26, 1881.

From time to time I have observed the sheep backs of my Congressional publications falling or rubbing off on the slightest pressure. These books are placed on the upper shelves, ten and twelve feet from the floor of the Library. The other day a young naturalist* of this city took out one and on laying it down on a table at home, a number of beetles, accompanied by a larger insect known to prey on them, escaped, with the excep tion of three, from under the open back. I send you a drawing, made by my friend, of one of the

beetles, magnified about sixteen times under the glass. The paper with which the back is lined was untouched, showing that, if the beetles are the culprits, they think there is nothing like leather. Whether they prefer dry literature does not appear, and I leave the whole question, whether the insects are responsible for the weakness in the back from which so many books are suffering, for your scientific readers to determine.

Dr. Alcott's "Forty Years in the Wilderness" is attracting a new class of readers. A pious lady of this city lately called for it at the Library, nothing doubting it contained something suited to her taste. E. C. A.

THE ACADEMY AND THE LIBRARY JOURNAL. FOR independent criticism and trustworthy intelligence the Academy is unimpeachable. Hence, the writer of this had cause to wince under the following censure: "The double number of the LIBRARY JOURNAL for September-October con

* Master Harrie G. White, aged 14, already, I think, a recognized correspondent of the Smithsonian Institution.

tains a very full abstract of the proceedings of the Edinburgh meeting of the Library Association, which is, however, disfigured by the usual misprints. Surely, even American librarians might be expected to know what are the initials of the leading librarians in this country." It is only in justice to the "American librarians," and to the former editors of the LIBRARY JOURNAL, that he who was solely responsible for the issue referred to, should face the rebuke, although no opportunity is given him to verify the extent of his offense. Now, while claiming on behalf of the LIBRARY JOURNAL that incompetent and careless editing has not been its distinguishing feature, he is far from claiming that it has been exceptionally free from typographical and other errors. A journal in which proper names form so large a proportion of its contents, and which must depend for its information on so many sources at home and abroad, is liable to err in initials. In printing the proceedings of the Edinburgh meeting, the publisher (then ed. pro tem.) felt justified in fully trusting his source of information. The entire abstract was prepared by an English librarian, and the bulk of copy consisted of printed extracts. Possibly too much trust was placed in the Edinburgh journals or in the American printers. The LIBRARY JOURNAL by no means gathers its news in whatever shape or from whatever source it may come. For, with all its implicit faith in the general correctness of its English contemporaries, it would have hesitated to quote, verbatim et literatim, from the Academy for February 26, that "Mr. Secretary Ewarts has advised the United States Government," etc., etc., or that "Messrs. Ley poldt and Holt, of New York, have," etc., etc. Of course, it was easy for the writer, in this country, to detect error No. 1-clearly a "misprint"; and natural for him, being personally concerned, to be startled by error No. 2-clearly not a misprint. In making these remarks on some errors which he happened to notice in a certain issue of the Academy, he wishes to convey no other moral than that even the most punctilious and conscientious journal cannot absolutely guard against the ills of hurried journalism. Nothing could justify him in pronouncing sentence "disfigured by the usual misprints." Having been a reader of the Academy since its establishment, he would be the first to defend it against any such inference. F. L.

THE ANNEX LIBRARY.

AN APPEAL FOR BOOKS OF REFERENCE FROM THE GIRLS AT HARVARD.

THE young ladies now studying in Cambridge, who have been deprived of the use of reference books in the college library, are desirous of forming a reference library of their own. Through the kindly efforts of Colonel Higginson and others a beginning has been made. Books of reference, the works of the standard English authors, works on history and mental philosophy, are urgently needed. In fact, hardly any book bearing on college work would come amiss. It is trusted that this appeal will not be made in vain to the

Cambridge, Mass., Feb. 12, 1881.
-N. Y. Ev. Post, Feb. 14.

[The various statements which have been made regarding the use of the Harvard Library by the ladies of the "Annex " are, most of them, misleading, and some of them untrue. The "Annex" is not a department of the university; and its members enjoy such use of the library as any other respectable resident of Cambridge enjoys, i. e., a use not interfering with the rights of those for whom the library is maintained-no more, no less. The directors of the "Annex" have not asked for anything more; and are quite content with the status in which the "Annex is placed. Exceptional circumstances have been just as much considered in their case as in the case of other special students. Mere membership of the "Annex" does not constitute a special claim, and its managers do not wish that it should.]

THE BRITISH MUSEUM CATALOGUE.

"THE British Museum," says the London Academy for January 15, "has got a grant from the Treasury, not only to print the entries of all their fresh books for their Catalogue, but also some of their old ones. The work will have to be done gradually, and the volumes of the Catalogue first put into type will be those gorged ones that readers know so well, of original width at the back, but swelling to double breadth in the middle through additional entries. Printing their titles will bring them to a tenth of their present unwieldy bulk. The process will, of course, include the printing, from time to time, of important headings, such as 'Shakspere' (the Catalogue rightly spells the name as Shakspere generally wrote it), 'Homer,' 'Dante,' etc.; and it is probable that these sections will be issued for separate sale, as, though the Museum collection is not complete under any one head, students all over the world will be glad to know what editions the National Library has. Moreover, when gaps in a collection are widely known to exist they have a better chance of getting filled up. The list which has been prepared by Mr. G. W. Porter, of the Bibliographies, Classified Catalogues, and Indexes,' placed in the extra cases in the British Museum reading-room, has been printed by order of the trustees, and will be issued to the public immediately."