25 DECEMBER 1886, Page 24

Whitaker's Almanack for 1887.—There are people who believe that every

knowable fact about the year is to be found in Whitaker's Almanack. That is hardly quite accurate, for there are facts stated in the Nautical Almanack, for example, which are not to be found in Whitaker's; but the amount of useful information com- pressed into 632 closely printed pages is simply amazing, and in this number we have some very elaborate and useful information about the past year as well as the present. There is an account of the late Government's Irish Bills, evidently by the best authority who could have been consulted on the subject ; and the articles on the Merchant Marine, and on the Navy as compared with the Naval Forces of Europe, are very instructive.

Messrs. T. J. and J. Smith send us their useful Diaries and Almanacks for 1887, which are of all sizes, from the pocket to the folio size, and many of them interleaved with blotting-paper. There are also convenient daily calendars for office or home use.