From Mr. J. B. Millet, Boston, Mass.:

Collection of 163 engravings.

From Mrs. David Murray, New Brunswick, N. J.:
268 original drawings by Japanese artists.
From Mr. A. J. Parsons, Washington, D. C.:

65 lithographs.

From Miss J. Scudder, New York City:

Io photographs of her sculptural works.
From Mr. James D. Smillie, New York City:
13 original engravings.

From Mr. G. W. V. Smith, Springfield, Mass.:
160 photographs of his art collection.
From the Society of iconophiles, New York City:
12 photogravures. (Picturesque New York.)
From the University Art Shop, Evanston, Ill.:

12 lithographs of architectural subjects by Jules Guérin.

From Mr. Henry Winslow, New York City:

18 original etchings, and 9 original etchings of C. H. White, New York City.

Especial mention and acknowledgment must be made of another gift of signal interest and value, though received since the close of the last fiscal year. It is that by the Italian Government of a set of the copper-plate engravings forming the Regia Calcografia of Italy. As listed in the published catalogue of the Calcografia this comprises nearly 2,500 items. Of these all but 746 have already (October 15) been received. The gift was made "in acknowledgment of the generous action of the American Congress and Nation in behalf of the sufferers from the earthquake."

A similar generosity on the part of France and of Germany had already endowed the Library with sets of the prints issued by the Government Calcographies of those countries, and the Library is now, therefore, rich in the possession of three superb collections which are so important to the student of art.

quest

Hubbard be- The will of Mrs. Gardiner Greene Hubbard, of Washington, D. C., whose death by a lamentable accident occurred on October 20, 1909, contained the following bequest:

PRINTS:
Purchases

"For the purpose of adding to the Gardiner Greene Hubbard Collection of engravings heretofore given by me to the United States of America and now in the Library of Congress, I give and bequeath to the trustee. hereinafter named, the American Security and Trust Company, its successors and assigns, the sum of twenty thousand dollars, to be set apart out of my real estate, stocks, bonds, or other securities, and to be invested and held by it upon the following trust, viz: To pay over during each year the net income therefrom to the Librarian of Congress, said income so paid over as above to be used exclusively for the purpose of engravings and etchings to be added to said 'Gardiner Greene Hubbard Collection.'

"If any lawful or binding arrangement or contract can be made whereby the United States of America will be bound to pay interest on said investment at an annual rate of not less than four per cent, to be perpetually used for additions to said collection, I then further direct that my said trustee, the American Security and Trust Company, shall thereupon turn over and deliver the entire principal of said fund to the Treasurer of the United States upon that condition and for that purpose."

The Gardiner Greene Hubbard Collection, already a rich one, will thus gain further enrichment by continuing additions.

The most important purchases of the year have been:

(a) Collection of 4,200 photographs of paintings in collections at Dusseldorf, Frankfort, Brugge, and Madrid; of subjects in Egyptian, English, and Swiss architecture, and of sculpture in the British Museum.

(b) Facsimile reproductions (25) of the works of the old and modern masters published by the Medici Society of London.

(c) Facsimile reproductions (85) of the works of the old masters published by Fischer and Franke of Berlin.

The following exhibitions were put in place during the PRINTS:

year:

(a) Commemorating the centennial anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12, 1909), 169 prints, 86 books, 16 manuscripts, 118 medals, 25 broadsides, and 22 copies of sheet music.

(b) One hundred and twenty-one Japanese prints from the Crosby S. Noyes and the Library collections illustrating the costumes of women as shown in the works of Japanese artists of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries.

(c) History of Painting and Architecture (264 photographs).

The Lincoln Centennial exhibit was of great interest to the public. It comprised material drawn from several divisions of the Library, so that a representative collection was presented illustrating the life and characteristics of Lincoln.

The portraits, including those of his family, numbered about 130, made up of photographs taken at different periods of his life from 1848 to 1865, and of reproductions of portraits painted by Carpenter, Healy, Hunt, Huntington, Marshall, and Volk.

The 118 medals and campaign badges (1860 and 1864) afforded an interesting study in the portraiture of Lincoln.

Lincoln in caricature was shown by cartoons published in this country (1861-1865) and by foreign periodicals such as “Punch,” “Fun," and also "Vanity Fair" (published in New York), for the same period.

The other subjects presented were "Some of his reading" (53 volumes); "Speeches" (11); "Works recommended by Lincoln for the study of law" (8); "Favorite songs" (4).

Exhibitions

Of special interest among the manuscripts exhibited was his copy of the celebrated Gettysburg address, through the courtesy of Prof. Wm. J. A. Bliss, of Baltimore, and of the papers and drawings covering his patent granted for buoying vessels, from the United States Patent Office.

The remaining portion of the exhibition was made up of— (a) Some of the musical compositions relating to Lincoln, published during the Civil war;

(b) Broadsides, campaign silk badges and literature.

READING ROOM FOR THE BLIND

The collection of embossed books for the blind has been increased during the past year by the gift of 18 volumes and the purchase of one volume.

The number of books bound during the year was 41,965 as against 34,275 for the year preceding. The output of the Library bindery alone amounted to 27,355 pieces. The total includes 3,611 volumes of newspapers.

Difficulty in securing materials requisite for special work can be met only by a change in the law which will exempt the Library in such cases from the limitations imposed on government binding in general.

CATALOGUING

(From the report of the Chief, Mr. Hanson)

The total number of volumes catalogued amounted to 121,640. In addition, 960 parts of volumes were added on the serial record and shelf lists and 6,280 volumes were, after careful search and comparison, rejected as duplicates and turned over to the Order and Documents divisions.

The losses sustained by this division through resignations and transfers, and the increasing difficulty of the work on catalogues and classification as the collections grow larger, no doubt account in a measure for the fact that only 121,640 volumes were catalogued as against 123,828 during the preceding year. The increase in the number of volumes classified (162,475 in 1908-9 as against 145,889 in 1907-8) has also had something to do with the decrease in the number of volumes catalogued, certain new assistants having been assigned to classification and shelf listing rather than to cataloguing.

As for losses through resignations and transfers, they have been so heavy during the past five or six years, and the problem of securing new assistants with proper qualifications and training at the salaries now available has become increasingly so difficult that this may now be considered as one of the most serious questions with which we shall have to deal during the remainder of the work upon the arrears. The many resignations and the difficulty of securing expert help may be in part accounted for by a greater demand for trained librarians and assistants in other institutions and a resulting general improvement in salaries, which the Library of Congress has been unable to meet; in part also by the great difficulty of the work on which this division is now engaged, viz, reclassification and recataloguing, in addition to handling annual accessions which have at times exceeded 100,000 volumes a year.