for a fat Government sinecure), of Mr. Cracherode, and Sir Joseph Banks. The Douce collection is believed to have been bequeathed by its owner to the Bodleian, because he was so pleased with the reception given him when he visited that library in 1830 in the company of Isaac Disraeli. The British Museum would probably have had the collection, as Douce was at one time keeper of the MSS. in that institution, but he had resigned his appointment through some official dispute.
The presence in a library of collections on special subjects, besides being in itself desirable, has the additional merit, from the librarian's point of view, of attracting additions from collectors and donors. Happy is the library which, like Brixton and its collection of Baconiana, can get for nothing both the nucleus of a special collection and the annual additions to it. It is, moreover, a point not sufficiently known to intending benefactors, that patient care, assisted by a moderate outlay, and directed to a sufficiently small department of knowledge, is sure to bring together a unique collection. That devoted to Bacon, just now alluded to, surpasses in some respects the Baconiana at the British Museum.
The practice of asking for presents from writers and publishers is lamentably common, and in principle unjustifiable, except where the book desired is privately printed, and so inaccessible to booksellers. It is only under these circumstances, and rarely then, that the British Museum authorities ever ask for a book. This dignified attitude
