GLADSTONE'S PAPERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20598, 24 June 1930, Page 9

GLADSTONE'S PAPERS.

REMARKABLE COLLECTION.

STORED IN 567 BOXES.

Tho collection of Mr. Gladstone's private papers, which has been presented to tho British Museum by his surviving son, Mr. H. N. Gladstone, is of enormous size. It occupies 567 boxes, representing about ns many volumes.

Thero aro 26,000 letters to 4380 correspondents written while Mr. Gladstone was in office, and registers of ,75, 000 moro written between 1841 and 1855; 77 boxes of printed papers, many with annotations; 30,000 general letters from 10,000 correspondents; 230 volumes of "spooial correspondence," representing 47,159 letters, all of importance; 152 boxes of personal papers; and many others. And all theso were written beforo tho days of typewriters! In preparing his famous " Life of Gladstone" tho lato Lord Morlcy had access to all these documents, but lie used only a small fraction. Many letters could not then bo rnado public, and even now some will liavo to bo reserved for a later generation. But notwithstanding this, the collection will bo a rich and indispensable field for historians of tho nineteenth century.