Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1906-05-10

There are certain pessimists in the
world who think that a rapid de-
terioration of public morals and public
taste is taking place. Among other
alleged proofs they refer 20 the modern
deluge Of mediocre fiction and compare
1t with the works Of the nineteenth
century writers, such as Thackeray,
Eliot and Dickens. At first thought
there seems to be much truth in this
argument. There is undoubtedly a
food of fiction of doubtful merit As
matter of fact, however, most Of this
fiction is better written and more in
teresting than much of that written
by the contemporaries of the great
writers of the last century.
An examination, however, of the
books in the Wilmington Institute
Free Library proves conclusiveiy tnat
the great amount of modern fiction has
not decreased the popularity of Ihack-
cray, Scott, Eliot, Dickens and others,
for the statistics of circulation show
that the works of those authors stead
lily increase in popularity and that
they are read much more today than
they were five years ago.
1t is often claimed that the pOpu-
larity of Dickens is steadily on the
wane. This also is disaproved 10y sta
tistics of circulation for the library
needs more copies of his work than
ever before and not a month goes by
but 10 has to replace Worn-Out copies
of Dickens works.
Recently the library was fortunate
in getting recollection Of Dickens pic
lures, thirty-two of which il has
placed on exhibition in the circulating
department. TO all Dickens lovers il
will prove especially interesting and
can not fail TO arouse some interest in
every person who visits the library.
The first picture portrays Charles
Dickens father and following are
famous portraits of Dickens himself at
all ages from boyhood up. There are
several pictures of famous houses
where Dickens wrote some Of his
works, including, of course, Cad s
Hill Place, whore he lived during the
last few years of his life. Two carl
catures Of the famous novelists are
especially interesting, as we'll as the
reproductions ol Cuikshank's draw
ings and facsimilies of Dickens
manuscript. The series closes with
an imaginary picture Of Dickens sur
rounded by his characters
The year ending 2Sth of February,
1906, brought several changes TO tine
library. The chief change during the
year was the building of the balcony
in the south end of the reading room
and the redecoration of the walls
The increased shelf room and floor
space gained 10y the balcony greatly
relieved the library from the cramped
condition.
In April, 1905, there was established
in the grocery store at 1903 Market
street a deposit station of the library.
The use made of this station proves
conclusivaly that a branch library
with reading rooms and a permanent
collection of books is needed for this
rapidly growing section OF the city.
Two hundred books are kept on deposit
at the branch station and about
twenty five OF these are changed each
month. IL is especially appreciated by
those who do not live within walking
distance of the city library.
The circulation for the year was
22L 024, the largest in ,the history Of
the library. The percentage of circu-
lation of fiction decreased and that Of
religion, fine arts, and useful arts
showed considerable increase. The
increase IN the circulation OF useful
arts was especially noteworthy.
There were added 60 the library
AaO9 volumes, 2,27l We're withdrawn
and the net increase 2,03S makes a
total number in the library of 56 677.
An especial effort was made to yet
books in the A. l.. A. catalogue not
already in the library. About fifcy
copies of this catalogue were sold at
cost TO readers who desired printed
catalogues of the library All the
principal works in the catalogue are
in the library and others are being
added as fast as possible. Several
good editions of standard authors were
also placed on the shelves in the bal
cony.
Registration Tor the year was 4. .2s5
and the total registration is IA, 422.
which includes 6, $50 public school