1799 by a tontine of one thousand guineas. — Athenaum.

DERBY FREE LIB. The act was adopted in Derby nine years ago, and soon after the "Town and County Library was transferred to the corporation. The accommodation proving insufficient, Mr. Thos. Bass offered to give £5,000 for a new one, and on the submission of designs raised this to £8,000. He has added to the gift the cost of the interior fittings, a turret clock, and houses for the librarian and curator, making the total expense £15,000. On October 25, 1876, the corner-stone was laid by the donor. The style of the building, which was dedicated recently, is Jacobean, brick dressed with stone. Terra-cotta has been introduced in ornamental designs in various parts, and the roofs are covered with strawberry-colored Broseley tiles. The principal entrance is underneath a central tower, with octagonal angle piers, finished with open timber turrets.

The entrance

door leads into a hall, which opens up several steps through a glazed screen into a spacious corridor. A stained glass screen divides the corridor from the lending library, which occupies the central portion of the building. The screen contains portraits of Chaucer, Shakspere, Milton and In front of Tennyson, with appropriate mottoes. the screen is a marble bust of Mr. Bass. To the right of the library is a spacious reference readingroom, 56 by 24 feet, and to the left is an equally large reading and news-room. On the right of the corridor is a students' room, 24 by 20 feet; and on the opposite side there is a reading-room for ladies. On the floor above, there is a small sculpture and picture-gallery, and at each end of this upper corridor access is gained to the museum, which occupies the other three sides of the building. The lending library consists of about 12,000 volumes, and the reference library of 5000 volumes.

HEBREW LIBRARY, London.-Rev. A. L. Green, the minister of the Jewish Central Synagogue, has offered to present to the United Synagogue the whole of his theological library, upon condition that it shall be kept as a separate library and in the central district of London. The Hebrew libraries in London available to the public are very few, and no other is so complete, with the exception of that of the British Museum.

WELSH COLLECTIONS.-The Welsh library of the late Rev. R. Jones, B. A., advertised for sale, has been purchased by private contract for the Swansea Public Library. This, together with the local libraries collected by the Royal Institution, Rowland Williams, and Deffett Francis, will constitute Swansea, it is said, the largest possessor of Welsh literature in the United Kingdom.-Ath.

THE Manchester Literary Club has set apart one evening in February for an exhibition of rare books and literary curiosities.

The first portion of the Laing Library realized nearly £14,000, a sum probably five times the original cost of the books to Mr. Laing.

CAMBERWELL has declined to adopt the Act by the following vote: — Against, 1,306; for the opening of the libraries, 679-majority against, 627.

MESSRS. BICKERS & SON have in the press a new work illustrative of the time of Charles II., entitled "Pepys and His Times," by Mr. H. B. Wheatley.

MR. SAMUEL SMITH, recently assistant-librarian of the Leeds Public Library, has been appointed librarian of the newly-instituted public library in Worcester.

THE late George Long left his books to the Brighton Library, which we hope will observe his own maxim: "A humane man takes care of his beast, and a man who has the humanities takes care of his books."-Acad., Dec. 27, 1879.

The "Index to the First Seven Volumes of the Dodsworth MSS.," in the Bodleian Library, is now at the disposal of the readers of that library (not to the public at large, since only fifty copies have been printed of it).

Mr. J. E. Bailey, F. S. A., is editing an edition of the "Manchester al Mundo" for publication by Messrs. Pickering, for which he will supply the first adequate memoir written of Henry Montagu, first Earl of Manchester.

THE recently formed Hull Literary Club has resolved to form a library of works relating to the history of the East Riding of Yorkshire and books written by the natives of the district. The members propose to produce several local historical volumes.

The enterprise of the gentlemen of the British Museum is but too well rewarded. The longer hours tax the delivery attendants to the utmost, and one of the journals suggests a rule allowing well-known literary students to leave their tickets or to send them through the post on the previous day to that on which the books are desired.

The letters of Prosper Mérimée to the late Sir Anthony Panizzi are about to be published in Paris by M. Calmann Lévy, under the editorship of Mr. L: Fagan, Panizzi's literary executor. The correspondence extends from 1845 to 1870, and is understood to contain a large number of letters on topics of general interest. Mr. Fagan is residing in England to collect material for his life of Panizzi.

FRANCE.

NATIONAL LIBRARY.-There is every probability now, notes the Publishers' Circular, London, that the Paris National Library will in the course of next year be freed from the dangerous propinquity of a block of houses which are at present occupied by an oil and colorman, an innkeeper, a photographer, a grocer, and a chemist, and which, in themselves little better than matchwood, contain all the materials for a "disastrous conflagration." The Senate has upon two or three occasions asked the Government to provide the comparatively small sum of money required to pull down these houses and isolate the library; and a committee, of which M. Barthélemy St. Hilaire was appointed chairman, reported in favor of the proposal last year. M. Barthélemy St. Hilaire pointed out in his report that, in addition to these shops, "there is a small hotel separated from the library by no more than a wooden partition, which is always hot from the kitchen fire. The inside walls are so old that they will not bear breaking through to make a staircase which is wanted; and if a fire should occur in any of these buildings the fate of the National Library would be sealed." The dilatoriness of the Government in providing the few thousand pounds required for this purpose is all the more inexcusable, when it is remembered that not only does the National Library contain two million volumes, but that among them are fifty thousand which could never be replaced, including two copies of the Gutenberg Bible anterior to 1547, masterpieces of famous printers, etc. There are over 90,000 mss., comprising specimens of all languages, many of which would realize 10,000 guineas each if they were brought into the market. Five thousand of these manuscripts are ornamented with miniatures which form a compendious history of painting in the period preceding the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; and among the other treasures of the library are 2,000,000 engravings of all periods, and 100,000 coins and medallions.

PARIS.-The Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève has adopted the American plan of putting before its readers, to be used without the formality of an application, the last numbers of periodicals as soon as they are published. This "heureuse innovation" is very decidedly approved by its readers.

GERMANY.

DRESDEN.-The Royal Library has published an appeal to the printers, publishers and authors of Saxony, asking them to give to the Library copies of local interest, laws, and reports of societies, etc., programs, occasional poems, and the like, which the Library is very unlikely to get

otherwise, and which are very unlikely to be preserved unless the Library does get them.

ARCHIVISTS' CONGRESS.-German archivists, imitating the American and English librarians, held a congress last Autumn at Landshut. The exhibition of archives, heating, and the arrangement of rooms, and of the documents themselves, and the principles on which publication of documents should be made, gave rise to interesting discussions. The bad quality of the paper and ink at present used was especially commented upon. "In a few decades," said one speaker," the documents we are receiving now will be nothing but rubbish, to be swept away."

AUSTRIA.

According to a letter in the Wiener Zeitung, 1879, No. 268, the library of the University at Vienna, now consisting of 250,000 v., has been provided with apartments in the new University building, which will only contain 300,000 v. and cannot be enlarged. Unluckily this want of foresight is by no means peculiar to the Viennese.

AUSTRALIA.

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE.-The report of this institution for the year 1878-9 has just been printed. It was intended that the foundationstone of the new building should have been laid on June 20, but at the last moment it was found necessary to materially strengthen the foundations for the larger building which it is now determined to erect at an expense of about £40,000. The number of volumes in the library at the date of the report was 22,286, as against 21,628 in 1877-8, but the yearly addition will in future be much larger, as, by an Act of Parliament lately passed, a copy of every book, pamphlet, map, etc., published in South Australia must be deposited in this Institution. The Institute comprises not only a library, but a museum and a science and art department, and it has affiliated with it 93 county institutes.

PUBLISHER'S NOTE.

The publisher is compelled, by the lack of support accorded to the Book registry for 1880, to announce the discontinuance of that enterprise, at least until the active appreciation of such library helps shows a decided increase. Though the price was put at a minimum rate, the number of subscriptions received would not justify its continuance even at a higher rate. The system of title-slip registry of course goes with it. Subscriptions for the Book registry for 1880 will be returned by mail. The list will still be found, according to Association methods of cataloguing and with descriptive notes, in the Publisher's weekly.

Napoleon in Exile;

Or, A Voice from St. Helena.

Being the Opinions and Reflections of Napoleon on the
Most Important Events in His Life and Government,
in his own words.

By BARRY E. O'MEARA,
HIS LATE SURGEON.

With a Portrait of Napoleon, after the celebrated picture of DELAROCHE, and a View of St. Helena, both finely engraved on steel. 2 vols., 12mo. Cloth, $2.50; half calf, $5.

The earlier American editions of both of the above important works relating to NAPOLEON have been long out of print, though still holding their place with the best and most fascinating.

FOR SALE BY ALL BOOKSELLERS.

W. J. WIDDLETON, Publisher, 714 Broadway, New-York.

Specially valuable for libraries, among other features of the LITERARY NEWS, are the Three Prize Questions on the Choice of Books and other Literary Subjects, as resulting in the production of lists of select books, on the most of which a number of experienced readers agree by their

vote.

The object of one other prize question is to elicit answers as to which of the new books can be safely recommended (from a literary point of view, not regarding the publisher's get-up) for private purchaser or should be found in every public library. Other questions are on books on given topics or suitable for a given class of readers.

The subscription to the LITERARY NEWS, is only FIFTY CENTS per year, postage paid. Five copies will be sent to five designated addresses for $2.00, provided the amount is sent in remittance. Sample copies mailed free to any address upon application.

F. LEYPOLDT,
Park Row, New-York.

13

and 15

THE PUBLISHERS' WEEKLY is a necessary help in every library, containing weekly the full record of all new books, entered according to the cataloguing rules of the American Library Association, and with descriptive notes directly following the title as recommended by the Association Committee. This enables the librarian, in a few minutes' reading each week, to post himself fully as to the contents and character of new publications, both as a guide in purchasing and for the benefit of readers. The other features of the PUBLISHERS' WEEKLY are also such as commend themselves for practical library use. Subscription $3.20 per year.

THE PUBLISHERS' WEEKLY,
13 & 15 Park Row,
New-York City.

P. O. Box 4295.