The Sun.
London, England, 1853-11-07 00:00:00

TIRE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 7, 1853.

SHARN MARKETS-(THIS DAY).

POST-OFFICE LONDON DIRECTORY
FOR 1854. KELLY AND COMPANY.

BRITISH RAILWAYS.

It is something wonderful to observe, year after
year, in this remarkable volume, the steady advance
of improvement on improvement. Manifest though
this advance has undoubtedly been hitherto, it has
never been so conspicuously displayed as in the
present instance, that of its fifty-fifth annual pub-
lication. It evidences more than ever the perfect-
ing consequences of unremitting application and
of a protracted experience. It reveals this in the
union of many excellences until now deemed in-
capable of combination in a work purporting to
supply the public with a really complete and accu-
rate London Directory. Already the Messrs. Kelly
and Company had actually distanced the most en-
terprising of their competitors. They have now ren-
dered it preposterous for any other compiler to dream
of emulating their extraordinary enterprise. It is
by no means our intention to enter into the merits
of a controversy which has latterly been carried on
not without occasional displays of asperity and of
petulance, through the medium of pamphlets,
broadsheets, and advertisements. Considering the
contention to be, as the imperturbable O'Trigger
phrases it, " a very pretty quarrel as it stands,"
we cannot consider ourselves called upon in any
way to decide between the claims of the prominent
disputants. Nevertheless, it must be admitted,
promptly, candidly, and without the smal-
lest circumlocution, that, whatever the situa-
tion at this moment of the contest here
intimated whether, to employ an expres-
sion now generally recognised as idiomatic,
it may, perhaps, in several particulars, be six on
one side and half-a-dozen on the other, six on the
side of F. Kelly and half-a-dozen on the side of F.
Watkins—it must, we repeat, promptly, candidly,
and without the smallest circumlocution, be ad-
mitted that the community has long since pro-
nounced its verdict with some degree of significance.
Everybody recognises to whom has been awarded
the palm of popularity. Scarcely any unprejudiced
observer but perceives at a glance which work
is the one allowed on all hands to be au-
thoritative. It is with Kelly's Post-office Lon-
don Directory only in a degree proportioned to its
magnitude and comprehensiveness, as it is with
many another favourite compendium of information.
Precisely, for example, as the continental tourist,
at every emergency consults " Murray's Hand-
books"—precisely as the railway traveller turns to
his " Bradshaw"—precisely as "Dod" is invariably
recognised as the surest guide to both houses of
the Imperial Parliament—the masses are accus-
tomed to revert for intelligence in regard
to all that concerns the metropolis, not here
to one and' there to another authority, but
habitually, and under all circumstances, to what
may be designated without exaggeration, as at
once the Dod, the Murray, anti. the Bradshaw of
the English capital—Frederick " Post-office
London Directory." In this the proprietor of the
Post-office Directory is only reaping the reward of
pertinacious industry, unflagging enterprise, and
indomitable perseverance. A well-sustained effort
of upwards of half a century's duration, has in
this manner rewarded with unexampled success the
meritorious toils of the originator. Insomuch that
the wealthiest, if not the most populous among
the chief cities of the earth, has in this ex-
traordinary volume a kindred index and an
appropriate representative.
London, in face, is here displayed for the ap-
preciation, it may be of remote races, and even
one might conjecture of some distant genera-
tion, in all its present power, vastness, and en-
. terprise. Its pride and its riches, ie varied
avocations of its inhabitants, the extent of its
streets, the multiplicity of its productions, the
continuousness of its traffic, the unexampled im-
portance of its political position, and the unparal-
leled diversity and magnitude of its commercial
operations are here clearly and succinctly portrayed
under a series of suggestive and significant depart-
ments. A dreamer, long ago associated with
this journal, once favoured such as might
happen to delight in similarly fantastic visions of a
possible futurity, with an account of " London in a
Thousand Years," such an account at least as might
be afforded through a vague poetic description.
The ingenious Mr. Roche would hardly, however,
have ventured, we may conjecture, to indulge in
those sinister anticipations as to the fate of our
metropolis, as to its gradual decline and ultimate
decadence, had he been enabled in his eccentric pre-
visions to turn over the phantom pages of the
" Post-office Directory for 1854," the work here
distinguished by its fifty-fifth annual publication. He
would scarcely have indulged so readily in the
vagaries of his morbid and lugubrious imagination.
He would hardly have ventured to foresee so very
distinctly the grass sprouting luxuriantly from the
chinks of the city pavement, the ivy mantling the
ruins of St. Paul's, the reeds clustering among the
broken arches of London Bridge, and those other
signs of decay and solitude, through the delineation
of which he anticipated, by so many years, Mr.
Macaulay's memorable pen-and-ink vignette, in,
perhaps, the most eloquent of his " Essays" in the
Edinburgh. Briefly let us avow that, in poring
over this extraordinary volume of more than 2,400
pages, closely printed and compactly arranged—
the extraordinary volume epitomising the capital of
England, as it is at this period, in the middle of
the nineteenth century—we cannot, for an instant,
conceive, except as the dimmest of all hypothetical
entities, the existence of that scarcely possible New
Zealander. To sympathise with us in our hopeful
anticipations as to the protracted prosperity of our
metropolis, it is only necessary to conn for a while
the various sections of this surprising compilation.
It will be perceived thereupon, at a glance, how
many securities for that prolongation of pre-
eminence are compacted together in this sur-
vey of the complicated system of society, as it
actually is in London nowadays. The British
metropolis being here revealed under its several
departments : its political authority in the " Official
Directory" its enormous dimensions in the
" Street Directory"—its abounding wealth in the
" Commercial Directory"—its industrial activity
in the " Trades' Directory"—its contending inte-
rests in the " Law Directory"—its luxurious re-
finement, its gaiety, and its splendour in the
" Court Directory"—its importance as an arena for
ambition in the " Parliamentary Directory"—its
incessant and almost bewildering pertinacity of oc-
cupation in the " Postal Directory"—its monetary
strength in the " Banking Directory"—its ceaseless
and wonderful activity in the " Conveyance Di-
rectory." Out of the apparently unavoidable con-
fusion consequent upon the diversity of the sub-
jects thus requiring to be catalogued, we find on
a careful examination of the portly volume under
notice, that there has been evolved a really admir-
able lucidity of arrangement. The advantage
thereby secured has been one, of course, remark-
able for its gradual and perceptible development.
Year by year the work has in this manner appre-
ciably ripened. It has so ripened, indeed, in that
particular, that in its present issue for 1854
namely, as already observed upon the occasion of
its fifty-fifth annual publication, " The Post-office
London Directory" constitutes a detailed account of
the whole of the inhabitants of our gigantic metropo-
lis, so Classified in streets, and trades, and appropriate
departments that almost any name may with the
utmost facility be found when required. Added to
which the information here compacted together is
brought down to the very latest period practicable
before the day of publication. It should be remem-
bered, in reference to this merit of the compilation,
that a singular variety of difficulties has to be en-
countered by those engaged in the minute and
punctilious labours of revision. It must especially
be borne in recollection, for example, how perpe-
tual are the fluctuations observable in this mass of
two millions of human beings crowded together in
the capital of Great Britain—fluctuations caused
every week, every day, every hour, by death, by
removals, or by promotion. Upon all these changes
the compilers of the " Post-office Directory" are
compelled to keep a watch of unwinkingly vigilant
observation—ready, up to the latest moment,
to interpolate all kinds of unexpected emendations.
In illustration of this, it will be only necessary to
refer to the following particulars—namely, to the
insertion of the name of " Richardson, J. J., M.P.,"
at p. 1962 in the Court Directory, and again at p.
2030 and 2037 in the Parliamentary Directory, as
well as the insertion at p. 45 of the Official Direc-
tory, of the names of the Charitable Trust Commis-
sioners, besides that of " John Parker," at p. 40,
among the numbers of the Privy Councillors,
although it was only as recently as in the Gazette
of the 25th ultimo that there was any official noti-
fication of those appointments. Thus ex uno
disce omnes—down to the end of the chapter,
the production is benefitted by the latest
in-
formation received from different directions
in-
discriminately up, so to speak, tot the eleventh
hour and three-quarters prior to the moment of
publication. Nevertheless it must necessarily so
happen happen occasionally, in spite of the most painful
precautions, that errors are
committed here and
there in consequence of
the recent nature of
q alt e ration requiring to be
some among the
notified. Casualties ° f this kind, in fact,
es i
ed, n a work of this peon-
may be prono
,:allftogether unavoidable.. Where-
liar description
surprising, for instance, that two
..0-es which took place towards the
or three chan
close of
October in the Prison Department,
„ in no manner specified p. 57 of th©
Pricial Directory. Everything, however, that can

be effected is effected by the promptitude of
those entrusted, with the responsible and em-
barrassing task of minute emendation. Another '
meritorious peculiarity of the Post-office London
Directory is in a particular manner deserving of
consideration. It is the circumstance that while
the whole of the present edition, an edition not far
short of 10,000 copies altogether, was being printed
off, the numerous indices scattered through the
volume were compiled and incorporated with the
undertaking. A single instance of the benefitaecruing
to the publicfrom this arrangement will be sufficient
to point out the extent of the advantage to the appre-
ciation of the least observant--as where it may be
remarked that the Trades' Index from p. 1725
to p. 1737 will be found to refer to every
trade specified between p. 1289 and p. 1724
in the Trades' Directory. Besides which, it
is observable that in this same Directory (the
Trades' Directory), for 1854, no less than
about sixty new trade headings bate been classified
—and this, of course, in consequence of certain
new articles of commerce which have only very re-
cently been introduced : ex. gr. Railway Wheel
Makers, Railway Strap Bag and Belt Makers, Rail-
way Woven Badge Makers, cum cceteris paribus. An
improvement of a di fferentkindis especiallynoticeable
by the way in the Court and. Street Directories, where-
in will be found distinguished by their respective
initials, as F.R.S., or F.S.A., or F.G.S., or
F.R.G.S., the members and associates of the dif-
ferent scientific and other institutions. A com-
prehensive catalogue, moreover, of the beneficed
and officiating clergymen and Dissenting minis-
ters, with their churches and chapels, and
private residences will be found at p. 2142,
this list having been judiciously comprised for the
new year among the different sections of the City
Directory. It is by no means astonishing that with
these and other remarkable additions, too nu-
merous to be here specified seriatim, the work has
extended considerably beyond its customary
dimensions. So considerably, indeed, as to have
advanced from 138 to 151 sheets, constituting
an increase of 208 pages additional. Notwith-
standing which, and notwithstanding the en-
larged volume for 1854 being printed with entirely
new type, it is creditable to the enterprise of the
proprietor that the work is issued to the public at
no extra cost whatsoever. According to the satis-
factory explanation of the prospectus accompany-
ing the volume, it would appear that the last-men-
tioned circumstance is attributable to the advancing
popularity of the " Post-office Directory" and to
its rapidly increasing circulation. It may be
observed, before closing our notice of this remark-
able volume for 1854, that reference to its contents
will be found to have been greatly facilitated
by a simple but very ingenious contrivance
ink brands upon the edges of the leaves,
indicating, when the book is closed, the
particular portion in which may be found
any department that may chance to be required—
Assurance, Banking, City, Official, Postal, Street,
Trades, Law, Court, Commercial, Conveyance, or
Parliamentary. Further comment upon the work
were unnecessary. Panegyric would be superfluous.
Having analysed the nature of this remarkable
enterprise ; having intimated the diversity of the
facts accumulated in these 2400 pages double co-
lumned, and closely printed ; having defined
to some extent at least the scope of the under-
taking, the accuracy of its information, and
the lucidity of its arrangement—leave we with-
out further comment this miracle of laborious
compilation, the reflex of London, the epitome of
the wealth, the power, and the grandeur of the
world's metropolis.