Mr. Parker's stock.

'Lothair,' and several other publications have. achieved wide circulations; while ventures of a different sort, such as Ure's dictionary, have a steady and constant sale that makes them valuable properties. The acquisition of Mr. Purchase of Parker's stock and business connexion, in 1863, made the house publishers for many writers of note who had hitherto issued their books from the West Strand, such as Mr. Mill, Mr. Froude, and the late Sir Cornewall Lewis. To conclude this brief notice of the events of Mr. Longman's business career, we may mention 'The Travellers' Library,' one of the best collections of cheap literature we have had. Mr. Longman did not, however, confine himself to publishing for other people. He was himself an author, and we owe to him the excellent 'Lectures on the History of England' down to the reign of Edward the Third, and afterwards an on the History of England.' elaborate life of that monarch, which would be a credit to a writer who could devote his whole time to historical research, and was, therefore, still more honourable to one who had such heavy calls on his time. Mr. Longman's historical and æsthetic tastes also led him to take an active interest in the proposed decoration of St. Paul's. He not only served on the committee appointed for that purpose, but he also wrote a monograph on 'The Three VOL. II.

2 C

Mr. Lectures Longman's

Mr.

Swinburne on

Cathedrals dedicated to St. Paul, in London.' ......He leaves behind him a widow and eight children."*

'A Note on Charlotte Brontë,' by Algernon Charlotte Charles Swinburne, is the subject of an article Occupying eleven columns on the Ist of September.

Brontë.

Mr. H. M. Stanley has, it is stated on the 22nd H. M. Stanley of September, "solved one of the great problems Lualaba to its of African geography. Starting from Nyangwe,

traces the

mouth.

on the Lualaba, he has traced that river to its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean, thus proving that the region of lakes explored by Livingstone and Cameron drains into the Congo or Zaire. Stanley's journey, to judge from the short letter published in the Daily Telegraph of Monday last, was perilous in the extreme, and he felt himself compelled to employ armed force on no less than thirty-two occasions...... The geographical result obtained by this explorer can hardly be over-estimated, and the promoters of his enterprise may feel justly The Zaire. proud of the success achieved. The Zaire has

* There are at the present time four partners of the name of Longman in the firm: Messrs. Thomas Norton and G. H. Longman (sons of Mr. T. Longman), Messrs. Charles J. and Hubert H. Longman (two of the sons of Mr. William Longman). Mr. W. E. Green and Mr Thomas Reader are also partners.

now been shown to drain an area of no less than 1,400,000 square miles. It is a worthy rival of the Nile in that respect, and surpassed only by the Amazonas, Ob, and Mississippi."

Great Conference of

The Conference of Librarians was opened on Tuesday, the 2nd of October, at the London Librarians. Institution, Finsbury Circus. The Athenæum in its accounts of the proceedings states that Mr. Winter Jones's address as president was of an exhaustive character. During the Conference papers by Mr. W. H. K. Wright, Mr. W. E. A. Axon, Mr. C. H. Robarts, M. Depping (of the Bibliothèque Ste. Geneviève), Mr. Robert Harrison, Mr. James M. Anderson, Mr. J. D. Mullins, Mr. P. Cowell, Mr. Henry Stevens, Mr. Garnett, Sir Redmond Barry, Mr. Wheatley, Mr. Cornelius Walford, and Mr. Ashton Cross were discussed. Among those who took part were Baron O. de Watteville, of the Ministry of Public Instruction, Paris; Mr. Poole, of the Public Library, Chicago; and Dr. Acland and the Rev. H. O. Coxe, of Oxford. On the last day of the meeting, Friday, October 5th, a permanent society was formed, under the title of the Library Association of the The Library United Kingdom, and the Athenæum expresses the hope that "it will justify itself in public estimation by assisting libraries to become what

Association

founded.

by the Athenæum.

they ought to be, efficient instruments of national education."

During the Conference Mr. Cornelius Walford proposed a General Catalogue of English Literature, and Mr. Ashton Cross a Universal Index, which, the Athenæum observes, "are schemes more easy to project than to perform.......We would throw out a hint that may be worthy of further consideration. Could The not a permanent Index Society be founded with Index Society suggested the support of voluntary contributions of money as well as of subject-matter?" This suggestion is followed up on the 20th of October by two Letters from letters, the first from Mr. Justin Winsor, who Mr. Justin feels "quite sure that the formation of such Mr. Gomme. a society will secure the hearty co-operation of the libraries in the United States "; the second letter from Mr. G. Laurence Gomme. A committee was soon afterwards formed, and on the 22nd of December it is stated that at a meeting of the committee of the Index Society, held on the previous Monday at the Society of Arts, Mr. E. Solly in the chair, “it was announced that seventy gentlemen had become members of the Society already, before the issue of a general circular."

Winsor and

The Index Society founded.

It is stated on the 6th of October: "Except Messrs. H. S. so far as two or three periodicals are concerned, King & Co. Messrs. H. S. King & Co. have ceased to be

publishers.

They have sold this department of their business to Messrs. C. Kegan Paul & Co."

The Folk-Lore

Society founded.

Mr. Thoms.

Mr. Thoms writes on the 1st of December: "Will you allow me through the columns of the Athenæum, in which the word 'Folk-Lore' made its first appearance on the 12th of August, Letter from 1846, to inform those who take an interest in such matters that a Folk-Lore Society, for the collection and publication of relics of popular antiquities, is in the process of formation, on the principle of the Camden Society?" Mr. G. Laurence Gomme consented to act as honorary secretary.

1877.

The obituary of 1877 included Lady Stirling- Obituary of Maxwell (Caroline Norton); Dr. Unwin, formerly the Principal of Homerton College; Dr. R. Cotton Mather, who about two years previously had completed the revision of the Scriptures in Hindustani; Mr. Alexander Bain, the inventor of the electro-chemical telegraph; Sir E. Belcher, the Arctic navigator; Dr. J. S. Bowerbank; Mr. John Jones, the secretary of the Iron and Steel Institute, and editor of its Journal from its commencement; Mrs. Petherick, the wife of the African explorer, who accompanied her husband in his later travels, and displayed much intrepidity and energy in the wilds of