This 1853 supplementary catalogue of new acquisitions to the South African Public Library was compiled by the librarian Fredrick Maskew and printed by Saul Solomon, Cape Town. It is appended to a transcription of speeches given at the annual meeting of subscribers. The annual report notes that £300 was spent purchasing 457 new volumes in the previous 12 months. The breakdown of these volumes by class is as follows. Theology (8); politics, law and economy (22); natural history (10); belles lettres and criticism (52); arts and sciences (19); biography (48); history (46); voyages and travels (65); dictionaries (5); works of amusement and poetry (170) and miscellaneous (12). The catalogue is listed alphabetically by title, with author names only occasionally given. The number of volumes is also listed. Notable acquisitions include Charles Lyell’s Principle of Geology . New novels published in 1852-3 listed in the catalogue include William Makepeace Thackeray’s History of Henry Esmond ; Charlotte Brontë’s Vilette and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin .
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