The Sun.
London, England, 1851-01-08 00:00:00

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TIMES, NOVEMBER 14, 1850,

The volume for the rear 1851 has just been published by Messrs.
Kelly and Co , Boswell-court, Temple-bar, and is the 52d of a most
valuable series. This volume, like its predecessors, contains a mass
of ♦ery useful, and in the present state of the community almost
indispensable, information, compiled with indefatigable industry,
and with an accuracy of research which may be relied on. The
present volume is in arrangement and distribution of matter similar
to those by which it has been preeeded. It is remarkably well
printed, and made In appearance as handsome as a book of such a
class can be made. What can be said of few books of the same
bulk may fairly be said of it—that no part could be taken from it
without doing it an injury, and its very bulk is a security for its
copiousness. There is, as usual, a good map of London prefixed to
the letter-press, and a variety of emendations which render it as
perfect as sack a work can be made.

MORNING HERALD, NOVEMBER 13, 1850.
The fifty-second publication of this stupendous annual has just
made its appearance, exhibiting no remission of that intelligent and
systematic industry which has hitherto given the book so specific a
character for unique and comprehensive utility. Within this large
and plethoric volume every name and residence, every trade and
profession, incident to the metropolis is to be found arranged
upon such a clear and orderly plan as to place it within in-
stant reach. Every succeeding issue has suggested some im-
provement in the methods of detail, as well as in the completion of
the machinery by which such a multitudinous assemblage of facts
might be revised and corrected at intervals; and the book may now
be pronounced perfect. The experience of the last few years has
taught us to put the most implicit faith in the records of the " Post
Office Directory." Error can scarcely be said to exist at all, so
efficient is the process by which the separate lists are edited by
special emissaries ; while the wants of any sort of Inquirer, whether
referring to the Government official or the City merchant, the
professional man or the shopkeeper, are met by the judiclous mature
of the sub-divisions and the facility afforded by the treble Directories
of streets, trade.:, and persons. But the characteristics of Mr. Kelly's
mammoth periodical are well known., for no book is subjected to
more frequent reference. It has now become a public necessity ;
and to be without it would be an inconvenience the public would but
ill like to encounter. We have often been called upon to applaud the
intmen e amount of laborious enterpr:se bestowed upon the prepara-
tion of this volume. Every fresh instance suggests the same species
of apostrophe; and no one can turn over the two thousand pages of
which it consists, every page a mass of small solid typography, with-
out being struck with the magnitude of the undertaking, and its im-
measurable usefulness to the public at large. We have nothing now
to add to our former commendations. The volume for 1851 contains
the usual number of Directories, besides a variety of information
upon every su,iject either remotely or immediately connected with
the occupancy of London. Remark beyond this is superfluous.

MORNING CHRONICLE, NOVEMBER 13, IESO.
The fifty-second annual publication of this most useful work has
just been sent to us. The public, generally speaking, are fully alive
to the merits of this enormous volume, extending to upwards of
2,000 closely printed pages, and nearly every person engaged in com-
mercial or professional pursuits in this great metropolis regards it
as being necessary to him in his avocation in consequence of the
constant reference he is (swivelled to make to it. It is possible,
however, that there are some who may suppose that the " Post Office
Directory" is merely a list of names of persons engaged in trade;
whereas, we can assure them that it comprises, under separate heads,
a number of different Directories, each of which furnishes a large
mass of information, so admirably arranged that any matter apper-
taining to the distinct subjects may be readily found ranged under
one of the hallowing titles :—The "Official," the " Street," the
" Commercial," the " Trades," the " Law," the " Court," the " Par-
liamentary," the " Postal," the " City," the " Conveyance," aril the
" Banking" Directories. The proprietors state that, " copiousness,
accuracy, and appropriate classification, so that everything that may
reasonably he expected in such a book may not only be found, but
found without difficalty, are indispensable to perfection ;" and as far
as we have been enabled to test this large volume we can congratu-
late them on having attained to that perfection.

MORNING POST, NOVEMBER 16, 1850.
This remarkable publication has reached its fifty-second year, and,
bulky as it is, it does not contain a superabundant line, or an item
of information which might have been withheld without detracting
from its completeness. This is good evidence that utility rather
than display has been aimed at ; and the remark carries along wtth
it a high compliment to the discretion, ability and public spirit of
Mr. Kelly. Although competition has ceased, the circumstance has
had no relaxing effect upon the efforts of the proprietor to preserve
the character of his publication, as will be abundantly seen by all
who have occasion to refer to its pages. The great streams of in-
formation are, as usual, the " Official," the "Street," the "Commer-
cial," the " Trades," the " Law," the "Court," the " Parliamen-
tary," the "Posts]," the "Conveyance," and the "Banking"
Directories. As affording an index to the commercial greatness of
London, as well as to many other of its characteristics, a perusal of
the lists cannot be deemed uninteresting ; on the contrary, it may
invite the application of some time and trouble to work out a few
results. Without aiming at anything beyond a fair approximation
to the truth, the following facts may be stated :—Of persons holding
official situations under the Crown, in the East India House, th
Bank of England, and other public offices, 7,000 names are inserted. e
In 7,350 streets, the names of 110,000 persons are mentioned as en-
gaged to business, or as householders, In the " Commercial Direc-
tory," where the names appear without the street classification, and
are limited mainly to those engaged in business, 80,000 may be taken
as the number. In the analysis which is given of the persons en-
gaged in trades and professions (excluding the law), 90,080 names
appear. In the " Court Directory" 26,000 names are riven. Taking
the religious characteristics of London as the subject ef analyss, we
have : 264 churches and 84 chapels belonging te the National
Church; and 291 Disrnting meetin -.houses. The last are very
varied in name, and unequal in point of number. The Independents
hive 81 places of worship ; the Wesleyans, 44; Baptists, 69; Ro-
mai Catholics, 19 ; Unitarians, 4 ; Irvingites, 3 ; Society of Friends,
8 ; Jews, 7 ; connected with Scotch system, $ ; of foreign ehspels,
there are Bavarian, Danish, German, French, Greek, Swedish, and
Italian. The "Directory" contains a minute, but clearly engraved
map of London, on a scale of three inches to the mile.

MORNIN ; ADVERTISER, NOVEMIEI% 16, 1850.
Among the proofs of England's commercial, social, and political
greatness—the last named being a necessary sequent of the two
former—we can certainly point with pride to the huge volume be-
fore us. It is, like the people whose avocations, professions, resi-
dences, and names it so accurately catalogues and classifies, labori-
ous, able, energetic practical. and solid. A microcosm of society,
dry and unattractive it the first view. but full of utility, nay, an
indispensable guide to him who seeks to track individuality in the
vast labyrinth of London, which, if, in his ignorance, he supposes to
to be a c,nfused hive of hurrying money-seekers, an understand-
ing examination of Messrs. Kelly's stupendous Directory will show
to be
" A mighty maze, yet not without a plan."
Here in this storehouse of multitudinous facts, even the foreigner
may gleam some idea of the vast variety of industrial pursuits,
which :have made England great, and keep her so. The num-
ber of merchants, manufacturers, shopkeepers, professional men,
government officials, the butterflies of fashion, the peerage,
and even those whom fortune has elevated to the questionable
privilege of
" Nati consumere fruges,"
may here be approximately guessed; and a picture in little of
the labour and battle of life in this country be drawn by those
who possess the requisite application and perspicacity. On the
whole, " The Post Office Directory " is an honour to the direc-
tors of so much systematic and intelligent industry, and its fifty-
second issue " moults no feathe r " of its previous fame. Every
subject remotely or immediately bearing upon the object of the
work seems to he foreseen and contrived for, and as the re-
cord of " a million of facts," it is the only volume we have ever
seen to which we:could, without reservation, fairly apply that often
mis-used title.

DAILY NEWS, NOVEMBER 14, 1850.
" The Post Office London Directory" for 1851 has just been
issued; and after an examination of its multifarious contents, we
may declare it to deserve a continuance of the extensive patronage
it has hitherto so long received. More than 2,000 pages, divided
into somewhere about 5,000 columns of close type, contain a mass
of information about London and its people to be found in no other
book. To estimate this Directory fairly, one should go with some
degree of attention through its pages, and then try to calculate the
amount of labour bestowed on its production, and the great amount
of time it saves to those for whose use it is intended. Having done
that—no rapid task—an attempt may be made to see how far it is
accurate. Turn to the name of any person who, in trade or pro-
fession, has recently removed from ono prominent part of London to
another, and see if the name be posted up. After submitting the
volume to a test of this kind, which it stood most completely, we
feel no hesitation in bearing witness to its accuracy and complete-
ness. And we may add, that among the many things that may fall
tftider the notice;of our foreign friends who come to see the Ex-
hibition of 1851, few are adapted to convey a more exact idea of the
vastness of the metropolis of England than this huge volume with
two thousand pages filled with the names, addresses, and occupa-
tions of her chief residents and citizens.

STANDARD, DECEMBER 2, 1850.
This publication is one of the marvels of our age—a work as much
exceeding the celebrated " Annua re of Didot" as London exceeds
Paris in wealth, population, and exitent. Our readers may remember
in a late number of the " Quarterly Review" a remarkable article
describing the wonderful machinery of the General Post Offlee.
Now, the " Post Office Directory" is really a counterpart of that
wonderful machinery. Suppose a man to stand of a clear morning
at the top of Dighgate-hill, and to look round upon the bounless sea
of brick which actually fills the whole horizon, and then to be told
that he might in one minute, by referring to a portable book, find
not merely the name of every, even the minutest, street, lane, or
alley in the prodigious accumulation of dwellings, but even the