"Mr. Berlyn (whom many of our readers will remember as an active and earnest promoter of the interests of our Athenæum, in his character of honorary secretary to that institution), having held an official situation in connexion with the Royal Commission for carrying out the business detail of the intended Exhibition, finds means to present us with an extremely able and instructive volume. His narrative is cleverly written, and affords ample information of the origin and progress of a movement which has already acquired a world-wide fame. The gradual advance of public opinion and feeling in reference to the study of art, and to the more general cultivation of a love for the ideal and the beautiful among the people, are care fully traced, and we have every reason to believe that credit is justly given to the humble but earnest workers in the cause." LEEDS MERCURY. "A popular narrative of the origin, history, progress, and prospects of the Great Exhibition, with a guide to the future rules and arrangements, by Peter Berlyn, has just been published by Gilbert, of Paternoster-row. It is a very able and useful volume, beautifully got up, and at a cheap rate." LEEDS TIMES. "Mr. Berlyn's book supplies a _desideratum_. It is the first attempt, so far as we know, to give a consecutive narrative of the circumstances which have given birth to the great design, whose realisation is to illustrate the history of the present year. He has done his work well. The narrative is entirely derived from authentic and official sources, to which Mr. Berlyn, from his connexion with the undertaking, had peculiar opportunities of access. The author regards the Exhibition, not as a sudden individual thought, but as the natural result of certain industrial ideas and tendencies which have been gradually developing themselves during several years; and this view leads him to trace the history of various prior exhibitions on a minor scale in this country, such as the polytechnic exhibitions in different towns, and the exhibitions of art and manufactures which have taken place, many years, in Manchester, Birmingham, and the metropolis. The proceedings more immediately connected with the great World's Exhibition now in preparation are then related from the commencement, and in a manner at once concise and complete. Finally, we have a full account of the rules and regulations determined on for the conduct of this remarkable undertaking. The volume contains several excellent illustrations, is tastefully bound, and in a portable form." LIVERPOOL COURIER.