| Description | Apologises for the delay in replying to Hartog's last note. Harrison returns, as Hartog wishes, his letter to the Chairman of the Library Committee, to do with as he thinks fit. Harrison has no desire for Hartog to delete anything but is bound to say that he does not think the matter worth such voluminous correspondence. Regarding the part of Harrison's letter which seems to have given such particular offence to Hartog, Harrison can see no discourtesy in it and none was intended. Harrison expressed the perfectly sincere opinion that the fact of books being borrowed for a purely literary purpose should not serve as an extenuation of a breach of the rules of the library, but rather the reverse, having regard to the character and purpose of the library.
Harrison accepts Hartog's assurance that the damage done to the books lent was not due to any act of Hartog's. The incident will serve as a useful occasion for framing some more definite rule than at present exist as regards the issuing of books to non-Fellows, but as the Library Committee will probably not meet for some little time and the Chairman has no executive functions, Harrison does not think there is any object in prolonging the correspondence.
Future applications to the loan of books supported by the recommendation of a Fellow in writing, from Hartog, will be duly considered on their own merits. |