17 



number 5,010 volumes, and if to these are added such of the 

 books belonging to the library at the time of transfer as 

 have also been catalogued, the total number of titles now 

 dealt with in manuscript form, with all the necessary cross 

 references, is 21,112. There are upwards of 50,000 volumes 

 in the Library at the present time. 



The Committee have further to report that they have 

 added to the Bristol Collection, by purchase, two most 

 interesting collections of unpublished autograph letters : 

 the one being letters of Joseph Cottle to Robert Southey, 

 relating to Southey, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Forster, etc., 

 and extending from 1804 to 1837. These letters, as might 

 be expected, contain many local allusions, and are of great 

 interest in connection with the lives of the remarkable 

 men referred to. The second is a collection of letters of 

 John Forster, the Essayist, written to Joseph Cottle, 

 between 1807 and 1841. These also are of an interesting 

 character, and treat incidentally of the writer's connection 

 with Bristol. 



Early in the past year the Committee availed 

 themselves of an offer made through the late Rev. S. W. 

 Wayte, B.D. (who was for a long time closely connected 

 with the earlier history of the Museum and Library), of 

 two autograph letters of S. T. Coleridge, which are most 

 valuable as throwing light on the character and opinions 

 of the poet. These two letters were the gift of the Rev. 

 Richard Mence, M.A., vicar of Bockleton, Worcestershire, 

 whose father was a friend of Coleridge. 



As custodians of the valuable contents of the Museum 

 buildings, the Committee are obliged to add that they are 

 having forced upon them the question of insufficiency of 

 accommodation. When, five years ago, the Museum was 

 handed over to the City, it might fairly have been des- 

 cribed as too much crowded for the proper display of 



