Record of Bibliography and Library Literature. 117 remains undelivered after twenty, thirty, or even forty minutes. The whole account of the library is a story of a great institution cramped, despite the heroic efforts of its staff, by an extreme parsimony. The parsi- mony is the result of the deliberate sacrifice of every other department of the state to the needs of the Army and Navy, a sacrifice, alas, which seems destined to impose its like upon every other nation of Europe. Book- Song, an anthology of poems of books and bookmen, from modern authors. Edited by Gleeson White. London: Elliot Stock, 1893. 8vo - PP- xviii., 185. Part of the Book- Lover's Library, edited by Henry B. Wheatley, F.S.A. Price 53. Like that other excellent work, The Book Lover's Encheiridion, Mr. Gleeson White's anthology of poems of books and bookmen, suffers a little from the monotony of its contents. We are extremely pleased that there are so many minor poets especially in America, where the minor poet most doth grow who are ready to profess their love for books in verses which are unimpeachable on any score, save that of dulness. But when we have read what G. B., and Mr. Charles R. Ballard, and Mr. John Kendrick Bangs, and Mr. Charles Knowles Bolton have to remark on the subject of books, the edge of our appetite seems already taken off, ere yet Mr. Edgar Greanleaf Bradford, Mr. Alfred C. Brant, Mr. J. J. Britton, and Mr. Irving Browne, not to mention all the C's, D's, and E's (Mr. White's order is that of an alphabetical catalogue of authors) are given their chance. Even the names of Mr. Beverley Chew, of Mr. Greece C. Dutt, fail to arouse in us any ecstacy of interest. In plain truth, Mr. Gleeson White has cast his net somewhat too widely. There are plenty of good poems in his anthology. That Mr. Austin Dobson has con- tributed to it liberally, and that it includes verses by Calverly, Mr. Andrew Lang, Mr. Richard Le Gallienne (who is unusually happy in his book-poems), Mr. Swinburne (whose commendation of one book, how- ever, is an offence), Mrs. Graham Tomson, Dr. Garnett, Mr. R. L. Stevenson, and other notable poets or verse-writers, is a sufficient proof of this. But the anthology is a little too extensive to be quite delightful, and we think that Mr. White would have shown wisdom in curtailing it. It is a very pleasant collection notwithstanding, and if the gold is mixed with a certain amount of pinchbeck, perhaps this only adds to our pleasure when we meet it. We are sure Mr. Gleeson White is not to blame for the fact that his volume contains, without acknowledgment, several poems which first saw the light in THE LIBRARY. The Little Passion of Albert Diirer, with an introduction by Austin DoDson. London : George Bell < Sons, 1894. 8vo - PP- 17, and thirty-seven plates with explanatory letterpress. Price 55. nett. The volumes of Messrs. Bell Sons' pretty Ex-Libris series follow closely on each other's heels, and this must be reckoned as one of the prettiest and most valuable of those yet issued. Strange as it may seem, the plates are printed from stereotypes taken from the original woodcuts, which are still in existence at the British Museum. The stereos were taken in 1844, for Sir Henry Cole's edition, and the impressions from them are superior to any which could now be taken from the blocks themselves, some of which are worm-eaten, while in a great many the border lines are broken. For the stereos new borders were added, the
