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

MORNING POST, OCTOBER 22, 1851.
This remarkable volume has attained its fifty-third year, and now
contains 2,085 closely printed pages. In this immense mass of in-
formation, the most searching scrutiny will find nothing useless or
unnecessary ; and the extreme accuracy which is observable in the
most minute details, renders the "Post Office London Directory'
one of the marvels 'Of the age. Its early publication is accounted
for by the circumstance that the edition for 1851 Is out of print.
and the proprietors have taken great care that all necessary cor-
rections should be made up to the latest moment. We have been
at some pains to test the accuracy of the present edition, by reference
to instances of recent change within our own knowledge, and in no
single case have we foiled any mistake. The insertion of Lord
Dunsandle, whose election took place in September, amongst the
Irish representative Peers, and the alterations rendered necessary
by the death of Lord Dououghmore, on the 12th September, are two,
amongst many, proofs of the diligence and care with which this in-
valuable work has been prepared. Even the miner official changes,
such as the appointment of Queen's counsel, police magistrates, and
the like, are also noted with unfailing correctness. The arrange-
ment and distribution of the several parts of the work afford the
utmost facilities for reference ; so that the labyrinth of this vast
metropolitan population is threaded as readily as the population of
the most insignificant village, and official situations, trades, profes-
sions, residences, as easily discovered. It is not surprising that such
a work, so useful to all, and so indispensable to those engaged in
business, should find a demand proportioned to the labour bestowed
upon it. It has now, we conceive, reached the highest pitch of
perfection of which such a production is capable; and it will unques-
tionably continue to receive that large share of public patronage by
which it has hitherto been deservedly supported. Not even the
Great Exhibition itself could convey to foreigners a grander or more
just idea of the vast resources of British capital and enterprise; and
certainly no guide book in the world could give half as accurate a
notion of the wealth, industry, and pursuits of the Londoners as is
contained in this imposing and instructive - volume. The obligation
which the public owe to Messrs. Kelly is certainly not confined to
the mere counting house utility of their labours. They have collected
an amount of statistical information, the quantity of which is only
evened by its value; and it affords us sincere pleasure to bear cur
testimony to the merits of their present edition.

MORNING ADVERTISER, OCTOBER 22, 1851.
The fifty-third annual impression of this wonderful and ever-
increasing book is before us. On the present occasion it is marked
by a more early appearance than usual—a proof of increased dili-
gence in compiling the immense lists of names, trades, and profes-
sions, as well as a further enhancement of its *value and accuracy.
For it must be evident, upon reflection, that the nearer in point of
time to the completion of information so varied, evanescent, and
perpetually changing, the issue of the work containing it shall be,
so will its faithfulness be increased. Death, bankruptcy, retirement,
sales, emigration, mere removal, prevent the permanency of such
information, in the recency cf which lies its whole value. Now,
living ourselves in this current of change, and of necessity observant
of many mutations, we have applied to the " Pc.st Office Directory"
the severest of tests, by a reference to a few of the most recent fluc-
tuations in the world of Londortand of commerce. This it has stood
triumphantly. In this vast mass of matter (over 2,000 pages), In all
parts of the ponderous volume, is the same actuality of present truth.
fulness. Official appointments and promotions, changes of firms,
removals, alterations of postal times, of mail routes and arrivals, of
steam-packets, the evictions and changes consequent upon street-
widening:, &c., Roc., are all noted, so as, hi poetic phrase, to
" Fix the flying Cynthia of the minute ;"
or, rather, to render, so far as modern Babylon is concerned, " the
very age and body of the time, its form and pressure." Among the
notabilla of the world's metropolis, this record of its actual state is
one of the most useful and wondrous.

DAILY NEWS, OCTOBER 14, 1851.
The " Post Office Directory" for 1852 has been pql#Lshed, un-
usually early this year. The portly volume is now before us. The
proprietors thus explain their reasons for this earlier issue of their
volume :—" The Exhibition having occasioned a demand greater
than usual, the edition for the current year became exhausted; to
prevent the inconvenience of the work being out of print, every
exertion has been made to produce the new edition at the earliest
period compatible with accuracy." That this has not been sacrificed
to speed, a scrutiny will amply show; and in proof that the cor-
rections haveheen made to the latest possible period, they instance
the acceleration of papers by the day mail, under the head of
"delivery of letters in London," at page 1761. The ft lit day en
which the malls arrived so as to admit of the complete carrying out
of the arrangement was on Saturday last, the 11th instant. The
insertion, too, in the " Parliamentary Directory" of the Christian
names of the present Lord .Stafford, whose father's death was an-
nounced on the 6th instant, is another instance, among several which
might be adduced tO show how closely the corrections have .been
made up to the moment of issue.

GLOBE, OCTOBER 18, 1851.
Among the many interests affected by the Great Exhibition is that
of the " London Directory;" the demand for the edition of 1851
being so great, in consequence of the crowds congregating to the
metropolis, that it was deemed advisable to have an early publica-
tion of that for 1852. The comparatively early appearance of the
work will, however be found to have derogated little, If at all, from
its accuracy and excellence, as every change that has taken place
up to the last few days is carefully recorded in its pages. As in-
stances, we may state that the Hon. Arthur Duncombe is given as
the Member for the East Riding of Yorkshire, for which county he
was elected as late as the 7th instant ; and that the present Lords
Stafford and Bolingbroke are named as the possessors of their re-
spective titles, although they succeeded to them only within the cur-
rent month. In every respect the edition for 1852 is quite equal to
its predecessors. Indeed, when one considers the immense amount
of intormation in the work—the perfect accuracy which charac-
terises it—and the excellent classification adopted, by which any
piece of information required can•be pounced on in a moment, the
" London Directory" seems little short of a marvellous work, and
one which could only have been IPA together by the most indefati-
gable perseverance and scrupulous care. It would have been indeed
worthy of a place in that noble collection of the monuments of the
industry and intelligence of the world, which we have but a day or
two since looked on for the last time.

STANDARD, OcTon= 21, 1851.
The fifty-third annual publication of this extraordinary volume is
now before us. The projector of such an opus magnum must have
been a bold man, but no one can observe its singular completeness
without coming to the conclusion that it has been the work of many
years to bring to perfection such a guide-book to the first city in the
work. The labour and diligence which must have been bestowed
on Messrs. Kelly's book is quite inconceivable, and the proprietors
must be gratified that their efforts have been appreciated by the
r übl;c. Every merchant's house, every place of business in London,
or even in the country, has its " Post Office London Directory."
The enormous circulation thus attained has enabled the proprietors
to offer it for sale at a price that no book less universally purchased
could be sold for. Upwards of two thousand closely-printed pages,
comprising the most extensive and miscellaneous information in one
volume, and sold at the price at which it is offered, Is a triumph of
skill and diligence of which the proprietors may well feel proud.
They who look further, may see, in the success of the " London
Post Office Directory," the foreshadowing of results yet more im-
portant to the community even than the accurate knowledge of the
Persons, occupations, and things, so skilfullysary t set befo
recommend the
s in this vo-
lume, of the busy metropolis. It is unneces
" Directory ;" such a book is always itself its own best recom-
mendation.

SIIIPPING AND MERCANTILE GAZETTE, OCTOBER 18, 101.
The annual volume of this stupendous work appears with pre-
scriptive punctuality. The plan originally laid down is carried out
with increased completeness in the publication for 1852, which, like
its predecessors, is a signal monument of method, enterprise, and per-
severance. It is not possible that any work devoted to London and
its statistics can furnish so clear and definite a record of the per-
sonal and commercial contents of the metropolis as this mammoth
book, the swelling bulk of which denotes that it keeps pace with the
increase of population and the several developments of industry.
No one can turn over its pages without being struck with the im-
mensity of labour which its compilation must have entailed upon
those engaged in it. Every line is the record of a specific fact—a
fact in every case liable to change, and, consequently, involving
periodical Justification throughout. The machinery devised by the
Messrs. Kelly for securing this annual revision is now as perfect
as it Ls possible to make it ; and the corrections are brought down to
the latest date. The separate Directories embrace the usual fields
o finfo.rmation. Trades and tradesmen, professionals and officials,
streets and conveyances, banking-houses and post offices, are here
regulated to their particular heads, and, besides the mere catalogue
of names, enriched with every sort of collateral information which
the exigencies of business or curiosity may require. Our former
commendations may be repeated now. The accuracy aimed at by
the editors half a century ago has been severely tested since the
book has been in existence; and it not only repels accusation on
this score, but challenges fresh panegyric as every succeeding
volume emerges from the press. The counting-house of the merchant
and the trader could now as ill spare the almanack as the "Post
Office Directory."

WEEKLY DISPATCH, OCTOBER 19, 1851.
It is difficult to remark upon a work that, presenting the same
phases, has so often laid claim to public notice and patronage. The
fifty •third annual volume is now before us ; and, as heretofore it
embodies (certainly in a very bulky form) an amount of usefldin-
formation which might be sought lor in vain at any other source.
It is, in fact, as the preface states, a " hand-book to the commerce
of the first commercial city in the world." As usual, the volume
contains, among other information, an "Official Directory," a
" Street Directory," a " Trades' Directory," a " Law Directory," a
" Court Directory," a " Parliamentary Directory," a " Postal Di-
rectory," a "City Directory," a "Conveyance Directory," a "Bank-
ing Directory," and a finely-executed Map of London and its en-
virons. The work, alike indispensable to the commercial man and
to individuals unconnected with trade, reflects great credit upon the
proprietor for his industry and untiring perseverance, and is an ho-
nour to the country in which it appears. The whole is printed in a
clear, distinct type, and on excellent paper, and the " getting up"
altogether is unexceptionable. While such care and zeal continue
to be exerted, to render the bock in its several departments com-
plete, and make it really and truly a hand-book of commerce, it
need not fear any rival.

EXAMINER, OcTosita 18, 1851.
Mr. Kelly's giant Directory takes the field a month earlier than
usual this year. This is accounted for by the fact of the great de-
mand for last year's impression consequent on the crowds at the
Great Exhibition; and certainly our visitors could not do better
than resort to Mr. Kelly's compilation for a proper impression of the
magnitude and wonders of the city they were visiting. We possess
no other record of them to compare with it. Two thousand closely-
printed pages of streets, trades, professions, and persons, express
better than the most eloquent phrases what a mighty mass of human
beings are now congregated in the spot called London, and what in-
finitely vast varieties of human existence and interests have come
to be comprised within that name. Often we have had occasion to
say, and may now repeat, that this book of Mr. Kelly's is not one,
but a dozen Directories. Its clear and su,cinct arrangement adapts
it to the use of every class that may be supposed likely to have need
of such information. There is a Street Key," of nearly 500 pages,
containing the names of more than a hundred thousand people.
There is an Alphabetical Directory, containing in the same
number of pages nearly the same number of names.
There is a classification of more than two thousand trades.
There is a Court Guide to some 25,000 of what are called the
gentler classes. There is a Law Guide ; a Parliamentary
Guide; a Guide to all the Public Offices; a Directory of Post-
Towns and Postages all over the world; a list of all the chief hotels
and inn throughout the country ; and, under separate Directories,
whatever a person can be supposed to have any need to know re-
specting city buildings, companies, churches, chapels, publications,
mid agencies, or about assurance companies, banking houses, and
conveyances of all kinds from, to, or ire .the metropolis. A mass of
various matter so unexampled in bulk and extent depends obviously
upon arrangement, and facility and completeness of reference, for
its practical worth and value ,'in a readily available sense, The
book before us seems quite a Model of such arrangement. It con-
tains nothing that may not at once be found—not w street, trade,
profession, or person, which the easiest search does not bring into
view, and, as far as we have been able to judge, with unerring ac-
curacy. Though it is hardly the middle of October when we have
before us complete, we yet find proofs of a scrupulous cor-
irt now
eclneSilof revision that must have dated so recently as the Clitfle Of