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New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4565, 6 November 1875, Page 2

The librarian of the Mechanics' Institute has a large stock of books which will at some time be offered at auction. The assortment is varied, comprising novels, magazines, philosophical works, books of travel, and a mass of general reading. These books have been laid aside as being too much worn for general use in the library, but are nevertheless worth purchasing, and mil no doubt find a ready sale, as the assortment is so extensive and varied. In some cases the title-pages have been torn out; in others, one of two or three volumes is missing, and they have therefore been shelved. The magazines are complete, being taken from the reading-room from time to time, and assorted in their proper order. These old books present a most interesting study. They are kept on the stage which was originally erected for the delivery of lectures, and upon which small concerts were occasionally pei'formed. The stage is hidden by a curtain, behind which this collection of well-worn literature is deposited. There is abundance of dust upon the books, dust on the curtains, and dust on the floor—and their general dustiness adds not a little to the interest a lover of the curious may find in a lumber-room of books of all ages. He may first turn up Thackeray's " Vanity Fair," looking as yellow and time-worn as much of the old vanity that may he seen elsewhere than in dusty rooms, and erect upon human legs ; or he may pick up one of Dickens' novels, every leaf well thumbed; next, a work on political economy, a volume of Homer's Iliad, somebody's "Advice to Mothers," Lectures on the Training of Youth, a bundle of the Penny Miscellany, a dictionary of law terms published before the present generation, Ovid's "Art of Love," " The Stepping Stone to Knowledge," andso on. Speakingof the dust, however, everybody may not find it pleasant who may be attracted to spend half an hour among these books ; nay, some persons who love cleanliness in all things may be disposed to regard it as a disgrace to the institute. We all admire the sight of port and sherry bottles bedabbled in mud and smothered in cobwebs, because it gives to our port and sherry an appearance of antiquity and great flavor (which it seldom possesses) ; but there seems little reason to do the same for a collection of valuable books. It is, to say the least of it, far from creditable to the committee, for they should be the_ responsible parties, and the sooner a change is made in the way things are managed the better will it be for all parties.