376 Itinerating Libraries. 



your Magazine some hints on surveying, keeping a field book, &c, which 

 may be useful for my young brethren. 



" Wishing you the success in your undertaking which you deserve, I 

 remain most respectfully, Sir, &c. 



" Annat Garden, March 11. 1827. Archibald Gorrie." 



Itinerating, Juvenile and Village Libraries, have been established for a 

 number of years in the county of East Lothian, and the " Third Report" 

 of this Institution, (l2mo. pp. 16. 1823), has just been sent us. " The 

 object of this Institution is to furnish the towns and the villages of East 

 Lothian with libraries of useful books, consisting of such as are calculated 

 to promote the knowledge of religion, agriculture, mechanics, the construc- 

 tion of implements of husbandry, history, travels, &c. The books are 

 arranged into divisions of fifty volumes, which are stationed in a place for 

 two years, where they are issued gratuitously to all persons above 12 years 

 of age, who agree to take care of them ; and after this period they are 

 removed, or exchanged with other divisions. The Institution is chiefly 

 supported by the subscriptions and donations of benevolent individuals and 

 religious societies, and the profits from the sale of religious periodical 

 publications sold by the manager, Mr. Samuel Brown, of Haddington,' ? 

 the original inventor of the plan. 



We strongly recommend this pamphlet to all who take an interest in the 



subject ; and, we have no doubt the inventor and manager would willingly 



give any farther information that might be required. The different 



" Reports" are so small, that they might be sent under a frank. In the 



" Scotsman" Newspaper for March 28, is the following account of the 



establishment of an Itinerating Library in Mid Lothian: 



• " Some months ago a Society was formed here for establishing Itinerating Libraries in Mid 

 Lothian ; and we are happy to say, that they have now so far completed their arrangements, that 

 they have six divisions ready for circulation. Each division consists of fifty volumes ; the books 

 are generally of cheap editions, and of a miscellaneous character, including history, travels, 

 scientific treatises, with a pretty large proportion of religious works ; and what is a material 

 advantage, all of them are of a description which may be put into the hands of persons of any age, 

 and of either sex. Each division is put up in a neat green box, about two feet broad by two and 

 a half long, and six or seven inches deep, with a lock on it, and shelved within. This box serves 

 to convey the books from place to place, and, when set on its end, forms a ready-made book-case. 

 On application to the Society, a division is sent to any respectable person in a village. Thirty 

 shillings per annum is charged by the Society for the use of fifty volumes; but the parties are 

 allowed to change the lot of books as often as they please within the year, without paying any 

 thing more, except the expense of carriage. A catalogue printed on a single leaf, is put into 

 each volume, containing the names of all the books in the division. In one respect the system 

 of the Edinburgh Itinerating Libraries differs from that adopted in East Lothian by the 

 inventor, Mr. Samuel Brown. In the latter, the books are lent out gratuitously ; in the former, 

 a small charge is made for their use. Local circumstances may render the one or the other 

 system more eligible; but speaking generally we prefer the latter; because, by this mode the 

 libraries, when once established, will support themselves, and the persons for whom they are 

 intended will not have their pride hurt by receiving as charity what they are willing to pay for. 

 We need scarcely add, that the Society is not a trading establishment, but a benevolent 

 institution, of which the Reverend Dr. Gordon, Mr. Grey, and other excellent men are 

 members. We warmly recommend it to public patronage. The advantages which the scheme 

 holds out for the diffusion of knowledge are astonishingly great, and must, sooner or later, bring 

 these libraries into universal use. It is no exaggeration to say, that one pound applied in this 

 way, will go as far in spreading information as fifty or one hundred pounds expended on station, 

 ary libraries. Mr. Samuel Brown has, in fact, shown, and proved by the results of his own 

 experience, that the small sum of 300/. per annum, would suffice in the space of ^twenty years, 

 to establish and maintain two divisions in every parish in Scotland. By combining l 2Q or 30 

 stations into a circle, the inhabitants of each parish might have, at an expence of a shilling a year 

 individually, the use of 1000 or 1500 volumes." — Two or three germs of such men as_M r - Samuel 

 Brown must exist in every county town in Britain ; if the above account does not rouse them 

 into action we know not what will. 



Such gardeners as take a twice-a-week newspaper, will find the " Scots- 

 man," we do not hesitate to say, superior to any other journal of the kind. 

 A considerable part of it is devoted to literature, and party politics are kept 

 in due subordination to historical notices, and general principles of moral, 

 political, and economical improvement. It is adapted for "man" in general 

 as much as for a " Scotsman," and may be read with nearly equal interest 

 in America as in Europe. Such a paper deserves binding up for future re- 

 ference as much as any magazine or review. 



