About two years ago work on the preparation of a glossary of mediaeval Italian terms of business was begun by Dr. Florence Edler under the auspices of the Mediaeval Academy of America and the direction of Professor N. S. B. Gras.

The construction of a building takes perhaps a year; the conversion of that building into a fine library takes generations.

The best piece of manuscript material the Society has ever received on the whaling industry surely deserves mention here. The book was presented to the Society about a year ago by one of its members. It is a descriptive catalog of New Bedford whaling ships for the years 1790-1906, prepared by Joseph Dias of New Bedford between 1880 and 1906. He has listed some 650 ships, giving a brief history of each, including dates of various voyages, waters explored, quantities of sperm oil, whale oil and whalebone brought back, as well as the names of the captains and agents for each voyage. One of the most valuable things about this book is that it adds information to every other piece of material that we have on New Bedford whaling.

The two engravings published by Pyne and Nattes in 1800, from which the illustrations (page 6) were made, are reminiscent of a delightful old account book kept by a wheelwright of Charlestown (Massachusetts) during the years 1798-1808. The book, which was among the earliest gifts to the Society, is as entertaining as it is informing. The young man who kept the book made an entry for every single day during the years covered. He records not only a description of the work undertaken each day but also his recreational activities.

In the last number of the Bulletin we sketched the life of Albert Dibblee, a San Francisco commission merchant whose business papers comprise one of the finest collections ever presented to the Society. This article will give a little of the history of Albert Dibblee's business as seen through these papers. The material has all been taken from the letters and account books now available at Baker Library. There are nearly 200 volumes as well as a large quantity of unbound papers in the collection.

German business firms, especially banking firms, have frequently undertaken the preparation of memorial volumes devoted to the development of their particular enterprise.

A recent purchase of the George F. Baker Library, whose acquisitions are at the disposal of the Society, is entitled A PRESENT For an APPRENTICE: Or, A Sure GUIDE to gain both Esteem and Estate. With Rules for his Conduct to his MASTER, and in the WORLD. Ours is a tenth edition and was printed for James Fletcher, in St. Paul's Church-Yard, and Benjamin Collins, Bookseller, on the New Canal in Salisbury. The work bears no date and is ostensibly written “By a late Lord Mayor of London,” and dedicated by the editor to Sir John Barnard. However, Halkett & Laing, on the authority of the British Museum Catalogue, attribute the authorship to the said Sir John Barnard and place the date of the work as of about 1740.

The following interview with Professor Matthew B. Hammond of the Department of Economics of Ohio State University may indicate how collections of old business manuscripts are used and what may be their value. Professor Hammond has made the history of the cotton textile industry his particular study for much of a lifetime, with the result that he has become an authority on the subject. Throughout all of his study he has found manuscript material one of his best sources of information.

The Business Historical Society has received another splendid addition to its ever growing collection of foreign business manuscripts. This is an eighteenth-century Spanish account book which was found in the city of Havana during the Spanish-American War and brought to this country by an American soldier. This old book, beautiful to look upon with its handsome writing in iron-gall ink on heavy vellum paper, and valuable for the information it contains, is the gift of Colonel John R. Fordyce, a member of the Business Historical Society.

The biographical information in the following article has been taken from a sketch of his father's life written by Mr. Harrison Dibblee at the request of the Business Historical Society.

Albert Dibblee, commission merchant of San Francisco from 1849 to 1895, came of a family that had been among the earliest settlers in America. He was directly descended from Robert Dibblee who settled in Danbury, Connecticut, in 1630.

The George F. Baker Library has recently purchased a rare eighteenth-century volume, entitled A Familiar Discourse or DIALOGUE Concerning the Mine-Adventure, which was printed by F. Collins in the Old-Bailey, London, 1700. Though no author's name appears in our volume, Halkett & Laing's Dictionary of Anonymous and Pseudonymous English Literature, on the authority of the Advocate's Library, Edinburgh, attributes the work to one William Shiers who was a shareholder in the venture.