6 LIBRARIES. 
the close of 1907 there were 36,856 persons entitled to borrow 
books from the various Lending Libraries, and the total stock of 
books available for them was 137,627. 
During the past year an important addition of books was made to 
the Reference Library by the transfer to the Libraries Committee of 
the collection of botanical works, numbering 681 vols., belonging 
to the Parks and Gardens Committee. Many of the books are 
valuable and important, as may be seen from the following brief 
list :—Pallas’s Flora Rossica, 3v. £°. 1784 (presented by the Emperor 
of Russia); Allioni’s Flora Pedemontana, dy. f°. 1785 (presented by 
William Roscoe); Gerarde’s Herbal, f°. 1636; Parkinson’s Theatrum 
botanicum, f°. 1640; Hooker and Greville’s Icones filicum, 2yv. 
1829-31; Lindley’s Digitalium monographia, f°. 1821; Lindley’s 
Collectanea botanica, f°. 1821; Loddiges’ Botanical cabinet, 20v. 
4°.; Curtis’ Botanical magazine, 117v. 1793-1906; Redouté’s Les 
Liliacées, 8v. f°. 1802-16; Roscoe’s Monandrian plants, f°. 1828; 
Wallich’s Plante Asiatice rariores, dv. £°. 1830-32; together with 
various works by Linneus, Sowerby, Aldrovandi, De Candolle, 
Sir James Smith, and many others. 
Now that the home of this Library has been severed from the 
Botanic Gardens, some brief account of its history may prove 
interesting. It was on the initiative of William Roscoe that the 
Liverpool Botanic Garden was established by public subscription in 
the year 1800. The number of shares was limited to 300 (twelve 
guineas upon admission and two guineas annually), and ten acres of 
land were acquired in a situation then described as “in the 
neighbourhood of the town.” The principal entrance was from 
what is now Oxford Street; and Vine Street, Cypress Street, and 
Grove Street may be said still to commemorate the existence of the 
Garden in that locality. Only five acres were used for the Garden, 
which was opened in 1803; and it speaks well for the business 
acumen of those responsible for the land-purchase that the unused 
five acres realised a sum almost equal to that originally paid for the 
whole. A Curator was appointed in the person of Mr. John 
Shepherd, a naturalist held in the highest esteem throughout 
Europe. In the original proposals it was provided that a Library 
