The Hampstead Annual, 1907. Edited by Greville H. Matheson and
Sydney C. Mayle. (S. C. Mayle.)—The place of honour in this year's volume is occupied by Miss Apbra Wilson's recollections of Dr. Richard Garnett, one of the many men of literary fame whom Hampstead has attracted. Garnett had an hereditary connexion with the Museum library. His father was Assistant-Keeper of the Printed Books from 1838 to 1850, when he died. In the following year his eon, then just sixteen, obtained a place, and here he continued, rising to more and more responsible situations, till he retired in 1899. Few men have done better work there. The most visible memorial of his long stay is the sliding press which he invented, greatly multiplying the space available for books. Some of his plans are still waiting. What, we would ask, has been done with the £50,000 which Mr. Stuckey Lean left for the improvement of the Reading Room? The income of £1,500 might provide, among other things, for twenty more fetchers and distributors of books, for delays are still vexatiously long. There are other interesting recollections in the Annual, literary and artistic, some antiquarian matter, and a striking story—how cognate, we do not know—about one Golding, from whom certain places in South Africa are named. We must not forget to mention the striking elevation of University College School, now in process of erection. We hope that no one who has benefited by it will fail to give his eperripsa.
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