This is a supplementary catalogue listing newly acquired works by the South African Public Library in 1842-3. The catalogue is appended to the proceedings of the 14th anniversary meeting of subscribers to the library, which also includes a speech on literature and philology delivered by the library’s chairman, the Scottish Presbyterian minister Rev. James Adamson (1797-1875) . The catalogue is compiled by the SAPL librarian Alexander Johnstone Jardine and works are listed alphabetically by author and title. The number of volumes of each work is also given.
In the 12 months after the issue of the 1842 general catalogue, 405 volumes were added to the library’s collection. In the subscribers’ report, the number of new volumes in each of 12 classes is listed as follows. Miscellaneous theology (24); political economy, jurisprudence, politics (32); medicine (7); natural history (16); belles lettres, education, criticism (66); science and arts (28); biography (32); history (43); voyages and travels (42); works of amusement (82); poetry and drama (15) and miscellaneous (20). The library’s acquisition policy continues to be driven by the subscribers’ thirst for amusing literature. G.P.R. James (3 titles), James Fennimore Cooper (3 titles), and Captain Marryat (2 titles) feature prominently. Notable acquisitions also include Charles Dickens’s Martin Chuzzlewit (1842). Acquisitions of a particular South African interest include the missionary Robert Moffat’s Missionary Labours and Scenes in Southern Africa (1842) and parts 16 and 17 of Dr. Andrew Smith’s Zoology of South Africa .
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