Excerpt from Eleventh Annual Report of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Public Library: June, 1883 The evidence of a growmg apprec ation of the advantages of our Public Library may be found by comparing the mini be'r of books taken out, the number consulted, and the num ber of visitors during the past year, with the books taken out, books consulted, and number of visitors during the pre vions year. Thus, the total number of books taken out during the past year for home use, amounted to' three hun dred and seventy-six thousand four hundred and seventy five, being an increase of seven and one half per cent. Over the preceding year. The visitors to the reference tables numbered forty - two thousand seven hundred and thirty-four, an increase of forty-three per cent, and the number of books consulted by them amounted to one hundred and thirty-four thousand four hundred and eight, an increase of twenty-four per cent. Over the preceding year. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.