During the calendar year ending December 31, 1903, the number of volumes actually received (including exchanges) was 25,803, and of pamphlets, 70, 258.

The number of volumes catalogued was 43,857, and of pamphlets, 34,583. The total number of cards written was 141,993.

The total number of readers during the calendar year was 174, 248, and the number of volumes consulted was 468,457, not including those used at the free reference shelves..

There are now on the shelves of the Astor and Lenox Branches of the Library, available for readers, 614,293 volumes and 232,962 pamphlets.

CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT.

During the calendar year ending December 31, 1903, the number of volumes circulated for home use was 2,788,566; the number of readers consulting books from the shelves was 349,451; the number of new registrations was 43,476; the number of readers (minors) was 218,073; the number of readers (total) was 507,601; the number of volumes accessioned was 22,223, giving a total on the shelves of the department available for readers of 332,177 volumes.

The number of circulation branches has been increased to 22, by the addition on December 31, 1903, of four formerly independent libraries: the Harlem Library and the Tottenville Library corporations consolidated with the New York Public Library, turning over to it their books and all other property; the University settlement and the East Side Settlement (its library being known as the Webster Free Library) turned over their books and other library property. The Harlem library had on its shelves 24,333 volumes and had circulated in the year just passed 152,324 volumes; the Tottenville library, with 3,375 volumes, had circulated 14,733 volumes; the University Settlement library, with 5,479 volumes, had circulated 76,582; and the Webster Free Library, with 12,000 volumes, had circulated 106,468.

The accession of these libraries raises the total number of volumes circulated in 1903 from the 2,788,566 given above for 18 branches to 3,138,673 for 22 branches, and raises the number of volumes in the department to 377,364.

There is thus in the whole library a total of 1,224,619 pieces available for readers: 614,293 volumes and 232,962 pamphlets in the reference department and 377,364 volumes in the circulation department.

The most popular books of the month were (in non-fiction): Wagner's "Parsifal," Longfellow's Poems, Morley's "Life of Gladstone"; (in adult fiction): Rice's "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch," Crawford's "Heart of Rome," Chambers's "Maids of Paradise"; (in juvenile fiction): Wiggin's "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm," Alcott's "Little Women," Grimm's "Fairy Tales."

The important gifts received at the Library during the month of December were: From S. P. Avery, 10 volumes, 14 pamphlets, and 138 prints, the collection including works on bookbinding, "The work of John S. Sargent, R.A., with introductory note by Mrs. Meynell" (London, 1903), an etching, "The engraver," by Whistler, a drawing by Daubigny, etc.; from Henry J. Brown, a copy of G. Manville Fenn's "Memoir of Benjamin Franklin Stevens," 1903, privately

printed; from the National Library of Argentina, 13 volumes of the National Register of the Republic; from Messrs. Burnz & Co., 20 volumes and 140 pamphlets, their own publications relating to phonography and spelling reform; from Dr. James R. Chadwick, two early New York art catalogues, "the Franklin Museum of Fine Arts" (22 April, 1824), and a catalogue of paintings for sale at auction by Robert M'Menomy at No. 18 Wall Street (25 October, 1821); from the publishers, Dodd, Mead & Co., a copy of their facsimile reprint of the Bay Psalm Book, printed at Cambridge by Stephen Daye in 1640, with an introduction by Wilberforce Eames (New York, 1903); from Mrs. Henry Draper, 73 volumes, including the Almanach des Muses, 1765-1833, Paris, 16 pamphlets and 1 print; from W. Butler Duncan, a copy of Adolphe Brisson's "Deux ministres de la guerre, Général Gallifet, Général André," lithographed in script, with autograph interlineations and comment by General Gallifet; from the Department of Public Works, Ecuador, 8 volumes and I pamphlet, statutes of Ecuador; from the Mayor of Madrid, I volume and I pamphlet, documents of the city; from Little, Brown & Co., 4 volumes, their recently published "Writings and speeches of Daniel Webster hitherto uncollected"; from the Post and Telegraph Department of New Zealand, 11 annual reports (1891/2-1902/3); from Henry W. Poor, "American bookbindings in the library of Henry W. Poor, described by Henry Pène du Bois," 1903 (no. 150 of 238 copies printed); from Plato Reussner, Warsaw, 5 volumes and 13 pamphlets, chiefly Polish books; from Charles Howland Russell, a copy of his "Memoir of Charles H Russell, 1756-1884," New York, 1903; from Hon. John Boyd Thacher, a copy of "Awards at the World's Columbian Exposition, together with an appendix, in which will be found several papers relating to the same subject, Albany, Nov. 1, 1898," one of 7 copies privately printed, bound in Niger leather by Douglas Cockerell, of London; from the Victoria Legislative Assembly, 152 volumes of Votes and Proceedings from 1853 to 1897 (lacking only one session); and from the Western Union Telegraph Company, a file of the annual reports of the President from 1873/4, no. 2, to date.

The exhibition of Arundel color prints, the Pissaro etchings and also most of the Japanese prints were removed from exhibition at the Lenox Branch, and replaced by a collection of mezzotints loaned by J. P. Morgan, John L. Cadwalader, E. G. Kennedy, J. Harson Purdy, Richard M. Hoe, and some from the S. P. Avery collection belonging to the library, etc. A special catalogue of the exhibition has been prepared and put on sale at ten cents. At the Astor Branch the plates in the stands were changed to those from "Rembrandt: 17 of his masterpieces... in the Cassel Gallery" and "Handzeichnungen alter Meister aus der Albertina."

At the circulation branches the picture bulletins and reading lists were as follows:

CHATHAM SQUARE, Christmas day, Niagara and the Gorge, Our Presidents; EAST BROADWAY, Famous men and women born in December, History of New York, Panama canal, Alaska boundary, Christmas in ye olden times, John G. Whittier, Alfred Tennyson; BOND STREET, Christmas day, New books; AVENUE C, New books, Christmas day, Famous men and women born in December, Herbert Spencer, New East river bridge, Parsifal, John G. Whittier; OTTENDORFER, Christmas day, Authors new and old, Herbert Spencer; JACKSON SQUARE,

Christmas day, New books; MUHLENBERG, Christmas day, Peter the Great, John Ruskin, Rocky mountains, New Year's day; THIRTY-FOURTH STREET, Christmas day; BRUCE, Parsifal, 2 Christmas day bulletins; FIFTY-NINTH STREET, Christmastide in art, "For such as these is Christmas Day," Famous men and women born in December, Wagner; RIVERSIDE, New books; YORKVILLE, Herbert Spencer, Parsifal, Christmas day, California, Irish literary revival: 1, The language movement, 2, Irish literature in English, Land and water in the U. S., Recital of folk songs, New York aquarium, Great types of the best music, An evening in the American museum of natural history, Some modern song writers, Jean d'Arc, Songs of Burns; ST. AGNES, Euripides, Pictures as educators, Aristophanes, National Gallery of London, Painters and paintings, Christmas day; BLOOMINGDALE, Herbert Spencer, Christmas day; AGUILAR, Famous men and women born in December, Niagara in winter, William Gladstone, Christmas in ye olden times, John G. Whittier, New books, Books pertaining to Christmas, Shelley, Music, Flowers; HARLEM, Christmas day, New Year's day, Herbert Spencer.

The print room exhibited at the Yorkville branch in November a selection of plates from Audsley's "Ornamental arts of Japan" and at Chatham Square, in November and December, New York city local views.

On the evening of Monday, December 7th, took place at the Lenox Branch the unveiling and formal ceremony of presentation to the Library of the bronze bust of George William Curtis by J. Q. A. Ward. The bust was presented by Mayor Low, on behalf of the George William Curtis Memorial Association; it was received on behalf of the Library by the Director; and Hon. Carl Schurz delivered an address on Mr. Curtis and his political, literary and other activities.

The collection of menus, formed largely by Miss Frank E. Buttolph, amounted on 31 December to 11,125 pieces. Of the two main divisions into which it is formed, there are 4,010 in the division of special issues for special occasions, and 7,115 in the division of daily issues; those issued for anniversaries, such as New Year's Day, Washington's Birthday, and Thanksgiving Day, number 794 pieces; those issued on the occasion of meetings of political, fraternal, religious and other organizations, social gatherings, etc., number 3,034; special menus issued by railroad companies amount to 182; of the 7,115 dailies, there are 1,116 belonging to New York City.

The present condition of Carnegie library sites acquired before 1903 and branch library buildings erected thereon is as follows:

1. 222 East 79th Street. Site furnished by the New York Public Library. Building erected; opened to the public December 13, 1902. James Brown Lord, architect.

2. 31 East Broadway. Site furnished by the city. Building erected; opened to the public November 2, 1903. McKim, Mead & White, architects.

3. 224 East 125th Street. Site furnished by the city. Building completed; will be opened within a few weeks. McKim, Mead & White, architects.

4. 67th Street, near 1st Avenue. Site furnished by the city. Building erected; interior work nearing completion; opened to the public probably in June, 1904. Babb, Cook & Willard, architects.

5. N. W. corner 140th Street and Alexander Avenue, Bronx. Building under cover; at work on interior; opened to public probably in June, 1904. Babb, Cook & Willard, architects.

6. Corner of Bennett Street and Heberton Avenue, Port Richmond, Staten Island. Building nearly finished; opened probably in June, 1904. Carrère & Hastings,

architects.

7. Amboy Road, near Prospect Avenue, Tottenville, Staten Island. Building erecting. Carrère & Hastings, architects.

The condition of sites acquired during the year 1903 and their buildings is as follows:

MANHATTAN.

8. 190-192 Amsterdam Avenue. Building well under way. Carrère & Hastings, architects.

9. 96th Street, 153 feet west of Lexington Avenue. Plans approved and contracts let. Babb, Cook & Willard, architects.

10. 135th Street, 100 feet west of Lenox Avenue. Plans approved and contracts let. McKim, Mead & White, architects.

11. 61-63 Rivington Street.

12. 331-333 East 10th Street. Mead & White, architects.

Plans drawn. McKim, Mead & White, architects.
Construction of building well under way. McKim,

BRONX.

13. N. E. corner Washington Avenue and 176th Street.

Excavation completed;

building about to begin. Carrère & Hastings, architects.

14. Kingsbridge. Plans drawn. McKim, Mead & White, architects.