The Librarian has furnished us with the following statement, viz. :

The Librarian reports that the number of volumes added to the library during the past year is eight hundred and eighty-five; of pamphlets three hundred and eighteen; of maps, three; and of broadsides, ten. Of the volumes there were added

The most noticeable fact with regard to the purchases of the year is, that over 300 of the volumes are modern French and Italian books, the greater portion of them imported to order, in accordance with a vote of the board of Directors. It is also worthy of notice that very few juvenile books have been added to the library during the year.

The whole number of volumes in the Library at the rendering of the last annual report was by actual count 33,607, a larger number than was anticipated, considering the number annually worn out and lost. The number of volumes at present on our shelves is 34,492. Of these about 500 are duplicates which it would be well to dispose of,

Of the pamphlets, 16 were bought and 302 given; 175 of them relating to the proceedings of the Sanitary Commission. during the war of the rebellion, by Rt. Rev. Thomas M. Clark, who gave us also 26 volumes on the same subject.

A list of the benefactors to the library will be found appended to this report.

Six new shares have been sold, and there have been nine teen transfers of old shares.

With the growth of the Library and the gradual incrcase in the number of sharesholders there is, as might be expected, an increase in our circulation. The number of volumes given out during the year is 23,767.

Of prose, fiction, and juvenile books,

12,505

3,601

1,942

was in January, being 2,494.

The greatest on any day, on February 14th, being 202.

The Library has been carefully examined by the Librarian and his Assistant. and found to be generally in good condition. Many of the volumes in the alcoves of fiction and juvenile department are badly worn, but perhaps not more than was to be expected. Eight volumes are missing from the shelves, and not accounted for; but none that cannot easily be replaced. Three of those that were missing last year have been returned to the shelves.

It will be observed from the Librarian's report, that considerable additions in some of the modern languages have been made. It has long been deemed desirable to enlarge this department of the library, especially in contemporaneous literature, and the hope has been frequently expressed that the time might not be far distant when such enlargement would be practicable. Thus, in the very first report of the Directors, made in 1837, we find the following: "Your Board do not feel themselves warranted by the state of your funds, in purchasing for the library any books, which cannot be read by those who are familiar only with the mother tongue. At some future day, the reasons for this restricted course will, it is hoped, cease to exist."

In the report of 1851 we find the same hope reiterated in these words: "The increase of the library by the possession of the best works, not only in our own, but in all the polite languages of Europe, is the first wish as well as the final aim, of the proprietors and guardians of this institution."

The Board dwell at length upon this subject in 1868, and conclude with these sentences: "A culture that should ignore the teachings and amenities of German, French or Italian classical literature, would be narrow in the extreme, and onlyless bigoted than that which would despise the glories of mod. ern continental European literature. It is very much to be regretted that the works of so few foreign contemporaneous writers are to be found on the Athenæum's shelves in the original. A source of great profit and pleasure to those stockholders familiar with foreign languages, and a strong incentive to the study of those languages is wanting. But it is hoped that in future years this want may be supplied; and that with more ample shelf room and an increasing fund for the purchase of new books, the Athenæum will be able to fill out these lean places in its organism."

The present Board share the views expressed by so many of their predecessors, and though important additions to this department have been made from time to time, there is still a great deficiency; and, in contemporaneous literature, prior to the year, of which the relation is now being given, the library was barren indeed. For the purpose of remedying this deficiency, in part, the Directors in January last authorized the Library Committee to procure books in French and German to the amount of three hundred dollars.

In compliance with

such authority a number of French books, wholly by contemporaneous authors, and, it is believed, well selected, have been purchased.

A few facts relating to the growth of this branch of the library may not he devoid of interest. The first catalogue, issued in 1837, contains but three titles in the modern languages of continental Europe, all in French, and include only ten volumes, eight of which are the works of Moliere. The supplemental catalogue published in 1839, shows a considerable advance in two years, for in it we find eleven titles of French works in 117 volumes, sixteen titles of Italian in 64 volumes, and one Spanish work in one volume, making a total of 28 titles and 182 volumes. At the present time there are 1,714 volumes in this department on the shelves of the Athenæum; of these thelarge majority are in French; next in point of numbers are those in Italian, then German, and finally Spanish, in which latter tongue there are very few indeed. In the statistics just given, dictionaries, maps and charts have been exc.uded.

In no department has the institution been so indebted to the generosity of friends as in this. Many elegant and costly works on art, in French or Italian, have been presented to the library at different times; the names of Messrs. Crawford

Allen, Philip Allen, Jr., George H. Whitney, Holder Borden. Bowen, the Hon. Seth Padelford, with several others, being conspicuous among the donors. But not alone in art do we find the gifts of books in foreign languages considerable, for in 1839 a donation of 57 volumes in Italian, in various branches of literature, was made by the Hon. Thomas M. Burgess, and likewise one of 61 volumes of Italian drama, in the original, by Mrs. Edward B. Hall. In 1840, Horatio N. Slater, Esq., enriched this department by the gift of 236 volumes of French classics. Dr. Marshall Woods presented upwards of 50 volumes in French, upon public health, in 1854; and in 1870, the library was indebted to Ethelbert R. Billings, Esq., for 40 volumes of works in German. To enumerate the names, however, of all givers in this branch, or the various additions made by purchase, would occupy too much time and space for the limits of this report. It is hoped that every year, or at least every few years, a certain sum, even if comparatively small, may be set apart for the purchase of works in the foreign languages, especially in contemporaneous literature.

During the past year, two of the earliest friends and benefactors of the Athenæum, John Carter Brown, Esq. and the Hon. William S. Patten, have deceased. Mr. Brown was a member of the first Board of Directors, and a liberal contributor towards the support of this institution. Although the collector of one of the most splendid private libraries in America, the fame of which is known to scholars on both sides of the Atlantic, he did not forget to devote some of his ample means to the growth of this library, that others might share in those literary advantages which he himself so thoroughly prized.

From the inception of the Athenæum down to 1870 Mr. Patten was officially identified with it; and, throughout his