It appears from Sir N. H. Nicolas's first letter, that the work he wanted was the last; and had he given a ticket somewhat as follows, there is no doubt he would have got the book in five minutes:-- -----------+-------------------------------------+------+-------+----- Press Mark.| Title of the Work wanted. |Size. |Place. |Date. -----------+-------------------------------------+------+-------+----- | | | | |_Burchett (Josiah) A complete history| | | 581 _i_ | of the most remarkable transactions |_fol._|_Lond._|1720. | at Sea, &c._ | | | | | | | -----------+-------------------------------------+------+-------+----- (Date) _May 18th, 1846._ _N. Harris Nicolas._ (Signature) Please to restore each volume of the Catalogue to its place, as soon as done with. Instead of this, he gave a ticket, of which the following is a _fac-simile_:-- [Illustration] Now the attention of those who take an interest in this matter is particularly requested to the following details, every one of them trifling indeed, and yet all springing from the ticket which was given, and more than enough to show the consequences which followed from the carelessness of its writer:-- After having sent into the Reading Room _four_ out of the five books asked for by Sir N. H. Nicolas--which, as he states, took half an hour--and therefore, as nearly as possible, at half-past three, the same attendant went in search of the fifth, marked 581 _i_. He found that 581 _i_ contained only _folios_, and he did not, therefore, and very properly, lose more of his time in looking for an octavo, which was written for; he had lost enough by being sent to a place where what was wanted could not be. In justice to the other readers, as well as to the department, the ticket ought to have been at once returned to Sir N. H. Nicolas, marked "wrong," in order that he might have corrected his own mistakes. If a reader's mistakes are to be corrected by the attendants, all the evils arising from the old system, as described in my evidence before the House of Commons, are increased; for in addition to the loss of time in finding what a reader wants, there is the previous and additional loss caused by the error of the applicant, in directing an attendant to look for a work where it could not be. This loss of time proves injurious chiefly to the other readers; and it is "for their own comfort" that readers are requested to comply with the rules, without causing an attendant to waste the public time to discover what an individual applicant may want, which no one can know so well as the applicant himself.