The earliest register of books published was that by the Company of Stationers of London which began in 1554. This record was carried on until 1640, and it is from these catalogues, of which my friend Mr. Arber devoted the best part of twenty years in producing a transcript, in five folio volumes, that any bibliographer can now trace the authors and date of publication of much of the literature of that period. Following on from the before-mentioned period, there were various classified catalogues issued by different publishers, but in 1662-3 there was published a catalogue of books registered at Stationers' Hall from the 25th of December 1662 to the 25th of December 1663. This was the first attempt at the yearly issue of a complete list of books published, and, it is supposed, was brought to an end by the Plague and the Great Fire of London, which we know from "Pepys's Diary" and other records caused the destruction of an immense number of books to the value of some £200,000. The next important series of Catalogues were "The Term Catalogues of Books printed in England." These were begun in November 1668 and ended in June 1709. Their title was evidently taken from a legal point of view, as they were divided into periods of Michaelmas Term, Hilary Term, Easter Term and the Trinity Term. The catalogues were very carefully reproduced in three volumes by Mr. Arber, and often gives me much material for speculative thought and reflection. In an introductory preface to these Term Catalogues, Mr. Arber writes: "There is something perfectly God-like in a wide survey for a given period of the entire literature of a great nation. It is like Moses viewing from Mount Pisgah the whole of the land of promise, and will help us to a better understanding of and a greater delight in the ages of the Restoration of William and Mary and of Queen Anne." These catalogues were intended to be an annual list of the books entered at Stationers' Hall, and no London stationer could lawfully publish a book until he had been made free of this Company.