The 1831 supplement to the 1829 catalogue of the South African Public Library was compiled by the librarian, Alexander Johnstone Jardine. The catalogue includes an index, a list of benefactors, a list of the library’s regulations and the annual report of the committee dated 28 April 1830. Books are listed by author, title, size and date of publication, with the exception of works of imagination, which are listed by title and publication date only. The catalogue is sub-divided into ten sections: theology and divinity (34 titles); jurisprudence, government and politics (48 titles); sciences, arts and natural history (26 titles); medicine (13 titles); history, topography etc. (41 titles); miscellaneous authors (47 titles); voyages and travels (55 titles); general biography (35 titles); poetry and drama (28 titles); works of imagination (99 titles); pamphlets, tracts and reports (37 titles) and literary, scientific and other periodical journals (54 titles). Works which are not available for subscribers to borrow are marked with an asterisk.
The most significant feature of this catalogue is the large increase in the library’s holdings of both works of imagination and periodicals. 53 newspapers and periodicals are subscribed to. The imaginative works section reflects the popular tastes of the day. The most collected writers are Walter Scott (25 titles) and Maria Edgeworth (13 titles). The historical novels of Horace Smith (6 titles) and John Galt (4 titles) are listed, along with James Fenimore Cooper’s American historical romances (4 titles) and Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s early works (4 titles). Novels in a variety of popular genres can be found, including silver fork novels such as Charles White’s Adventures of A King’s Page (1829), the army and naval novels of G. R. Gleig and Fredrick Marryat and romances such as Thomas Love Peacock’s The Misfortunes of Elphin (1829). A handful of more highbrow works such as Mary Shelley’s The Last Man (1826) and Benjamin Disraeli’s Vivian Grey (1826) are also listed. In the lyric and dramatic poetry section the works of Felicia Hemans, John Bowring and Robert Southey are added to the library’s poetry collection.
LA
