The new Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Manchester (Manchester
University Press; Longmans, 4s.), is of great interest. It contains a review by the librarian, Mr. Guppy, of the twenty- one years' work of the great library, which is not only a collection of 250,000 books and 10,000 MSS., but also a centre of active research, fostered by the Governors' liberality in printing catalogues, treatises, and new texts. An etching of the library building, Mr. Basil Champneys' masterpiece, forms the frontis- piece. Mr. Guppy records the success of the appeal made by the John Rylands Library for books to replace the Louvain University Library which the Germans wilfully destroyed ; 35,639 volumes have been collected and sent to Louvain, and 5,000 more will be dispatched later. Several scholarly articles— by Dr. Grenfell on " The Present Position of Papyrology," by Dr. Bendel Harris on " Celsus and Aristides," and by Dr. Mingana on " Recent Criticism of the Odes of Solomon "—illustrate the nature of the classical and theological studies which the library helps to foster in the North of England. There is also an important essay by Professor Tout on " The Captivity and Death of Edward of Carnarvon," which throws new light on the last days of Edward the Second. We congratulate the Governors of the John Rylands Library on their wise and spirited adminis- tration of a noble institution, which might in other hands have become a mere museum of rare books.
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