The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-04 00:00:00

'his following are Reviews of the New Editi
ta on n
, which haw
appeared in the leading Metropoli Journals
SUN, °Monza 17, 1851.
This is the fifty-third annual publication Post Office Lon-
don Directory ; and if untiring enterprise or unerring.accuracy in the
collection of materials, or unequalled yin the classification
afterwards, so as to afford the greatestingenuit possible amount of informa-
tion in the smallest possible amount of space, be
is the " wort Post hy of being
nlocon-
sidered a work of art and industry, then Office Lon
Directory" a work of art and industry quite worthy of a foremost
place in the Great Exhibition, and then should the Messrs. Kelly
have awared to them a mark of honorary distinction for te pro-
duction of this unsurpassed and un surpassable production. It is the
microcosm of the' tr etropolis of the world ; no information concern,
its
-
ing London, its inhabitants, its topography, its pub buildings
institutioniat its palaces. its docks, its trade, and its commerce, can
by bility be required, which Post Office Directory" can-
not At once supply. To the commercial man it is invaluable, for
not en& abes it supply the names and addresses of the heads -of
tiros, but the name of every junior partner in every firm is to be
-found in the proper alphabetical position of his own name, and with
reference to the firm. The work is illustrated by an accurate Map
of London, corrected up to the present moment, and drawn upon , a
scale of three inches to the mile; in this Map the position of everyone
of the new streets recently built in London or the suburbs, is
shows accu-
rately laid down; and we find, on reference to the Map, that it
the positions of many streets which are scarcely yet completed. It is
classified, as usual, into an " Official Directory," a " Street
Directory." a "Commercial Directory," a " Trades' Dirge-
lors.r ..._ a "Law _Directory," a " Court Directory," a „Pat•
llamentary --iateeeterg," es- e•-restai.eDireetery."-La.K.slaw Diegio:
tory," a '• Conveyance Directory," and a " Banking Directory." It
furnishes also full and accurate information regarding the various
assurance and other joinst-stock companies, and the latesThe t
man of
informa-
tion with regard to the recent postal arrangements.
fashion haswn in the " Court Directora," that the same minute
accuracy een observed, and the same untiring diligence exer-
cised, in procuring information relating to the fashionable world,
as has been exercised in compiling, arranging, and classifying
the commercial portion of. this great encycloptedia of the metro-
polis ; whilst, to the _ politician, the " Official" and the " Parlia-
mentary" Directories furnish all the information he can desire
on the subjects of which they treat. This information is brought
down to the latest moment. It was only on the 7th instant that
Lord Dunsandle leed an Irish Representative Peer, to ffil
up the vacancyoccasioned by the death of the Earl of
Charleville, and that the electors of the East Riding eie
Yorkshire returned Captain Duneombe as their representative, in
the room of the late Mr. Broadley ;both these changes appear in
the present edition of the Directory ; and the present Lord Stafford,
who only succeeded to the title about a week since, appears as the
Peer. with Christian and Surname at length. In the list of Peers
appears the full Chrlstian and Surname of the present Earl of
month;Doughmore, who only succeeded to the title in the course ot last
o whilst, in the " Postal Direetery,",at page 1,761, the accele-
ration of the delivery of the papers by day mail appears, under the
head " Delivery of Letters in London ;" the first day on which all
the mails arrived, so as to admit of the complete carrying out of the
rrangement, being Saturday last, the llth ult. The proprietor is
fully justified in his belief that this work has kept pace with the re-
quireme reface metropolis to which it is devoted, and he explains
in his phow he has been able to accomplish this great
labour, and to bring the work to its present high state of per-
fection. . lle says :—" Accuracy and appropriate classification, so
that everything which may reasonably be expected in such a book,
may not only be found, but found without difficulty, are indispen-
sable to perfection. These advantages can, in any Directory, only
be attained gradually, and not completely, until the work enjoys
the entire circulation. While rivals existed, patronage was
divided between books which were, or should have been, coun-
terparts of each other ; the public, therefore, had to pay more
than they need have done, and, besides, to submit to inferior pro-
ductions ; the total recelpta not being sufficient to sustain two
Directorio of London, each as complete as the present.. This is
quite certain ; as, for the many years during wh eh this work has
enjoyed the entire circulation, its profits would breve paid but a
small proportion of the expense necessary to the production of
another equally complete. A second Directory of London would be
about as prudent an undertaking as a second railroad to Brighton;
all the expenses would have to be incurred a second time
for the
same objects ; and it must be manifest, that if both paid their ex-
penses, the profits on two capitals, instead of one, must be paid by
the public. The present state of this work is a sufficient
forgoneprf ef
the advantage to the public—of their having to pay but
collection of the information—one compilation—one setting of the
type, &c. &c. This volume, to say nothing of accuracy, classifica-
tion, and general arrangement, contains about double the quantity
of mere letter-press contained in the closing volarne of its latest
annual competitor, and is published at a lower price. There can,
therefore, be no question that the public, as well as the proprietor
of the 'Post Office London Directory,' benefit by the circumstance
that the work has been so long without any competition. Firmly
established as this Directory is in public favour, it can only be ne-
cessary that an amount of diligence equal to that which has led to
so gratifying a result, be continued, in order to sustain it ; on this
the public may, with confidence, rely." Judging of the future by
the past, we confidently rely on the energy, the abilities, the talent,
and tile resources of Messrs. Kelly, and believe that for years to
come the " Post Office London Directory" will continue to enjoy,
because it will deserve, time undivided patronage of the pubic.
---
TIMES, OCTozEit 21, 1851.
Far-seeing sages have been busy prophesying all manner of results
from the Great Exhibition. We have one before us—one which
none of ed
them ever dreamed of. The Great Exhibition, amid the
onderful effects it produc, exhausted the Post Office Di-
rother we" for 1851 ; and leit the whole commercial world of London
rectory
should be left without its guide and friend, the proprietors of that
valuable work have at this unusually early period issued their volume
for the year that is to come. Armed with this infallible weapon—
for, indeed, its accuracy is so great as to deserve the name as much
as anything of the kind—one may pierce the remotest fastnesses of
London, and count its Smiths, Jonesos, Johnstone, and Browns. For
one who bas the time it is worth while to scrutinise the amasing cor-
rectness with which this volume discriminates the whole mass of
London life into some 2,500,000 names, and how it depicts and takes
to pieces the minutest works or the vast machine that fills the valley
of the Thames. The book is one of our standing wonders. In
utility, excellence of typography, care, and trustworthiness, it can-
not be surpassed; and not the least remarkable feature about it is
the very recent ch anges recorded in its pages. For instance.
here in this volume of more than 2,000 pages, which was printed
on the 13th of October, we find inserted in the " Parliamentary
Directory," at PP. 1,738 and 1,749, the name of the Hon.
Captain A. Duneombe, R.N., who was elected as Member for the
East Riding only six. days previously— amply, on the 7th of
October ; and in page 40, in the list of the Privy Council Office, the
name of Lord Liverpool is struck out, though his death was not
recorded in the " Times" till the 6th of Octtoober. Toth] t enure mmer-
cial world it would be quite as necessary
deliveron
the general benefits of sunshine, as to speak of the merits of the
" Directory," and to all Londoners who want to know anything of
the world they live in it is inestimable. The present volume is dis-
tinguished by the same internal and external advantages as those
which have so long characterised its predecessors.
[The fact above adduced, that in the " Directory" the name of
Lord Liverpool, whose death had been recorded only on the 6th of
October, was struck their page 40, in the list of Privy Council, is a
happy illustration of th apidity with wilels the information con-
tained is the work is compiled and published. So striking an
example of the excellenee of the „Directory" has naturally eau- ed
some comment; and the present appears a fitting opportunity of
calling attention to the entire facts of the ease :—An Earl, who is
a Privy Councillor, appears in the " Post Office London Directory,"
Ist, in the list of Privy Council; 2d, in the " Street Directory 1"
3d, in the " Court Directory ;" 4th, in the list of Earls sth, in the
Alphabetical list of Peers ;huh, in the Alphabetical list of the
Surnames of Peers ; 7th, in te titles of the Eldest Sons of Peers.
The corrections, rendered necessary by the death of tile Earl of
Liverpool, only recorded on the 6th of October, were actually
carried into five ese seven parts (the two others having before
been printed off), intoa Work consisting of 2,000 Imperial Octavo
pages ; and the book was printed, bound, and distributed, so that the
Reviews of it in the newspapers commenced on the 14th of the same
month. Although we believe that it is not possible to adopt mea-
sures which shall ensure greater promptitude or accuracy, we should
not have called public attention to a matter which, with our ar-
rangements, is a mere thing of course, but for comments which have
been made on this particular point. It was en account of the
acknowledged impo,ssibility of competing with our arrangements that
tile Proprietors of ' Robson's Directory" took leave of their sub-
scribers in the following terms :
" Bowtrell and Co., Proprietors and Publishers of ' Robson's
London Directory' beg to acquaint their subscribers, that with the
volume for the present year that work has terminated.
" It has been found impOssible longer to contend with the ' Post
Office Directory,' a work combining large capital, with un-
equalled resources ef every kind requisite for the proper production
of a Directory of the metropolis. These advantages place that
work on tench an elevation that further competition with it wood
be as injurious to Bowtell and Co. as it would be unjust to their
subscribers."
rat forth, the arrangements under which the
And since this was p
" Post Office Directory" are conductea have, as is well known,
been very materially strengthened.—Editors of "Yost Office
London Directory.")

DIOUNING CIIROITICLE, OCTOBER 11, 1851.
In an age prolific of books ttliiiseims
moat
te
umseosfutleoxftrallo.rdiptairys ,aanindiraewlee
yil—edatA)msi3raYcl' eof human skill—a proof of the tri-
m an ultimate combination of the temporary di-
umandenat6
efoxramthpelesutopealritopriutybliosfheLrosn, ttnaoogvueer
fuoefmelhofiglfracsoisiu\nctiodnmitio
vision of raw
This is the fifty-third an-
einvaetryersc,;tyan. labour
it enjoys all the advantages
of its proprietors'
f experience. The classification, once complex
bthurnen—kuac•onornaldaprgiers
whatsoever.
nfiunayl.tpwuobliycaeatirsion
0;
almost to Bradshawisra, is now so admirably managed, that every
information such a work may be expected to afford can here be
food, and found without difficulty, by persons to whom the search
is a novelty, and the volume unknown. The stranger may here be
guided, and the Londoner, at each year's end, refresh his in-
fteoromsautaloaneuasly
cato 2: Wu
phoenTeftbrollhtßi . OiViirseso. ldmafyriejonydfsay The srtealtuisgt,o
by 'ready access to his Directory, where ho will learn how
many churches and how many
many hhoowwmmaanny
butchers,
and how
many lawyers, l
mmaenti:opolis to satisfy he spiyrituuatle,hienrstellarelrrY,
erect in this mighty o diabitants.
recreate himself by marking in each street
re t
and physicals= antsf its two million and a half fli
The teetotall m
of aryi street, and in every parish, the appearance
at each
c""r of some public-house ;he may compare 1851 with
see
inwhere temperance has progressed, and where
the ascendant ; he may trace back " mine
gin•palaces
to inn, from inn to beer-shop. and point the moral
oirB4dll,sawPiPtheaf
host " from hotel
speech by extracts of the evidence here given of the
of some future
nA the fortunes also lost, by the sale of intoxicating
fortunes gains"-, -
ar:3nelce;still
derive, that new streets have arisen since ho
liquors. The topographer may correct his chart by the information
which he must hence.
concluded ; the historian may note where flue-
thought his labours
non have occurred ; the politician may ob-
tuatioris in the PVela--- we which he must try to discover,
serve that here, from some c
attraction rapidly becoming he centre
positions—that there is some
commerce and her attendant man are restless, and seekin new
of a new system, hitherto not called into operation. The student
of the times generally may
elation occupying a house in a good street, and be only brought to and,
occasionally, an operativh' ano-
ther ERSt-and abominations, aro making
anything like a state of equanimity again by a discovery of the fact.
that great slop-shops, and o
tradi estab'ishments of
tlaeir way westwards, if not at a greater pace, at any rate with more
show and circumstance, than the humbler ng
the district of the Temple, the result will be astonishment at the
the Christian Socialists. If the inquiring mind penetrates, in print,
number of old names gone, reflections on tho mutability of the most
immutable ofprofessions, and a discovery, if the search be persevered
in, that the lost barristers are Be: dead, but only localiseu in the
provinces ; if, finally (which, since the world generally is mit
contemplative, seems not improbable), the scrutineer wants only to
unless the object of his solicitude be very
discover an address, he may do so in a minute, and he may be sure,
we, at least, assure him that it would have been so up to within a
fortnight of the publication of the volume before us. "Ex uno disco
flighty, that it is correct—
unless
The death of Lord Stafford was but a week since noticed
in our columns : in the Parliamentary department a this Direztory
we find the full Christian names of the new Lord, with such other
change of particulars as the circumstances required. Yet the volume
kept thus minutely accurate contains more than two thousand
closely printed pages. Who shall conceive the watchful diligence
bestowed upon its every-day revisal? But we need not insistu upon
qualities which cannot be denied ; we need net recommend a,
what recommends itself as indispensable. Good classification, and
incessant care in marking alterations, are the essential quales
a Directory; and both these qualities this Directory has
seful
of
to per-
fection. _____

MORNING HERALD, Ocxoazx 17, 1851.
The punctuality with which this huge record makes its appearance
at the close of the year is not one of its least recommendations.
Certainly, it is proof that the diligence :and energy which have
always characterised its production experiences no ab dement,
notwithstandiug the perpetual extensio., of the field of labour, and
the vast increase of those details which an insidiously-growing
population must necessarily generate. We have often before been
called upon to compliment the enterprise of the proprietors, and wo
have little to add upon the present occasion. Every one who has
been in the habit of turning to the " Post Office Directory," is aware
of its faultless accuracy; and to praiseit on this score is superfluous.
The changes to which such a multitude of localities are exposed by
the accidents of life, are duly provided for; and we can but marvel
at the excellence and completeness of the machinery by which the
entire SUMO of Louden Id annually explored, and every ohiftilig