Henry Richard Tedder was associated with the Athenaeum in an official capacity for nearly fifty years. He went there in 1874 with a glowing recommendation from Lord Acton, and at…
Abstract
Henry Richard Tedder was associated with the Athenaeum in an official capacity for nearly fifty years. He went there in 1874 with a glowing recommendation from Lord Acton, and at the age of twenty‐four secured the appointment of librarian. Fifteen years later he combined the librarianship with the secretaryship. In the latter capacity he followed, longo intervallo, in the steps of Michael Faraday and Edward Magrath.
“Imprisonment,” remarked Isaac D'Israeli, in his Curiosities of Literature, “has not always disturbed the man of letters in the progress of his studies, but has unquestionably…
Abstract
“Imprisonment,” remarked Isaac D'Israeli, in his Curiosities of Literature, “has not always disturbed the man of letters in the progress of his studies, but has unquestionably greatly promoted them.” Support of this contention is to hand in a number of world famous books which have been written behind bolts and bars. The list of their authors includes Sir Walter Raleigh, John Bunyan, George Fox, William Penn, Daniel Defoe, and Dr. Dodd, with, in more modern times, William Cobbett and Leigh Hunt.
IN the summer of 1887 there were two happenings which attracted a considerable amount of public attention. The first (and much the more important one) was the celebration of Queen…
Abstract
IN the summer of 1887 there were two happenings which attracted a considerable amount of public attention. The first (and much the more important one) was the celebration of Queen Victoria's Jubilee; and the second was the launching of a new monthly magazine with Oscar Wilde as editor. Oscar himself was inclined to say that the importance of the two happenings was placed in the wrong order.
If the truth be admitted we all of us have occasional black spots on our careers. Mine include the authorship of a book or two. The publishers have certainly done their best to…
Abstract
If the truth be admitted we all of us have occasional black spots on our careers. Mine include the authorship of a book or two. The publishers have certainly done their best to conceal the fact. Still, every now and again it has leaked out, and I have more than once noted a stray copy reposing (undisturbed) on a library shelf.
ALTHOUGH newspapers and periodicals contain a good deal that can hardly be classed as literature, their low cost brings them within the reach of almost everyone, and newsrooms…
Abstract
ALTHOUGH newspapers and periodicals contain a good deal that can hardly be classed as literature, their low cost brings them within the reach of almost everyone, and newsrooms have proved the most popular department of public libraries. They therefore should receive the careful consideration of the librarian in the method of their display.
INCONSPICUOUSLY tucked away near the head of the Coombe, one of the poorer sections of poor Dublin, is a treasure of the Western world—a centuries‐old library that was once the…
Abstract
INCONSPICUOUSLY tucked away near the head of the Coombe, one of the poorer sections of poor Dublin, is a treasure of the Western world—a centuries‐old library that was once the haunt of Dean Swift and others of a bygone Anglo‐Irish literary set; a library that was the proud boast of two nations but that today knows only a few tourists and even fewer scholars. This is St. Sepulchre—known more popularly as Marsh's Library. Within its red brick walls, quietly collecting dust in surroundings unchanged from the days of good Queen Anne, are the priceless literary gems of another era; manuscripts that take on an added glory in the purest 18th century interior to be found in all Ireland. The oaken benches and stained reading desks; the wide‐planked flooring and arched ceiling; the carved and lettered gables, all topped by hand painted mitres—all these have been spared the hand of the restorer and modernizer. They stand as a challenge to time, and in a remarkable state of preservation.
Some fourteen years ago Lord David Cecil published a penetra‐ting study of the greater English novelists of the mid‐nineteenth century. That was a period of our literature which…
Abstract
Some fourteen years ago Lord David Cecil published a penetra‐ting study of the greater English novelists of the mid‐nineteenth century. That was a period of our literature which in one way was the converse of that in which we are living. Today we have a con‐siderable number of competent and more than respectable novelists of the second class, but surely none who is indisputably of the first. In the first half of Queen Victoria's reign there were five or six of the first class, and best sellers at that, and after them almost nothing in front of a great crowd of also‐rans.
Some years ago at the invitation of Mr. William Will and the late Dr. J. M. Bulloch the writer addressed the Caledonian Society of London on the subject of Scottish magazines. The…
Abstract
Some years ago at the invitation of Mr. William Will and the late Dr. J. M. Bulloch the writer addressed the Caledonian Society of London on the subject of Scottish magazines. The information presented was received with much interest and the result was no doubt effective. It was shown that Scotland was producing a wide range of attractive magazines. It was indicated, however, that many of these were in need of all the support that Scotsmen and others could give them. While the large majority were being produced from the Scottish angle, their nature was such as should make their appeal general.
In LIBRARY REVIEW, Autumn, 1952, Mr. A. R. Hewitt considered the illegality of fines for overdue books. The present writer examines recent trends in respect of fines and other…
Abstract
In LIBRARY REVIEW, Autumn, 1952, Mr. A. R. Hewitt considered the illegality of fines for overdue books. The present writer examines recent trends in respect of fines and other charges, with emphasis mainly on questions of principle rather than of law.
TECHNICAL Education, after looming before the British public for half a century, is now with us a recognised factor in our national life. The passing of the Technical Instruction…
Abstract
TECHNICAL Education, after looming before the British public for half a century, is now with us a recognised factor in our national life. The passing of the Technical Instruction Acts of and 1891, and the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act of gave an impetus to the movement, and has produced results of a most gratifying character. Technical schools, or institutions bearing other names in which technical instruction is given, are now considerably more numerous than Public Libraries. According to a return of the National Society for promotion of Technical Education in England (excluding London), 319 technical schools, under municipal and public bodies, have been erected at a cost of £3,186,102—an average of £10,000 per school in round numbers—and of this sum, one quarter of a million has been involved since 1901. In order to obtain an adequate idea of the extent to which technical instruction is given, it is necessary to take into account the higher grade schools and other institutions which are used for this purpose. But if technical schools be numerically stronger than Public Libraries, the former institution is incomplete without the latter. In such isolation, its relative position to the student, is like a conservatory without a garden to the botanist. A Public Library, with carefully selected books of reference, bearing on the subjects taught in the technical school as well as on all the industries carried on in the neighbourhood, is an indispensable condition to the success of the technical school, and I hope County Councils will, in the near future, use their influence to promote the establishment of Public Libraries in every locality where a technical school is considered essential.