33 [ 1 ] 



a common al)an(lonmcnt of the hope of affording guides so important to 

 the literary accumuUitions of the hirger libraries of Europe. 



It is, of course, entirely practical)le ') juiblish a complete and 

 satisfactory catalogue of a library which is stationai'y. But most public 

 libraries are constantly and rap;idly ii;creasing. 'I'liis circumstance, so 

 gratifying on every other account, is the cause of the diiiiciilties to v.hich 

 i have alluded. 



While the catalogue of such a collection is passing through the press, 

 new hooks are received, the titles of which, it is impossible, in the ordinary 

 manner of printing, to incorporate \di\i the body of the v/ork. Recourse 

 must then be had to a supplement. In no other way, can the acquisitions 

 of the library be made known to the public. If, as in the library of Con- 

 gress, th" number of supplements be increased to nine, the student may be 

 obliged to grope Ins weary way through ten catalogues, instead of one, in 

 order to asi;ertai!i v/hethcr any book v/hieh he seeks is in tlie library, lit: 

 cannot be certain, even then, that the book is not in the collection, for it 

 may have been received since the last appendix was printed. 8u})p]e- 

 ments soon become intolerable. The whole catalogue must then be re- 

 <irrangcd and re-printed. The expense of this process may be borne, st) 

 long as the library is small ; but it soon becomes Ijurdensome, and ere long 

 insupportable, even to national establishments. 



There is but one course lett — not to print at all. I'o this no scholar con- 

 sents, except from necessity. 



But to this alternative, grievous as it is, nearly all the large libraries oi" 

 Europe have been reluctantly driven. More than a century has passed 

 since the prmting of the catalogue of the Royal Library at Paris was com- 

 menced. It is not yet finished. No one feels in it the interest which he 

 would, if he could hope to have it kept up complete, if once it were 

 brought up to a given date. 



Dr. P.ertz, Chief Librarian of the Royal Library of Berlin, declares that 

 to print the c;italogue of a large library, which is constantly increasing, is 

 to throw away money. His opinion is founded u])ou the supposed impos- 

 •sibility of kec' ing up the catalogue, so as continually to represent the actual 

 possessions of the library. 



The first volume of the new catalogue of printed books in the British 

 Museum was published in 18 If), It is a folio of four hundred and fifty- 

 seven pages, and contains all the titles, imder the letter A, of books in the 

 library at the end of the year 1838. Mr. Panizzi, from the first, strongly 

 opposed the printing of any part of the catalogue, befora the whole, up to 

 the prescribed limit (1838,) should he completed in manuscript. Time has 

 shown the justness of his views. The commissioners lately appointed ])y 

 the Queen to inquire into the constitution and management of the Museum, 

 have, in their report, expressed an opinion decidedly against the printing 

 of the catalogue at all, and principally on the ground that it mfist ever 

 remain imperfect. 



One of the witnesses, (the Right TTonorahle J. W. Croker,) examined 

 before the commissioners, thus strongly states the case with respect to 

 printing : 



" You receive, I suppose, into your library every year some twenty 



thousand volumes, or something like that. Why, if you had a printed 



catalogue dropped down from Heaven to you at this moment perfect, this 



day twelve-month your twenty thousand interlineations would spoil the 



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