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The high price of coal and the use of bituminous coal for some months have added largely to the expense of heating and cleaning the building. Of anthracite coal, 950 tons were received during the year, and of bituminous coal, 705 tons.

Since the changes made not long ago in the arrangements for heating the building but few complaints have been made.

WORKS OF ART.

A portion of the second section of the mural decoration made by Mr. John Singer Sargent for the Library has been put in place. It is entitled “The Dogma of the Redemption.” Only the frieze and lunette of the wall are covered; the ceiling and two panels of the frieze are not finished. In the Monthly Bulletin for March, 1903, is a description of this decoration.

Mr. James M. Ellis has given to the Library a reduced copy of the bronze statue “Hermes Resting,” in the Museo Nazionale at Naples.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

The following account of the additions to the Library is taken from the report prepared by Miss Theodosia E. Macurdy, Chief of the Ordering and Receiving Department. The accessions to the Library, as distinguished from the books that have reached the shelves and excluding mere transfers from one department to another, were, for the year, 34,635 volumes, as against 35,835 in the preceding year. They number:

Central Library, Branches, Total

Volumes. Volumes. Volumes. Purchases e e © to 12,735 S,785 21,520 Gifts . t © & to to e 6,844 1,508 8,352 Exchange account e e e s 219 - 219 Periodicals bound o e s e 2,486 447 2,933 Statistical Department (Gifts) . o 1,611 - 1,611 23,895 10,740 34,635 Books bought for the Central Library: City appropriation 10,941 Trust funds 1,794 * = 12,735 Books bought for the branches: City appropriation 7,892 Daniel S. Ford fund . 27 Fellowes Athenaeum 866 8,785

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Additions by gift are recorded in subsequent pages under the heading, Givers and Gifts.

The sum paid for books, periodicals, and newspapers was $44,421.16, as follows:

City money expended for books:
For the Central Library (including Deposit

Collection) . * . $17,719 40 For branches . e e g te so g 7,575 15 —— $25,294 55 City money expended for periodicals: Central Library * © e e g . $4,432 76 Branches and stations . so so e § 1,917 89 *-* * 6,350 65 City money expended . to & * e e ; $31,645 20 Trust funds expended for books g so . $9,327 36 Trust funds expended for newspapers . g 2,133 12 —— 11,460 48 In addition to these amounts, purchases were made from the following special funds : Mrs. John A. Lewis's gift . o e e * $225 00 Roxburghe Art Club gift . to & e e 5 40 *= *moss 230 40 & $43,336 08 Fellowes Athenaeum, paid for books for the Roxbury Branch . so to so e . $1,085 08 **E=-o-o-o: 1,085 08 Total amount * g & & e wo & . $44,421 16

A distinguishing feature of the additions to the Library for the year is the larger representation of the writings of living continental authors. These have been recommended for purchase by Mr. Thomas S. Perry, who has joined the staff of the Library.

Important books have been obtained from auction sales, especially from the John S. Dwight, the Whitmore, and the May collections. Of the 981 books for which bids were made the Library secured 719.

Many of the accessions to the Library are valuable, particularly those relating to Colonial and Revolutionary times, to Boston and New England, the Philippines, the Quakers, and the Civil War. There have also been interesting purchases of Spanish literature, of manuscripts, including scores of music, and of genealogies. A selection from the titles of these works is here given.

AMERICANA.

Charles Chauncy. A second letter to a friend; giving a more particular narrative of the defeat of the French army at Lake-George, by the New-England troops, than has yet been published . . . Boston, N. E. Printed and sold by Edes and Gill, . . . MDCCLV. This book was bought at the Whitmore sale, as was also a copper plate engraving of the battle at Lake George entitled “A prospective plan of the battle fought near Lake George on the 8th of September, 1755 . . . in which the English were victorious, captivating the French general with a number of his men, killing 700 and putting the rest to flight.” Drawn by Samuel Blodget and engraved and printed in Boston by Thomas Johnston. Thomas Mante. The history of the late war in NorthAmerica and the islands of the West-Indies, including the campaigns of MDCCLXIII., and MDCCLXIV., against his Majesty's Indian enemies. 18 maps. London, 1772. (Col. Aspinwall’s copy, with the original bill of sale to him seventyfive years ago.) A collection of the best psalm tunes . . . approved of by the best masters in Boston, New England, by Josiah Flagg. Engrav'd by Paul Revere. Printed and sold by him and Josiah Flagg, Boston, 1764. Text and music engraved on Copper. The confession of faith, The Larger and Shorter catechisms, with the Scripture proofs at large. Philadelphia, printed and sold by B. Franklin. MDCCXLV. Bought with the Dr. Samuel A. Green fund. Roger Williams. Qveries of highest consideration proposed to M'. Tho. Goodwin, M. Phillip Nye . . . and to the commissioners from the Generall Assembly (so called) of the Church of Scotland; vpon occasion of their late printed apologies for themselves and their churches. London, Imprinted in the yeare MDCXLIV. Robert Baylie (Baillie). A dissvasive from the errours of the time. London. Printed for Samuel Gellibrand at the Brasen Serpent in Paul's Church-yard, 1645. Baillie was a friend of Roger Williams, and almost the whole of this rare tract relates to New England. Daniel Clarke Sanders. A history of the Indian wars with the first settlers of the United States, particularly in NewEngland. Written in Vermont. Montpelier, 1812. This work, published anonymously, was suppressed, by reason of the hostile criticism it occasioned. “So nearly complete was the destruction of the book that it was forgotten by those who professed to know most of the author, his biographers.” (Sabin.) There were also bought fifty views, maps and plans of Boston, the most notable being “A view of part of the Town of Boston in New England and Brittish ships of war landing their troops, 1768,” engraved, printed and sold by Paul Revere; and numerous New England primers and almanacs of early date, among them Poor Richard's almanack for 1738 and Poor Richard improved for 1771 and 1772. To the files of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Newsletter have been. added over one hundred numbers between the years 1765 and 1767; to the Pennsylvania Gazette 110 numbers between 1779–1783. There were purchased fifty volumes of chap book literature, Mother Goose and kindred books relating to nursery folklore, for the most part printed in Boston in the early part of the last century. A collection of books on the Philippine Islands has been secured, including a large paper copy of Blanco's Flora de Filipinas, Manila, 1877–80, with four volumes of text and two atlases containing 478 colored plates. There were also obtained 398 newspapers published by the Filipino insurgents during the years 1898 and 1899, “República Filipina” and “La Independencia,” the latter published at Aguinaldo's headquarters. They contain his official orders and proclamations. Nearly two hundred books and pamphlets on Abraham Lincoln and Confederate publications and numerous historical documents relating to the Civil War have been added to the Twentieth Regiment collection, including the original proclamation issued by Major-General B. F. Butler, Headquarters Department of the Gulf, New Orleans, May 1, 1862, placing the city under martial law. About seventy volumes of early works relating to the Quakers were purchased, chiefly from the library of C. C. Cresson of Philadelphia, including the writings of Fox, Howgill, Hubberthorn and Penn.

|FINE ARTS.

The Fine Arts collections have been increased not only by the accessions of current works, but by some important older

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