=192. Music=.--Nearly every public library of any importance has now established a music collection, and the general experience is that it is one of the most popular and appreciated sections in the library. The provision should not at first extend to more than collections of pianoforte, violin, organ and vocal music in the form of bound volumes; operas, oratorios, cantatas and other vocal scores; the scores of orchestral and chamber compositions; and text-books on theory, history and various instruments. Single compositions in sheet form should be very sparingly introduced, if at all, unless collections of the songs of some of the best modern composers are formed and bound up into volumes. A large stock of compositions in single sheets, however bound or secured, would prove a great trouble in a public library. The compositions of local composers should be collected, however, and bound in volumes. In providing shelving for music, it is well to have special cases with uprights only eighteen inches apart, as it is very difficult to consult long rows of thin quarto books, when on shelves three feet long, owing to the weight of the books. This applies to quarto and folio books generally. =193. Engravings.=--Save in book form, very few public libraries have done much in the way of collecting engravings, prints and etchings, unless they have been of local interest. Considerations of expense would deter most British public libraries from attempting this kind of collection, and it is rather a pity, because many prints and engravings which illustrate historical events have immense practical value. Portraits, too, are extremely valuable and useful, but as means are at present provided, the whole matter is one of pure speculation and sentiment. But perhaps the day will come when public libraries may be able to collect specimens of the etched work of great artists; engravings after the greatest masters; engravings and prints depicting leading events in the national history; and pictures illustrating costume, ceremonials, manners and customs, disappearing buildings, great engineering works, topographical changes, etc. The value of these graphic aids to the furtherance of knowledge is enormous, and it is a pity some systematic effort cannot be made to record, preserve and index them more generally and effectively than has been done in depositories like the British Museum.