AT the Annual Meeting of the Proprietors of the Providence Athenæum, held September 25, 1848, the following persons were elected officers for the ensuing year, viz: JOHN PITMAN, President. WILLIAM S. PATTEN, Vice President. ISAAC PROUD, Secretary. REPORT. THE following Report, being the thirteenth of the annals, which constitute the brief history of the establishment and progress of the Athenæum, is made in accordance with a clause of the constitution, enjoining upon the Board of Directors to "present at each annual meeting, a detailed report of the state of the Library, and of the general concerns of the institution." After the adjournment of the last annual meeting of the proprietors of the Athenæum, the Board of Directors was organized by the re-election of John Pitman, President, and William S. Patten, Vice President. Thomas H. Williams was re-elected Librarian, with a salary of six hundred dollars per annum. Albert B. Cranston has been employed as Assistant Librarian, and has been paid two dollars per week for his services. The number of volumes added to the Library during the past year, is one thousand and eighteen, of which five hundred and thirty-eight volumes have been purchased by the funds of the institution, and four hundred and eighty volumes have been received by donations, consisting principally of congressional documents, presented by the Hon. Nehemiah R. Knight, making the total number of volumes now in the Library, fourteen thousand five hundred and fifty-one. Among the valuable works added during the past year, the attention of the proprietors is called to a few of the most important, viz: AUDUBON'S QUADRUPEDS-four numbers, making twenty-eight numbers in our possession. CAMDEN'S BRITTANIA-Folio, London, 1695. BELCHER'S VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD IN 1836-422 vols. 8vo. London, 1842. Ross's VOYAGE IN THE SOUTHERN AND ANTARCTIC REGIONS IN 1839-1843-2 vols. 8vo. London, 1847. GALLERY OF ANTIQUITIES SELECTED FROM THE BRITISH MUSEUM-4to. London. MANUEL DU LIBRAIRE ET L'AMATEUR DES LIVRES-Brunet. 5 vols. 8vo. Paris. PICTORIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND-4 vols. 8vo. New York, 1846. PUGIN'S PARIS-Folio, London, 1833. BARTLETT'S ARCHITECT-Folio, vol. 1. 1847. DONOVAN'S INSECTS OF INDIA-4 vols. London, 1842. SMITH'S HISTORICAL AND LITERARY CURIOSITIES-London. 4to. 1847. TURNER'S RIVERS OF FRANCE-4to. London, 1837. CLARKE'S CONCORDANCE TO SHAKSPERE-8vo. New York, 1846. DOWNING'S FRUIT AND FRUIT TREES OF AMERICAillustrated with colored engravings. 8vo. N. York, 1847 Yozy's SWITZERLAND-colored engravings. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1815. GENERA OF THE PLANTS OF THE UNITED STATES-by Isaac Sprague and Asa Gray. Vol. 1. 8vo. Boston, 1848. HUMBOLDT'S COSMOS-1st and 2d vols. 12mo. London, 1847. PICTORIAL DICTIONARY OF THE HOLY BIBLE-2 vols. 8vo. London, 1845. EGYPT'S PLACE IN UNIVERSAL HISTORY-by C. C. J. Bunsen. Vol 1. 8vo. London, 1848. MILL'S PRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL ECONOMY-2 vols. 8vo. London, 1848. STIRLING'S ANNALS OF THE ARTISTS IN SPAIN-3 vols. 8vo. London, 1848. NEWPORT AND ITS ENVIRONS-illustrated by a series of views. Vol. 1. oblong folio. Newport, 1848. To our list of Periodicals, the most important addition has been the leading organ of French Literature, "LA REVUE DES DEUX MONDES." It is published in twentyfour numbers for the year, making two numbers for each month, and amounting annually to four thick octavos. It is valuable as a work of reference as to all the great subjects of European history, and in fact leaves no important topic in the annals of either hemisphere without some valuable comment. Its papers upon recent French affairs, and especially upon Socialism, have been written with consummate ability. The size of the volumes added is as follows: The contingency of occasional loss of books, incidental to all popular libraries, has been thirty volumes during the past year. Unceasing vigilance on the part of the Librarian is required to keep this cause of diminution of the Library within a limited range. The fines for the over detention of books, amounting annually to nearly one hundred dollars, may be deemed a fund in part compensatory for this loss, and for deterioration of the books by use. To defray the salaries of the Librarians, and the contingent expenses for keeping the Library open daily, and thus afford every possible facility of access, and also for |