The Smithsonian Library 277 



Speaking of this publication Professor Henry said : 



"The Report on the statistics of Libraries of the United 

 States, prepared by Professor Jewett, has been ordered to be 

 printed by Congress, as an appendix to the Regents' Report. 

 A sufficient number of extra copies will be presented to the 

 Institution, for distribution to all the libraries from which 

 statistical information was received. It forms a volume of 

 about two hundred and twenty-five pages, and will, I am sure, 

 be considered an important contribution to Bibliographical 

 Statistics." 1 



"This report is intended merely as a beginning, to be 

 followed by others on the same subject. It has been sent to 

 all the libraries of the United States, with the request that its 

 deficiencies may be pointed out and additional materials fur- 

 nished to render it more perfect. The great interest which 

 is felt in this work is manifested by the amount of statistical 

 information which has already been received and returned 

 for the copies distributed." 2 



Professor Jewett had begun already in 1849, as a prelimin- 

 ary to his plan of making a general catalogue of books in the 

 United States, to prepare a catalogue of all the books in 

 the libraries of Washington ; and much progress was made. 

 Meanwhile, his plan for forming a general catalogue of the 

 libraries of the United States was being carried on in con- 

 junction with another plan, that of furnishing catalogues 

 by a cheap and satisfactory process to individual libraries. 

 Professor Jewett was of the opinion that the printing of cata- 

 logues of American libraries, most of which were repetitions 

 of titles already printed, was a great waste of money and 

 effort. He, therefore, proposed the plan of printing these 

 catalogues by preparing a set of stereotyped titles, which 



1 " Smithsonian Report," 1850, page 14. 

 2 Professor Henry in " Smithsonian Report," 1851, page 14. 



