The Smithsonian Library. 279 



Livermore, of Boston ; Samuel F. Haven, librarian of the 

 American Antiquarian Society, and Edward Everett Hale. 

 This commission made a report favorable to the scheme, 

 reserving, however, an opinion as to the merits of a new 

 system of electrotyping which had been proposed as the 

 more economical. 



This plan of Professor Jewett has continued to meet with 

 the commendation of librarians and bibliographers. Sabin * 

 describes it as "a well written summary of all that has been 

 done towards solving this difficult subject. Librarians and 

 private collectors will find in it many valuable practical 

 hints." Mr. Charles A. Cutter says : 2 



"Mr. Jewett's plan for a general catalogue of all the libra- 

 ries in the country is well known. Something might have 

 been done by the aid of the Smithsonian Institution, of which 

 he was then librarian ; but as the directors resolutely con- 

 fined their efforts to the propagation of science, and as there 

 was at that time no other national organization sufficiently 

 strong to move in the matter, the plan came to nothing. It 

 has been often mentioned since, in terms of regret and long- 

 ing ; but no one has had the courage or seen the way clear 

 to make any definite proposal." 



Doctor William F. Poole, at the Milwaukee conference of 

 the American Library Association in 1886, spoke of Professor 

 Jewett's "rules" as a simplification and improvement on the 

 plan then employed at the British Museum. He said further: 



"Another project he was much interested in at the time; 

 and it was highly creditable to his enterprise and ingenuity. 

 It is an honest attempt to lessen the cost of printing elabo- 

 rate catalogues, which were then, and are now, absorbing 

 funds which ought to be expended in books." 



1 " Bibliotheca Americana," Volume IX, 1877, page 268. 

 2 The Library Journal, Volume i, 1877, page 220; see also Volume xni, 1888, page 107. 



