The undersigned, Auditors of the American Antiquarian Society, hereby certify that we have examined the report of the Treasurer, made up to April 1, 1888, and find the same to be correct and properly vouched; that the securities held by him are as stated, and that the balance of cash, stated to be on hand, is satisfactorily accounted for.

WORCESTER, April 19, 1888.

WILLIAM A. SMITH.
REUBEN COLTON.

REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN.

THIS is the forty-first meeting of the American Antiquarian Society in the rooms of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The first letter of invitation was addressed to Edward Everett, President of the former, May 25, 1847, by the lamented Asa Gray, Secretary of the latter; and the Society met for the first time in the rooms of the Academy, No. 7 Tremont Street, on May-Day, 1848. During more than half this period it has been my privilege to act as the bearer of despatches between the two associations, and therefore an expression of our hearty thanks to the Academy may not seem to be out of place as an introduction to this report.

Nothing of very special moment has occurred in our library life since the October meeting. The extent and importance of our work, however, has made it a season of great activity and interest.

If time allowed, it would be interesting to cite numerous instances of Dr. Haven's careful and valuable entries and insertions found in our volumes, made in order to preserve the history of the very books themselves. Let me submit but two examples. In the year 1848 our associate, Mr. William F. Poole, issued what is now one of the rarest of first editions. Its full title is "An Alphabetical Index to Subjects treated in the Reviews and other Periodicals to which no Indexes have been published: Prepared for the Library of the Brothers in Unity, Yale College. Qui scit ubi sit scientia, habenti est proximus. New York: published by George P. Putnam (late of Wiley and Putnam), 155 Broadway and 142 Strand, London. 1848." 8vo.

pp. 155, paper cover.

Our copy was received June 25, 1848, but it was preceded by a letter written to Mr. Haven by the author at Yale College, forty years ago the tenth instant, containing the following paragraphs :

"As you manifested some interest in the Index I am preparing for the Brothers Society, I send you our circular, not for the purpose of soliciting a subscription but to inform you more particularly of its character and progress. The work has been received, both here and in other institutions, with much more favor than I had expected. I have received letters from the Smithsonian Institution, Brown University, Dartmouth, Union, Hamilton and many other colleges ordering from twenty to fifty copies. The prospect now is that our whole edition (750) will not be enough to supply the demand abroad. If such is the case I shall enlarge the work and issue a second edition of some two hundred and

fifty pages. There will perhaps be no demand for the work in Worcester; if, however, any gentleman in Worcester desires one or more copies, I will furnish them (however small the number) at fifty cents."

The second edition, an octavo of 521 pages, was published by Charles B. Norton of New York in 1853. The third edition, though a coöperative work, had Messrs. Poole and Fletcher for its sponsors, and we and they may readily believe that Judge Chamberlain's estimate of its value in the Boston Public Library is true of all libraries, namely, that it has increased the use of periodicals at least one hundred per cent. The work was published in 1882 by James R. Osgood and Company, and is an octavo of 1442 pages. It is announced that the quinquennial supplement will be issued as promised.

Again, in a letter from Dr. Daniel Wilson to Mr. Haven, March 24, 1868, he writes: "By-the-bye let me beg of you to set a good example, and print the word prehistoric, not pre-historic. As I believe the word was coined by me, for my prehistoric annals of Scotland, 1851, I may perhaps claim some voice in the matter. Lubbock, indeed, uses

the hyphen; but why pre-historic and not pre-judicial, pre-dispose, &c., &c." By this extract one is naturally reminded of Dr. Haven's remark upon the companion words archæological and antiquarian, in his report of October, 1879. He said, some of you will remember:

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'Antiquity is just now in fashion, and both associated and individual collectors of memorials of the past are multiplying everywhere. As archæology has become one of the most popular of the sciences, the term archæological or its equivalent is often added to the name and style of societies organized for very different purposes. The word antiquary is losing its curiosity-shop associations and is gaining the prestige of signifying a scientific student of the origin and primitive history of the human race. When will the word antiquarian, used as a noun, be abolished? It has the sanction of Gibbon, the historian, but scholars should be more exact in their terms."

Your Librarian is moved to call your attention to a few errors with regard to our founder, which appeared in the Magazine of American History for January, 1887. They are to be found in the interesting and instructive illustrated article by Hon. Samuel G. W. Benjamin, entitled "A Group of Pre-Revolutionary Editors." The opening paragraph is as follows: "One of the most interesting among the figures of the Colonial period, as well as one of the most talented editors this country has produced, was Isaiah Thomas, who is well remembered for the almanac he founded, which is still published with his name and yet carefully studied, as it has been for five generations, by the farmers and fishermen of New England." The tribute is eminently fitting and true, but the author fails to distinguish as others have failed-between "Thomas's Almanack," established at Boston by our founder, and first called by his name in 1775, and "The Farmers Almanac," the first number of which was issued by Robert B. Thomas at Boston in 1793. From first to last there was an orthographical distinction between them, namely, that one used