The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1888-10-06

dilapidated and for various reasons
practically worthless. The bulk of |
the collection however was in good !
order, and much of it OF great in |
terest and value 1t is especially
rich in works pertaining to llawaiian
and Polynesian affairs, early voy-
ages and explorations, particularly
in the Pacific Ocean and kindred
subjects. Many of these are early
editions, now become scarce and
costly, and are accompanied by
large aliases, books of plates, etc.
There is also very valuable col
lection OF works on natural history,
especially conchology.
Many of these are copiously and
expensively illustrated by colorcd
plates, and nearly all the natural
history and scientific works are sub
stantially and handsomely bound.
The books of voyages, explorations,
etc, are also, as a rule, we'll bound
and in good condition. The removal
of this mass OF books, the sorting
out and arranging them in their new
home, and the preparation of COM
! plete list to be signed by our own
officers and filed with the Govern
mGnt as a receipt, involved very
large amount of work and consumed
great deal of time. 1t being
found upon placing the books on
the shelves that they considerably
overrun the space which had been
calculated for and provided, two
hundred and twenty-five volumes
which could not be considered in
any sense as books of reference
were transferred to our general col
lection and embodied n the circulat-
ing department. 1t is contemplated,
rs time shall allow, to make some
further changes of the same kind.
Through the generosity Of Hon.
c. II. Bishop we have received
very valuable accession to our
library, viz. the entire collection of
printed books and pamphlets be-
longing to the late Judge Fernandez
In addition to nearly two hundred
and fifty volumes from this source
which have been already catalogued
there is q considerable number of
books of which no disposition has
been made as yet on account Of
their bad condition also 4 valuable
collection of pamphlets and publ
cations in paper covers. Mr..
Bishops gift cannot be estimated as
to either its literary or pecuniary
value by the mere statement of the
number of volumes. The average
quality of the books is high and
many of them are expensive edi-
tions.
Outside the Government collec-
ton, of which we are only the custo-
dians, the accessions for the year so
far as catalogued have been III.
This is 4 smaller number than for
either of the last two or three years,
but the average character of the
books for the last year has been
higher and their cost proportionately
greater. The money received from
the Government under the appro-
pTiation of 1888 has been mostly eX-
pended for works of permanent
value, and these are expensive.
While directing our chief attention
to the building up of collection of
permanent value, it has seemed
necessary to consider the wants Of
the average current reader, and we
have accordingly added from time
to time fair proportion of the bet
ter class OF fiction to the other books
on our shelves.
In addition to the accessions above
referred TO there is now on hand a
considerable accumulation of uncata-
logued material which will be at
tended to as the time of the COM
mttee may permit.
Owing to the pressure of other
duties upon the chairman of the
committee the work on the card
catalogue has fallen considerably in
arrears but is now being rapidly
brought up to date. The cards for
the fiction department are all COM
pleted and in place; those for the
other portions of the library will
not be much longer delayed.
The number of books given out
in the circulating department shows
a decrease from the preceding two
years. Although this is source of
regret it is no more than might be
{ expected Hnder the conditions of
general depression and diminished
foreign population which we have
experienced. On the other hand
{ there is an increase of ten per cent
: in the number of new names APP
pearing on the roll. these being 8S
| for the year just ended against SO
for the year ending Sept. so, 1887.
1t might at first sight seem that with
so many new names appearing, our
membership would steadily increase.
Such however is not the case. A
very large proportion of those sign
ing the roll are temporary residents,
tourists, officers of war ships, and
townspeople who wish to consult
some particular books or look up