30,000 of the First Series Sold!

OUR LITTLE ONES. (Second Series.) Edited by OLIVER OPTIC. Elegantly illuminated cover, $1.75; cloth gilt, $2.50. With nearly 400 illustrations from original designs by the best American Artists. Everything in this volume-story, poem, illustrations--is original, and written, designed, and engraved for it. The volume of last year took the foremost rank among the quarto books for children, and was pronounced to be the best specimen of bookmaking of the XIXth Century." This will be, if possible, an advance upon the first series.

The Great Success of Last Year,

YOUNG AMERICANS IN JAPAN. By the same Author. Emblematic colored covers, $1.75; cloth, full gilt, $2.50.

With these two books on Japan, either being complete in itself, the reader has gained wide information concerning that wonderful land.' Mr. Greey's Pen-pictures of Japanese Scenery and Customs are graphic, and by the introduction of spicy conversations are made dramatic. In the great city of Tokio our young friends find new cause for wonder at the marvellous sights and strange customs.

OUR BOYS IN INDIA.

The Wanderings of two Young Americans, with their Adventures on the Sacred Rivers and Wild Mountains of India. By HARRY W. FRENCH, the celebrated Lecturer on India. With 145 illustrations. Superb typical covers in oriental gold and colors, $1.75; cloth, full gilt, $2.50. This work contains a most interesting description of adventures in that mysterious country, told in so delightful a manner as to win the attention of old as well as young. Many of the illustrations are engraved from photographs taken for Mr. French while he was travelling in India.

Uniform in Size and Style with "DRIFTING ROUND THE

WORLD."

LAND.

By Capt. CHAS. W. HALL, author of "Adrift in the Ice Fields," "The Great Bonanza," etc. With 200 illustrations. Elegant cover, in many colors. Cloth, $1.75; full gilt, $2.50.

An absorbing story of a boy who was shipwrecked, reaches Iceland, then passes through Scotland, England, France, Holland, Russia, Asia, crosses Siberia, sails for Alaska, and finally reaches home via San Francisco. With his accidents, incidents, sights, and hair-breadth escapes.

J. T. Trowbridge's New Book.

THE JOLLY ROVER.

By J. T. TROWBRIDGE. 16mo, illustrated, $1.25. The story of a boy who was led by the reading of Dime Novels to run away from home with the expectation of exterminating the Red Men of the Forest, and what became of him. A healthy, hearty book. Completing "THE SILVER MEDAL SERIES."

VOL. 7.

C: A. CUTTER, General Editor. F: LEYPOLDT, Managing Editor.

Communications for the JOURNAL, exchanges, and editors' copies, should be addressed C: A. CUTTER, Boston Athenum, Boston, Mass.

European matter may be sent to the care of H: R. TEDDER, Athenæum Club, Pall Mall, S. W., London.

Remittances and orders for subscriptions and advertisements should be addressed to THE LIBRARY JOURNAL, 13 & 15 Park Row (P. O. Box 943), New York. Remittances should be made by draft on New York, P. O. order, or registered letter.

The Editors are not responsible for the views expressed in contributed articles or communications, nor for the style of spelling, capitalization, etc., in articles whose authors request adherence to their own style.

Subscribers are entitled to advertise books wanted, or duplicates for sale or exchange, at the nominal rate of 5 cents per line (regular rate 15 cents); also to advertise for situations or assistance to the extent of five lines free of charge.

STRANGELY enough the Library Association of the "Old Country" was the child of the Library Association of the New World. The London conference of 1877 at which the L. A. U. K was formed was the direct consequence of the Philadelphia Conference of 1876, at which the A. L. A. first saw the light. But the child has outgrown its parent. Its rolls show twice as many members as ours, and the interest taken in it evidently is still growing, while the interest of our own members begins to show signs of falling off. We have formerly alluded to one cause of this decay—the impossibility of holding monthly meetings in so large a country as ours; another cause is the difficulty of collecting all of our members at any annual meeting; a third cause is the necessary want of that novelty in the papers and discussions which gave a keen interest to our first years. A large part of the subjects which fall within our province have been already treated at our conventions or in the pages of the Journal, and not even novelty of treatment can have the attraction of novelty of subject. We hope, however, that those who have the good of the profession at heart will not suffer their zeal to

No. 9.

cool. A great deal may be done if all will try to induce new members to join and bring us new views and a freshness of interest.

WE have always wondered at the restrictions placed by two or three American libraries on the circulation of periodicals; the wonder was renewed when the practice was defended at the Cincinnati Convention. It was urged that periodicals are peculiarly difficult to replace. But they are not impossible to replace, and the libraries in question are not poor. One, we have been told, "has all the money for buying books that it wants." We should demur also, to the statement that periodicals are especially hard to replace. In our experience most American books have been a great deal harder to pick up. We have seen at different times full sets of each of the English quarterlies offered for sale for less than £5, that is, less than 25 cents a volume. All the ordinary periodicals-those which are most called for and therefore are most likely to get worn out or be lost-are comparatively easy to obtain and not extravagantly dear. Those which are hard to replace are not likely to need replacing. Besides, if a volume is lost, the cost of replacing it does not concern the library; the borrower pays the bill. It must be remembered also that a periodical is not like a threevolume novel, which is worthless when one volume is lost. A periodical in 100 volumes when one volume is gone has lost just of its value, no more, no less; the other volumes are worth as much-practically, we mean, not commercially or sentimentally-as they were before. To restrict the circulation of books of such importance and so much wanted for fear of

breaking a set," is to be frightened at a name. We believe there are only two or three libraries in the country who have not thought as we do, that it is an unnecessary precaution and an economy in the wrong place.

LAST November a complaint about the Imperial Library at Berlin was published in the Deutsche Tageblatt, and in January republished in Petzholdt's Neuer Anzeiger, that deserves notice even at this late day. The writer objects to the troublesome restrictions placed upon the use of books. At Dresden, he says, every one can use the reading-room, at Berlin one must have a ticket of admission, granted only after suitable introduction; at Dresden the number of books allowed at once is not limited, at Berlin only three will be given; at Dresden any books will be procured at once, at Berlin books must be asked for the day beforehand; at Dresden, as in most libraries, there is a large supply of dictionaries and other books of reference in the reading-room, at Berlin these books are not at the disposal of the public, but must be asked for on a ticket like any other, and only one volume is brought at a time; at Dresden it is easy for any scholar to get permission to take books home, at Berlin it is nearly impossible unless he has acquaintances in professional circles. Dresden evidently tries to make its books useful. Berlin apparently is chiefly concerned that they shall not be stolen.

DISTRIBUTION OF

UNITED STATES PUBLIC DOCUMENTS--PRINTED LISTS OF DOCUMENTS.

BY SAMUEL S. GREEN, WORCESTER, Chairman of the Committee of the American Library Association Appointed to Secure a Distribution of Public Documents Satisfactory to Libraries. IMPORTANT legislation was had at the session of Congress recently closed in regard to the distribution of public documents.

The following joint resolution was passed: "Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives, etc., That whenever any document or report shall be ordered to be printed by Congress, there shall be, in addition to the number in each case stated, the usual number' of copies for binding and distribution among those entitled to receive them; and this shall apply to all unexecuted orders now in the office of the Public Printer."

This resolution, in applying the law of the "usual number" to all publications ordered by Congress, will hereafter bring to depositaries of public documents nearly all valuable documents, excepting the Congressional Record, not embraced in the Congressional set now sent to them.

The bill prepared by me, at the request of the committee of the Library Association which I represent, asked for more than this. It met the approval of a majority of the com

mittee and of the Executive Board of the Association, but was disliked by the member of the committee representing the department libraries at Washington. I stated the wishes of this member, Dr. J. S. Billings, to the Senate Committee on Printing. The joint resolution of Congress given above embodies provisions identical, I think, so far as libraries are concerned, with those advocated by Dr. Billings. Mr. Spofford, who, it will be remembered, is a member of the committee, while approving the bill which I prepared, said at the start that we were asking for more than we should get.

wants.

Libraries may, on the whole, therefore, feel reasonably well satisfied with the beginning which has been made in providing for their All has been granted which the writer of the report on the distribution of documents read at the Washington meeting of the Association recommended should be first sought for. I refrain from discussing other public bearings of the joint resolution given above; in so far as libraries are concerned, it increases their rights and confers benefits on the community.

Four hundred and twenty-three copies of not only the Congressional set of public documents, but also of all documents ordered to be printed by Congress, will, as stated above, be hereafter sent by the Public Printer to the Interior Department, to be distributed to State and Territorial libraries, and to incorporated public libraries, athenæums, colleges, boards of trade, etc., designated as depositaries by senators and members of the House of Representatives. The libraries designated by Senators and members of the House of Representatives include most of the large libraries of the country.

Whether the passage of the joint resolution given above is in the interest of reform or not, aside from the gain to libraries, there is other legislation of Congress at its late session respecting the distribution of public documents which is unquestionably reformatory.

Such is the character of the regulations enacted in regard to the distribution of the reports of the Tenth Census, and of the volumes containing the official records of the war of the rebellion.

I quote at length the portions of the act to provide for the publication of the Tenth Census, and of the act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the government, which embody the improved provisions.

In the latter portion of the former act occur the following passages:

“And in order to avoid duplication in the distribution of these documents, and to secure complete sets to libraries and other public institutions," [be it enacted that] "the additional copies herein ordered, excepting those ordered for the Treasury Department and for the Fish Commission, be delivered to the document rooms of the Department of the Interior; and the Secretary of the Interior shall distribute those ordered for the use of Congress, as follows: In sets to each of such fifteen libraries and other public insti