being upon the south end of the building. It is seventy-eight feet long, and thirtyfour feet wide. It has shelves for forty thousand volumes, and will contain the books most frequently demanded for home use. It is plainly finished, with iron balconies and circular stairs, and is connected with the basement and upper parts of the building by an iron staircase in the east tower, and with the main hall by circular iron stairs. It may also be put in communication with the main hall by means of the dumb-waiters, which connect the rooms on all the floors.

Beneath the principal story, and immediately over the delivery room, is an

entresol, or half-story, nine feet high, in the clear, and thirty-four feet square. It contains a work-room, store-rooms, etc., and is entered from the balconies of the circulating library room. A flight of circular stairs also connects it with the main hall above.

The principal floor, and the floors of the alcoves in the large hall, as well as the basement floor, are constructed with iron girders and beams, with segmental brick arches, turned between the beams.

The entire upper story is occupied by the large hall for the reference library. This hall is finished in the Roman Corinthian ornate style. It has a clear space of thirty-eight feet wide, ninety-two feet long, and fifty-eight feet high. This space is surrounded by three tiers of alcoves, thirty of which are arranged on each side. Each alcove is nine feet wide, fourteen feet deep, and twelve feet high, in the clear. On both ends of the hall are two corridors, to correspond in hight with the alcoves.

The partitions between the alcoves are faced with three-quarters diameter, full, enriched Corinthian columns, standing upon pedestals of the finest Italian marble, highly polished. The columns, capitals, bases, and pedestals, occupy nearly the hight of the three stories of alcoves, and support semi-circular arches, with rich archivolts, keystones, etc. These, in turn, support a full, rich Corinthian cornice, without an architrave, whereon rests the lantern. The lantern is finished with coved angles, having perpendicular, circular-headed windows, with arches intersecting the coved angles, and separated by heavy ribs, supporting a deeply-sunk diamond-panel ceiling, relieved with richly-carved moldings, pendent drops, etc. The floor of the clear space is of marble, and that of the alcoves is of the best southern pine, bedded in cement, on brick arches. The alcoves will contain more than two hundred thousand volumes, but only those on the floor of the hall are now shelved for books. Each alcove, besides being lighted from the clear space, is also illuminated by a skylight, admitting direct light from the roof of the building. As the alcoves are constructed, in the rear, in the form of a V, there are no dark corners. All the alcoves are inclosed by iron railings in front, and have openings for the free passage, from one to another, of persons connected with the library. There are four flights of circular iron stairs, connecting the several tiers of alcoves and galleries.

In front of the northern balcony is a large, marble-faced time-keeper, and at the southern end of the hall is the seal of the City of Boston, beautifully and correctly engraved. Over the seal is a splendid bust of JOSHUA BATES, the noble benefactor of the institution.

All the shelves in the building are of wood, and are covered with a fire-proof solution of glass.

By a vote of the Trustees, the shelves are permanently fixed in their places, and are arranged upon a plan called "the decimal system;" invented and applied, several years since, to the Public Library, by Dr. NATHANIEL B. SHURTLEFF, one of the Trustees and Commissioners. This arrangement of the books is peculiar to the library, and has been partially in operation at the temporary library rooms in Mason street, from the first institution of the library. Besides the alcoves on the floor of the principal hall, there are to be, in each of the two galleries, an equal number. The hall is so contrived that it will have ten alcoves on each of its sides, and the same number in each of its galleries, making sixty alcoves in all. Each alcove will contain ten ranges of shelves, and each range ten shelves, making just one hundred shelves to each alcove.

The shelves are so numbered, that the figures in the place of hundreds denote the alcoves, the figures in the place of tens the ranges, and the figures in the place of units the shelves. By this means, a book, if in place, can be found almost instantly. For instance, if a book is on the 2236th shelf, any one will know that it can be found on the 6th shelf of the 3d range of the 22d alcove. The figure in the place of thousands will show where the row of ten alcoves to which it belongs can be found. As there are twenty alcoves in the lower hall, all under the figure 1 in the place of thousands will show that the alcove is among the ten on the floor; and all under figure 2 and over 1 will show the alcoves in the gallery of the same hall. Again, all under figure 3 and over 2, in the same position, will show the first row of alcoves in the principal hall, those under 4 the second row, etc. The object of this decimal arrangement of shelves is to render the library more manageable than it could be under any other plan now in use, and also to simplify all the details connected with its administration.

The west tower is six stories high. The lower story is of the same hight with the basement; and, with certain other rooms, is for the Janitor and his family. The second and third stories, of the same hight with the first story of the main building, are approached from the floor and balcony of the circulating library room, and are for the Librarian. The remaining three stories are included within the hight of the principal hall, with floors corresponding to those

of the alcoves and galleries. These will be used as rooms for the Trustees, and the general purposes of the library. The east tower is occupied by an iron staircase, arranged upon its sides, and ascending from the ground floor to that of the upper gallery of the large hall. The space in the center is intended to be used for hoisting boxes, etc.

CONDITION OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY, JANUARY 1, 1858.

Number of volumes in the library,

59,970

Number of pamphlets belonging to the library, .

16,212

Whole number of names registered in the reading-room for the general

Number of volumes, etc., received since January 1st, 1858, in response to the vote passed at the dedication of the library building,

1,471

LIBRARY FUNDS.

BIGELOW FUND. This is a donation made by Hon. JoHN P. BIGELOW, August 5, 1850, when Mayor of the City. The income from this fund is to be appropriated to the purchase of books for the increase of the library.

One certificate of City six per cent. stock, payable to the Chairman of the Committee on the Public Library, for the time being, for . .

BATES FUND. This is a donation made by JOSHUA BATES, Esq., of London, in March, 1853. The income only of this fund is to be, in each and every year, "expended in the purchase of such books of permanent value and authority as may be found most needed and most useful."

One certificate of City six per cent. stock, payable to the Mayor of the City, for the time being, for .

PHILLIPS FUND. This is a donation made by Hon. JONATHAN PHILLIPS,

of Boston, in April, 1853. The interest on this fund is to "be used
exclusively for the purchase of books for said library.”

$1,000

50,000

One certificate of City six per cent. stock, payable to the Mayor of the City, for the time being, for.

10,000

Besides the above, the following donations in money have been made to the Public Library, and the amounts have been appropriated to the purchase of books, according to the intention of the donors:

Mrs. SALLY INMAN KAST SHEPARD, September 17, 1835, .

1,000

Also, a bequest of the late Hon. ABBOTT LAWRENCE, dated January 27,

1855, not yet received by the City Treasurer,

10,000