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mere literary curiosities, or are recommended by their rarity alone, or by their 

 sumptuous binding, or costly manuscripts, and voluminous publications, superseded 

 by others of later date and of acknowledged superior excellence. These were set 

 aside for such as commended themselves by reason of their substantial merit and 

 sterling value. Regard for the quality of the literature, not for the number of 

 books, has been throughout the dominant rule. 



They refrained from buying books of small size, unless in that form they 

 were the only or best editions to be had ; although convenient for private use, 

 small books are not suitable for a great Library. The major part of the book- 

 cases being made to receive folios, quartos, and octavos, volumes of duodecimo 

 and octodecimo size do not harmonize with the cases, consequently loss of space 

 and want of symmetry on the shelves occur. Little books are occasionally 

 pushed behind the larger, and lost sight of, while they present temptation to the 

 unauthorised borrower. In order to protect such books from misappropriation, 

 it has been usual to cause several treating of cognate subjects to be bound 

 together in volumes of the same size ; should they be of unequal dimensions 

 they are "tilted," or arranged flush at the top without regard to the adjust- 

 ment of the outer side or bottom ; to prevent dust from lodging on an uneven 

 surface, or entering between the leaves, they are gilt or marbled at the top. 



Of these, more than 400 volumes of pamphlets and other casual publications 

 relating to the affairs of the different British possessions in Australasia each 

 comprising on an average ten papers have been, with an attentive assiduity, 

 assembled. They are placed together in one of the galleries, with the Statutes, 

 Legislative and other Parliamentary papers, of the Colonies to which they 

 respectively belong, arranged with distinctive bindings, so as to be easily 

 accessible to the enquiring investigator. 



Acting on these principles the Trustees had recourse to the Catalogues of 

 the British Museum, the Universities and College Libraries of the Mother 

 Country, and of similar institutions on the Continent of Europe ; also to the 

 Catalogues of Societies, as for example, of 



The Royal Academy for works on Art. 



The Royal Geographical, and 



The Hakluyt Society for works on Geography. 



The Royal Society for works on Science, &c. &c. 



To the Lists of Authors quoted in such works as Alison's History of 

 Europe ; Buckle on Civilization ; Rawlinson's Herodotus. 



To the Lists of Editions, as in Arnold's Thucydides. 



To the authorities cited in the Notes to such works as Burton, Gibbon, 

 Hume, Montaigne. 



To the Catalogues and Trade Circulars of the Booksellers of best repute 

 in all the Capitals of Europe and America. 



To the Reviews of recently published books derived from the Periodicals, 

 as well as from other sources of information. 



Particular heads of literature were thus followed out in turn until moderately 

 complete in their principal features, 



