The last column refers to a book in which purchases are entered with a consecutive numbering, and is an index to the accession of the volumes, while the stock book shown above is primarily a place book. It is thus rather a shelf register than a record of accession of stock. The Mitchell Library, Glasgow, uses the following headings: Date of Receipt | Author and Title | Language | Number | Class Letter | Number of Vols. | New Work or Continuation | Book or Pamphlet | Size | Place of Publication | Date of Publication | Condition when Received | Donor, if Presented | Price, if Purchased | Discount | Vendor | Collation | Special Collections | Remarks |. Various Modifications of this stock book are used in different libraries. At Manchester a much briefer description is given, namely: Date when Received | Author | Title | No. of Vols. | No. of Pamphlets | Class | Size | Place of Publication | Date when Published | Condition when Received | Donor, if Presented | Price, if Purchased | Vendor, if Purchased | Remarks |. In this book no provision seems to be made for the number which directs to the place of books or their order of accession. The stock book used at Lambeth classifies as it goes along, and has headings as follows:

Stock NumberShelf NumberAuthor and TitleVolumesConditionVendor or DonorPriceHow AcquiredClassificationRemarks
BoughtGivenNews RoomA. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I.
7501B 1874

This is intended for lending library books. For reference libraries the dates of publication and other particulars of edition would be given. At Liverpool and Chelsea a cumulative system of classifying is used, which is shown in the following sample: | Date Received | Author | Title | No. of Vols. | Size | Place of Publication | Date of Publication | Bound in | Class | Number | Donor or Vendor | Price | Net Total | Class Accession Number | Accession Number | Remarks |.

With stock books of the Glasgow pattern a classification book is commonly used, in which are entered abstracts of classes, books, pamphlets, purchases, gifts, works as distinguished from volumes, special collections, totals, &c., page by page. Accuracy is almost inevitable by this method, owing to the numerous cross checks provided. In some libraries separate stock books are kept for periodicals and annual publications, but the principle in all is similar to the ordinary stock book. It only remains to add that, as stock books are records of some importance and permanency, they ought to be made of the very best materials. The shelf register, as the name indicates, is the volume in which a list of the books is kept, in the order of their arrangement on the shelves. Such registers are only required for the fixed plan of location. The most elementary form simply gives the | Press Mark | Author and Title | No. of Vols. | Stock, Progressive, or Consecutive Number | ; the last referring to the entry in the accessions or stock book. Others are much more elaborate, being really varieties of classified stock books, and giving particulars of edition, price, &c. The main uses of the shelf catalogue or register are to fix the numbers of new books, and to afford a ready means of taking stock. The varieties of this book are practically endless, and we shall only give two other specimens:—

Press No. _________________
Shelf Letter ______________
Date of Accession.Shelf Order.Progressive Number.Author.Short Title.Place.Date.

and

Remarks.Number.Author.Title of Book.Admitted.

Duplicate registers give particulars of the accession of duplicate books, and their destination if sold or exchanged. Order and letter books are usually just separate copying books, but frequently the former are kept with counterfoils, and sometimes separate ruled forms are used, and simply copied into an ordinary tissue letter book. Binding books or sheets record the volumes sent out for binding or repair, and usually note the following particulars:—

Manchester. Date of Sending.