386 Nations lately become Literary. 



of South-Carolina, and were very small/ Since 

 that period the number has increased to many' 

 hundreds, and is every year becoming still greater. 6 

 Private Libraries have also become numerous and 

 extensive in a still more remarkable degree. 



At the commencement of the period under re- 

 view, there were but three ox four Printers in the 

 American Colonies; and these carried on their 

 business upon a very small scale, and in a very 

 coarse, inelegant manner. But at present the 

 number of Printers in the United States may be 

 considered as near three hundred; and many of 

 these perform their work with a neatness and ele- 

 gance which are rarely exceeded in Europe. At 

 that time the printing an original American work, 

 even a small pamphlet, was a rare occurrence, and 

 seriously weighed, as an important undertaking; 

 while the reprinting of foreign works was seldom 

 attempted. But. now at least one hundred Ameri- 

 can works, some of which are large and respecta- 

 ble, 'annually issue from our presses; and the re- 

 publication of foreign books is carried on in almost 

 every part of our country, and particularly in the 

 capital towns, with a degree of enterprize, and to 

 an extent which would not disgrace some of the 

 most cultivated parts of the European world. 



Before the revolutionary war the Booksellers m 

 the American Colonies were few, and carried on 

 their business on a contracted plan. Since that 

 time their number has increased more than fifty 

 fold; and the extent of their annual sales, perhaps, 



a In the seventeenth century, some of the Congregational Churches in 

 Massachusetts began to form Church Libraries. These were considerably 

 numerous and useful; and some of them remain till the present day. The 

 use of these Libraries, however, was chiefly confined to the particular 

 congregations whose property they were. 



b The number of incorporated Libraries in Massachusetts is said to b« 

 abouc one hundred. The number in the other Eastern States is not known j 

 biK institutions of this kind are far more numerous in New-England thai} 

 in any c.her part of cur country. 



