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Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890), 15th July 1889, Edition 1 of 1, Page 822, > v i ¦ ¦ ¦ "¦ ¦ ¦ 822 The Publishers' C...

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    • O OUST-XIEISTTS
    • St. Dunstan's House, E.C. July 15, 1889.
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      > V I ¦ ¦ ¦ "¦ ¦ ¦ 822 The Publishers' C...

      > v i ¦ ¦ ¦ " ¦ ¦ ¦ 822 The Publishers' Circular juiv I 5 > , 889 , 1 ' 1 1 ¦ ¦ . 1 . _ f

      O Oust-Xieistts

      O OUST-XIEISTTS

      Literary Intelligence 822—840 Books And ...

      LITERARY INTELLIGENCE 822—840 BOOKS AND RUMOURS OF BOOKS 823—825 NOTES AND NEWS 825 , 826

      CONTINENTAL NOTES 826 , 827 AMERICAN NOTES AND NEWS 827 , 828 THE LITERARY C 0 NGRE 3 S IN PARIS 828 , 829

      THE INCORPOBATED SOCIETY OF AUTHORS 829 , 830 DICTIONARY OP NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY 830 WILLIAM GEORGE WARD AND THE OXFORD ,

      MOVEMENT f 830—831 SALE JOTTINGS 832 , 833 OBITUARY ,. 833 , 835

      FINE ART BOOKS AND BOOKLETS IN COLOUR AND MONOCHROME 834—836

      REVIEWS < fec 836—840 * INDEX TO BOOKS PUBLISHED IN GREAT BRITAIN BETWEEN JULY 1 & 15 840 , 841

      BOOKS PUBLISHED IN GBEAT BRITAIN ^ EROM JULY 1 TO 15 841—844 v

      AMERICAN NEW BOOKS . ' . 844 , 845 NEW BOOKS AND BOOKS LATELY

      PUBLISHED 845—858 MISCELLANEOUS 859—870

      BUSINESS CARDS 867 , 868 ASSISTANTS WANTED 870

      WANT SITUATIONS 870 BOOKS WANTED TO PURCHASE 870-876

      St. Dunstan's House, E.C. July 15, 1889.

      St . Dunstan ' s House , E . C . July 15 , 1889 .

      T Overs Of Books, And Indeed All English...

      T OVERS of books , and indeed all English-- * - ^ men who take a legitimate pride in the

      steady growth year by year of the intellectual resources of the nation , will find anything but

      dry and uninteresting reading in the pages of the Official Report on the British Museum

      which has just been presented to the House of Commons . During the last twelve months

      satisfactory progress has been made , not merely in the national library , but also in its

      allied departments , whilst the public in evergrowing numbers continue to avail themselves

      of the opportunities of culture and research which are thus placed within their reach .

      Last year the visitors to the general collections in the British Museum numbered nearly five

      hundred thousand ; if those to particular departments , such as the Sculpture Galleries , the

      Print Room , and the Museum of Natural History in Cromwell Road , are added , the

      impressive total of 1 , 116 , 896 is reached . Students have long complained , and with

      justice , of the inadequate provision made for their requirements in the Reading Room , and

      therefore they will probably feel a little dismay when they learn that the number of

      persons making use of that department still continues to increase . It is true that

      overcrowding haa to some extent been checked by the new regulations which limit the issue of

      novels ; but when an increase of upwards of five thousand new readers ia reported in a

      single year , it is perfectly obvious that some much more drastic enactments will , in the not

      distant future , need to be put in operation . Nothing is more exasperating to a man of

      limited leisure who has come to the Museum on a definite and urgent quest of knowledge than

      to find every seat occupied , and not a few of them filled , moreover , by ^ people who are either

      r r •« . mm asleep or else ^ lolling over the pictures in the bound volume of some illustrated journal . By

      1 *» mr no stretch of courtesy can the majority of such

      T Overs Of Books, And Indeed All English...

      frequenters be termed students , and they certainly ought not to be allowed to pjay the part

      of the dog in the manger within the walls of a great and unique library like the Reading

      Room of the British Museum . English publishers and booksellers will be interested in

      hearing that owing to the operation of the Convention of Berne , by which the deposit of

      a foreign book at the Museum has ceased to be a necessary condition of securing copyright

      in this country , receipts by international copyright have almost entirely ceased . Nearly five

      hundred books were , however , received by international exchange , whilst the

      contributions levied on English publishers by the Copyright Act brought ten thousand four

      hundred and fifty-nine books , good , bad , and indifferent , to replenish the miles of shelves in

      Bloomsbury ; but this is scarcely more than a third of the total additions bought , presented ,

      or demanded in the course < 3 f the year . Acquisitions , by gift or purchase , of rare ,

      and 4 unusually iinnsnaliv in some numerous niimarniia - cases , uni this this que year v « , books . r ' 7 and a . nd have those -hVir »» P > been who who

      , examine the long list printed in the Report of new literary treasures which have come into

      the possession of the British Museum will find ample justification for such a statement .

      The Museum has acquired for example the splendid edition of * A madia of Gaul / printed

      at ' Rome ^ tf ^^ k b y Antonio A _ ^ b de M Salamanca ^^ h ^« ^ B , in _ Mm 1510 _ ^ . a ^* k - —a book of which only three copies are

      known to be in existence . Of almost equal interest is the second edition of the Bohemian

      Bible printed in 1489 , a copy which is even more rare than the first edition already in

      % 0 the Museum . A unique example has also been purchased of the first three books of the

      ' Misneh Thorah' of M aimonidea , one of the earliest Hebrew books printed , if not actually

      the first . Some ' extremely rare books relating to the literature of the East have . also been

      obtained , besides a large collection of curious tracts in Malay , Japanese , and the Polynesian

      languages . Perhaps , however , to moat people

      " I . II ' l P- . M . H .. M ; ^ 9

  • Citation
    • Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890), July 15, 1889, page 822, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/pc/issues/tec_15071889/page/4/