THE JOURNAL OF THE 

 BEDFORD LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTE AND GENERAL LIBRARY. 



ARCH>!EOLOGY 



ART 



HOR. 



Vol. I. No. 1. MARCH, 1891 Price Twopence. 



HE President and Council of tlie Bedford Literary and Scientific 

 Institute and General Library, in introducing the new Journal, 

 Our ColumnSy to their thousand and one subscribers, do not attempt 

 to make any great promises concerning its present or future ; neither 

 do they intend it to supply the place of any existing publication. 

 Their object is to provide a means of placing the members au courant with 

 their plans and intentions, as decided in Council from month to month, 

 and to enable them to make the Society known to those of the public 

 who do not yet subscribe to it. 



In this number will be found the Annual Eeport and Accounts of the 

 Institution, duly audited ; from these it is apparent that it has been 

 managed with care and economy, and further expansion will ensue as 

 the roll of subscribers increases. Some details relating to the Archaeological 

 and Natural History Society (which has been amalgamated with our own) 

 will also be found in the present issue. 



When the Bedfordshire General Library^' was first established some sixty 

 years ago, few could have imagined that it would have reached in 

 this century such a membership, and acquired such a splendid property in 

 books and buildings as it now possesses. If these pages may but extend the 

 knowledge of its resources and treasures, and promote a still friendlier relation 

 between the members and the Council, the Editors and their friends will 

 never regret that in March, 1891, they issued the first number of Our Columns. 



9^ 



