Dr. Johnson's notion as to the collection of editions which are alike except in the point of paper is scarcely sound, but it has been held by a librarian of the present day, as I know to my cost. On one occasion I was anxious to see several copies of the first folio of Shakespeare (1623), and I visited a certain library which possessed more than one. The librarian expressed the opinion that one was quite sufficient for me to see, as "they were all alike."
The possessor of a Private Library can act as a _censor morum_ and keep out of his collection any books which offend against good morals, but this _role_ is one which is unfit for the librarian of a Public Library. He may put difficulties in the way of the ordinary reader seeing such books, but nevertheless they should be in his library for the use of the student. A most amusing instance of misapplied zeal occurred at the Advocates' Library on the 27th June, 1754. The Minutes tell the tale in a way that speaks for itself and requires no comment. "Mr. James Burnet [afterwards Lord Monboddo], and Sir David Dalrymple [afterwards Lord Hailes], Curators of the Library, having gone through some accounts of books lately bought, and finding therein the three following French books: _Les Contes de La Fontaine_, _L'Histoire Amoureuse des Gaules_ and _L'Ecumoire_, they ordain that the said books be struck out of the Catalogue of the Library, and removed from the shelves, as indecent books, unworthy of a place in a learned Library."
At a Conference of Representatives of Institutions in Union with the Society of Arts held in July, 1855, the question of the compilation of a Catalogue of Books fitted for the Libraries of Institutions was raised, and shortly afterwards was published, under the sanction of the Council, "_A Handbook of Mechanics' Institutions, with Priced Catalogue of Books suitable for Libraries, and Periodicals for Reading Rooms_, by W.H.J. Traice." A second edition of this book was published in 1863. The list, however, is not now of much use, as many of the books have been superseded. Theology and Politics are not included in the classification.
In 1868 Mr. Mullins read a paper before a Meeting of the Social Science Association at Birmingham, on the management of Free Libraries, and, in its reprinted form, this has become a Handbook on the subject: "_Free Libraries and News-rooms, their Formation and Management._ By J.D. Mullins, Chief Librarian, Birmingham Free Libraries. Third edition. London, Sotheran and Co., 1879." An appendix contains copies of the Free Libraries Acts and Amendments, and a "Short List of Books for a Free Lending Library, ranging in price from 1_s._ to 7_s._ 6_d._ per volume."