274 A Librarian's Work. [xn. 



suggestion, and stereotype each title on a separate 

 plate. Let there be a separate stereotype-plate for 

 each cai'd, so that in every new edition new plates 

 may be inserted for the added titles ; and then the 

 ruinous expense of fresh composition for every new 

 edition would seem to be avoided. It is to be feared, 

 however, that this show of having solved the difficulty 

 is illusory. For to keep such a quantity of printer's 

 metal lying idle year after year would of itself entail 

 great trouble and expense. The plates would take up 

 a great deal of room and would need to be kept in a 

 fire-proof building ; and the interest lost each year on 

 the value of the metal would by and by amount to a 

 formidable sum. It is perhaps doubtful whether, in 

 the long run, anything would be saved by this cum- 

 brous method. Possibly — unless some future helio- 

 graphic invention should turn to our profit — the least 

 expensive way, after all, may be to print at long 

 intervals, without stereotyping, and to depend 

 throughout the intervals on card-supplements. But 

 this question, like many others suggested by the 

 formidable modern growth of literature, is easier to 

 ask than to answer. 



In this hasty sketch many points connected with a 

 librarian's work remain unmentioned. But in a brief 



