EDINBURGH'S PLACE IN SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS. Being the Handbook BETTY GRIER. By JOSEPH LAING WAUGH. Author of "Cute M'Cheyne," &c. JIMMY MCCALLUM OF THE BOYS' BRIGADE. By R. W. CAMPBELL. 2/6 net. 2/6 net. Author of Snooker Tam," Spud Tamson," "Dorothy, V.A.D.," &c. BOY SCOUT WITH THE RUSSIANS. By JOHN FINNEMORE. BEVY OF GIRLS. 6 net. THROUGH THICK AND THIN (A School Story). IMOGEN. 2/6 net. W. & R. CHAMBERS LTD., 38, Soho Sq., London, W. 1 By EMMA MARSHALL. 26 net. By J. S. FLETCHER. 2/6 net. By J. S. FLETCHER. 2/6 net. 2/6 net. By R. COCHRANE, and Edinburgh. JUST PUBLISHED. THE BEDE HISTORIES, Edited by Miss H. L. POWELL, St. Mary's College, Lancaster Gate. HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND By ALICE DRAYTON GREENWOOD, F.R.Hist. Soc. Vol. I.-55 B.C. to A.D. 1485. With 27 Illustrations and 15 Maps. 8/6. The Church Times says: "Here at last is the book that has been waited for. It is astonishingly accurate, it is on occasion humorous, it is alive with human interest, and above all, it is honest. . . A live book which shows life as it was, in due proportion, and is helped by Illustrations chosen with much skill." THE GARDEN OF EARTH. A little book on Plant-life, Plant-growth, and the Ways and Uses of Plants. MOUNTAIN AND MOORLAND. (The Nature Lovers' Series). By J. ARTHUR THOMSON, M.A., LL.D., Regius Professor of Natural History in the University of Aberdeen. 6/-. THE CITY OF LONDON. (Story of English Towns). By P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A. With Maps and Illustrations. HEALTHY BOOKS FOR From 6 to 16 years of age. 1/- to 4/6. By well-known writers. Illustrated List Post Free. SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. LONDON: 6, ST. MARTIN'S PLACE, W. C.2. BOOK SHOPS: 64, New Bond Street. W.1.; 43. Queen Victoria Street. E.C.4. LISTS POST FREE. And of all Booksellers, INQUIRIES INVITED. CONTENTS. PAGE The third Annual Meeting of the Library Association to be We draw attention to the special features in our Conference Number, which include a map of the centre of Manchester, articles on the Manchester Libraries and the Antiquarian Book Trade of Manchester, Blank Memo pages for notes and the Programme of the Conference as far as arrangements have been made at the time It will interest us greatly to see how the "publicity" campaign, The newly-elected President of the Library Association for 1921 -1922 is Alderman Abbott, and no better President could have been chosen for the year which opens with the Manchester Conference. Among the newly-elected councillors we find Messrs. G. F. Jones, A. A. Gomme and B. M. Headicar for London, and Messrs. J. W. C. Purvis and J. Pomfret for the country. The Library Association Council nomination papers show no startling changes. We see Mr. Walter Powell has become a vicepresident, an honour which both his abilities and his position deserve. We confess, however, that we should like to see these vice-presidentships given to older men-Mr. Powell is luckily a young man, and in that resembles Mr. Pitt, who is also vice-president. Nor do we acquiesce in the opinion that because a man is the chief of a large library he is thereby entitled to special high office in the L.A. Why, again, is Mr. Herbert Jones not a vicepresident? And why not Mr. Savage, who has a greater reputation than five-sixths of the esteemed gentlemen who occupy that position? There will no doubt be much private (though possibly not public) talk at the Annual Meeting on salaries. September sees a reduction in those salaries which carry the Civil Service scale of warbonus. The recent report of the so-called Select Committee on Estimates which confined its attention to Civil Service salaries instead of dealing with the matter it was appointed to examine, has not helped things. It shows, of course, that the higher Civil Servants receive salaries incomparably larger than municipal officials, but ratepayers are all under the impression that the latter are equally well remunerated, and there is a definite attempt afoot to reduce salaries to the 1914 level irrespective of the fact that the world of 1921 is an entirely different world. The Publishers' Exhibition at the Conference will be held in the Municipal College of Technology, where most of the meetings will take place. an excellent arrangement, which will give the Delegates better facilities than ever before for seeing the whole of the Exhibits. Cricket Love and Humour, by W. A. BRISCOE 2s. 6d. net Published by GRAFTON & CO. Copies will be on sale at their Stand at the Publishers' Exhibition SOME MANCHESTER LIBRARIES. After London, Manchester is the largest library centre in England. Not only has it great foundation libraries, such as the Chetham and the John Rylands and its wide-spreading public libraries, it has surrounding it quite considerable libraries at Salford, Bolton, Warrington, Wigan, and at many other relatively near-by places. The librarian who cannot spend a profitable week in examining the various buildings and the methods by which they are administered is deserving of sympathy. Oldest in time as in character, the Chetham must be visited. It was the first library in Europe (so Dr. W. E. A. Axon declares) to open its doors freely to all comers without distinction of rank or creed." It dates from the middle of the 17th century, and forms a part, or an annexe, of the Chetham Hospital, as it is called, an orphan school, which is also a foundation of the famous Humphrey Chetham (1580--1653). It is open daily and visitors pay sixpence for admission as a rule. The library does not possess the marvellous bibliographical treasures which now glorify the John Rylands, but it has many things unique in character. Moreover, the quaint architecture, furniture and fittings and old-world atmosphere of the place make it well worth a visit. The public libraries consist now of a central library, for reference only, and twenty-four branch libraries, and is, we believe, the largest library system in England The city was one of the first to put William Ewart's Act into operation, and the first central library was opened to the public in 1852 in the old Hall of Science, THE TOWN HALL, MANCHESTER. (Reproduced by kind permission of Messrs. Cassell & Co., Ltd.) |