The Post Office London Directory, 1897. (Kelly and Co.) — This book,
now that a few alterations have been made in certain details, is about as perfect and complete as anything of the kind can be. Here is a huge volume—it has increased by more than fifty pages since its last issue, and now numbers 3,054—strongly bound in leather, which came into our hands on the 18th of this month (December), and yet contains corrections up to the 7th. No one can say that this is not "up to date." A special word of praise must be given to the admirable map. The conductors of ' this most useful volume have taken our advice on one point at least. May we again suggest that if they will follow the example set them by Messrs. Thom, of Dublin, and insert the rateable value of each house, they will make their book of the highest in. terest ? The values are, we presume, open to the public. Possibly the task of supplying the figures would be overpoweringly heavy. —Whitaker's Almanac, 1897 (12 Warwick Lane), is another work of such standard reputation that it is scarcely necessary to do more than note and welcome its annual appearance. Far smaller in bulk than the Directory, it is far wider in its reach. It is, in the first place, an almanack, and it is also a cyclopiedia of political, social, educational, and personal facts. It may not always be possible to find everything one wants to know in it, though indeed a dis- appointment is very rare; but then one does not always look in the right place, and also some things are necessarily crowded out. We do not see, for instance, a summary of the occupations of the people of this country. Probably it is to be found in an earlier issue (" English Censuses," possibly). But this might be granted a permanent place. It is of great political importance. The various lists, he., are, we see, corrected, as far, we presume, as was possible. November 24th seems to be the latest date; the name of Mr. J. Martin White, who was gazetted as Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds on that day, not appearing in the list of the House of Commons, while Mr. W. Williams, whose death on the same day was not known for a day or two after, is among the Inspectors of Schools.—Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Corn- panionage (Dean and Son) is the doyen of all directories, for it has actually reached its one hundred and eighty-fourth year. It is well kept up to the time, and its corrections are of the latest. Lord Savile, for instance, who died on November 30th, no longer appears in the list of Peers. One event which did not happen till the volume was in the hands of the public may be noted here. One of the two Peers who were in possession of their dignities when the Queen came to the throne, the Earl of Darnley, is dead. The other is Lord Nelson,—born 1823, d. 1896.—Another volume, of smaller dimensions, but scarcely inferior utility, is the Windsor Peerage, edited by the editor of " Dod's Parliamentary Com- panion " (Whittaker and Co.) It is, we see, considerably enlarged.
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