LIBRARIES. / 



would be to court failure. Almost every book, by reason of its Ait 

 binding, extra illustrations, original drawings, autograph letters, or 

 by some characteristic removing it from the category of an ordinary 

 edition, justifies a description of its own. It is only when tbe 

 catalogue now in preparation is published that a true appreciation 

 can be formed of this benefaction as a whole, and of tbe taste and 

 culture of its generous donor. The volumes number upwards of 

 7,200, and the engravings and etchings exceed 3,000, many being 

 artists' proofs. The autograph letters are contained in some twenty 

 boxes, and are of the greatest interest apart from their unique 

 character and value. 



As early as 1852, the first year of the establishment of this 

 Library, the collection of books, pamphlets, maps, drawings, play- 

 hills, and documents of all kinds bearing upon and illustrating the 

 history and progress of Liverpool, has been carried on with con- 

 siderable zeal. The collection is now both valuable and extensive. 



The drawings in the Library of the Liverpool past and gone to 

 make way for a newer Liverpool, with wider streets and hand- 

 somer buildings, but less quaint and picturesque than those they 

 have replaced, can be numbered by the hundred. In order to give 

 the public some idea of the interest of this collection, an exhibition 

 was held during the year in the large Reading Room of the Brown 

 Library. This proved a revelation of the most agreeable kind, and 

 gave unmixed pleasure to a continuously crowded room. It is 

 proposed to repeat this exhibition, and give the large number of 

 persons who were disappointed in seeing the last exhibition the 

 opportunity they desire. 



The Lending Libraries are six in number, with a lotal stock of 

 books available for home reading amounting to 92,497 volumes. 

 The volumes issued for this purpose during the past year numbered 

 in the aggregate 819,317. This number, large as it is. may 

 reasonably be increased, as many of the books are read by one or 

 more persons other than the borrowers before they are returned to 

 the Library. As the spread of infectious disease through the 

 circulation of the Library books is discussed from time to time 

 more or less nervously by 1lie public, it may l.e as well to stale the 



