Edward Edwards. By Thomas Greenwood. (Scott, Greenwood, and Co. 2s.
6d.)—" The Chief Pioneer of Municipal Public Libraries" is the description which Mr. Greenwood gives of the subject of his biography. A "biography" it hardly is. The picture of Edwards's life is vague and indistinct. That is, indeed, intentional. It would have been useless to give painful details. Edwards, possessed as he was by high aims and public spirit, had an unhappy temper, and made no little trouble for himself. But he was a useful citizen, and we are glad to have this record of his work. The summaries of his writings and of the evidence which he gave before various Commissions are full of interest. Public libraries have not brought, and are not likely to bring, the millennium; but they are a not inconsiderable part of the great
agencies which slowly, very slowly but surely, are raising the plane of human life.
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