An unusually interesting and valuable collection of English and American eighteenth century periodicals has been placed on exhibition in the Treasure Room of the Widener Library. The collection, which has been arranged for exhibition by Professor C. N. Greenough, shows the development of the periodical in England, and contains news pamphlets, the earliest of which dates from 1630, as well as a number of political periodicals, which are the immediate predecessors of the Tatler and the Spectator.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the collection is the volume of Defoe's Review lent by Mr. A. W. Shaw of Chicago. The volume is probably the most valuable of the works on exhibition.

In addition to the above, there are several bound volumes of early numbers of the Tatler, Spectator, Rambler, etc.

The exhibition also includes a number of bound volumes of reviews which date from 1683 down through 1809.

One of the exhibition tables is entirely devoted to American periodicals, including the Boston News Letter of 1704, the first American newspaper, and the first number of the Atlantic Monthly published in 1857.

There are also first specimens of the Quarterly and Edinburgh Reviews, and the whole collection on exhibition numbers some 61 volumes.