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An effort was made to strengthen the cultural background of the seventeenth and eighteenth century literature collections by adding important musical works. Music has never been more than an incidental in the library, but derives some importance from the excellent group bequeathed by the late T. Lindsay Buick. But the relationships of drama, literature, and music in these early periods were important, and better representation has now been gained. Important books here are Rousseau's " Traite de la Yiole," 1687, and Ariosto's " Cantate e Lezione," 1728. Bibliography gained considerably at the same time by such items as the British Museum subject indexes, catalogues of MSS. music, and further volumes of the main Catalogue of Printed Books. A long run of the Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, the Royal Society " Index of Scientific Papers," 1800-1900, Churchill's " Watermarks in Paper," Bohatta's " Bibliographie des livres d'heures," and an early edition of " Index Librorum Prohibitoruin," 1596, are highlights of the section. The Book Fine printing and the history of bookmaking endow the library with much of its repute, and this year a number of good additions have been made. Three mediaeval MSS. on vellum provided better range of fourteenth and fifteenth century calligraphy and illumination. A number of seventeenth and eighteenth century books were quite important showing the art of binding. Through the helpfulness of Dr. J. C. Beaglehole, a good group of modern finely-printed volumes was secured, and also a further volume printed by Bodoni, " The Castle of Otranto." Manuscript Section There has been little progress in the manuscript work, as there has been no member of the staff able to devote full time to it. The papers are all readily accessible to research workers, are methodically arranged and carefully listed, but the detailed work of calendaring and indexing must wait until there is an experienced worker able to give full attention to it. Meanwhile, a part-time officer has continued with the cataloguing of the bound manuscripts, which is now nearly completed, and with the routine work of the section —general care of the manuscript collection, cataloguing and arranging of new items, and assistance to research workers and students. It is hoped that at an early date a commencement will be made towards a printed or duplicated catalogue or guide to what is probably, for research purposes, the most potentially useful single unit of the library. Reference Section As there are now three officers engaged in reference work, conditions have improved in this branch of the library over the past year. Space in the reading room, however, is still at a premium, especially during the school holidays, and more accommodation for readers is a matter of urgency. Since the end of the war the amount of reference work has more than trebled and entails a great deal of correspondence within New Zealand as well as overseas. During the year, an index was compiled of the names of migrants to New Zealand from 1842 to 1860, taken from the passenger lists published in the "New Zealand Spectator " for those years. This, with an index to the New Zealand Company's Embarkation Register, makes a much quicker service available in handling the numerous inquiries about the arrival of early settlers. New Zealand obituaries published in the Australian and New Zealand Gazette from 1852 to 1882 are now being added to the obituary index, and already these have been of value in reference work. A start has been made on compiling an index of illustrations in books here. This is a task of some magnitude and could usefully employ the full-time services of at least one officer, but when completed,

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