The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-02 00:00:00

POST-OFFICE LONDON DIRECTORY will,
as usual, be Published very early ,n the present month.
Kelly and Co., 19, 20, and 21, Old Boswell-court, Temple-bar.

BLUNDERS : WATKINS'S DIRECTORY
FOR 1855 ight pages Imperial Octavo, a Review of
the March edition of Watkins's London Directory for 1854, expo.ing
a large num' er of blunders, by far thy greater part of which ap-
pear d in the first edition • f Watkins's Directory publi•h, d in De-
cember,^lBs4, ancrivhich have since been reprinted with every sub-
sequent edition or the book. Watkins's Directory for 1855 has been
already publi hed, and all the identical blunders exposed in the Re-
view have been again reprinted into it.
Persons who have purchased the work should without delay obtain
the Review, which may be had here gratis, or will be forwarded on
receipt of one postage stamp. _ . •

*.,• since the first publication of this announcement, an adver-
tisement, dated from Watkins's Direct pry Office, has been put forth,
in which " The public is respectfully CAUTIONED against FALSE
STATEMENTS circulated by KELLY & Co.;" but as must have been
observed, no attempt is made to disprove in any one case the
instances quoted in the above-mentioned Review of Blunders, by
far the greater part of which appeared in the first edition of
" Watkins's Directory,' published in December, 1851, and which
have s'nee been reprinted with every subsequent edition of the book.
The third paragraph uf the advertisement is as folio vs The
extravagance of the charge made for the Post Office Directory is
proved by the recent extension of that work without any addition to
the price at which it was sold before the present competition, and
when, as may be fairly supposed, the sale must have been consider-
ably larger than it is at pre,ent."
Without having recourse to the term "FALSE," we may say that
it may "fairly he supposed" that the proprietor of " Watkins's
Directory," has read the Preface to the "Post Office Directory for
1853," in whichit 48 mentioned that " several hundred more orders
have been received for copies of this edition than were ever received
for any former one," and in the Preface to the work for the present
year it is stated that the Orders had again increased at the great
proportion of thirteen per Cent. We may add that taking the sale
of the " Post i ffice Directory" for the three years immediately
anterior to the publication of Watkins's Directory, I. e. the years
1849, 1850, and 1851, the average numbers were 8,300, while the
average of the 3 ears 18-,3 and 1854 is 10,400.
After thus raising the question of num,:ers, it is incumbent en the
projector of Watkins's Directory to settle it. Ire can do this by fur-
.

I. The number of copies of Watkins's Directory for 1852 printed,
and the number sold.

2 The same for 1853.
3. The same co^ 1854.

4. The same or the Nfareh Edition.

5 The nu,ber of compete copies of the edition for 1855 printed:
and at what number it has already been deemed prudent to stop the
bindmg f the book

But it will he found that after raising the question of numbers this
information will not he given.
To the charee 01 RECENT EXTENSION WITHOUT ADDITION TO THE
PRICE OF THE POST OFFICE DIRECTORY we idea i guilty, awl admit
that the " street" divi.ion in the edition for 1855 c mtains nearly
THIRTY EIGHT THOUSAND names which are ctil,irely,proltted from
the-correApondhig drvllion of Watihisssrbut. we have shown, the
enormous extension of the Post Office Directory is only proportioned
to Its extended sale.

As to " monopoly," the correct statement of the case is, that the
Po.t Office Directory enjoys the monop ly of the good opinion of the
mercantile community, earn• d by very many years of unremitted
exertion: it is, el course, prep sterous to allege that it enjoys any
other kind of " monopoly."

We are perfectly willing to let this he tested in the fairest possible
mt-inner ; the agents for Wstkins's Directory have induced many
persons to " Subscribe" fur their book ior 1855 , let these persons he
released from pr misess obtained from them in ignorance that the
new book would contain many of the idemical hlundi-rs f former
editions, ,fid let them be supelled with copies of the " Post- .ffici,
Directory for 1855," and copies of Watkins's, and ALLOWED A MONTH
TO DECIDE WHICH THEY WILL RETAIN lithe prcprietor of " atkins's
is sincere in his expressed wish as to the public " fairly
comparingector"
the hooks and their reseective prices," he cannot object
lnr
to such a comparison. The public would then find that " Kell) 's Posts
Office Directory, 305.," contains, in ALL the proper classifications, the
names of all persons resident in the Subtirbs, all of which are OMITTED
from Watkins's at 16e. Gd. There is, of course, no more difficulty in
Directory omitting thousands of
names, than
11thereeap obwe 1-11rpi cued b 1 N publishing a cheap et; onary, omitt-
ingpublishing a
e
thousands of words.
Kelly and Co., 19, 20, and 21, Old Boswell-court, Temple-bar, London.