Excerpt from Transactions of the Congregational Historical Society, 1940-1944, Vol. 14The closing of the mss. Room at the British Museum, and the dispersal or the bestowal in places of safety of manuscripts and rare books in other institutions, are obstacles in the way of the research student for which Hitler must bear the blame. The waste of war is appalling from whatever aspect we regard it, and the researcher must suffer with the rest of mankind. But it is sad to think of valuable work suspended, especially when those engaged in it are only too conscious that the sands are running out. It is a good time for all students who find their way forward blocked to take stock of their present position so that, when opportunity offers, they can move forward at once with everything in perfect order. It is pathetic to think of all the collections students have made which have remained amorphous and never been gathered into form, whose déshabillé has always prevented them from appear ing in public. The present interval, annoying as it is, may not be wasted if it serve as for the researcher's spring cleaning. Meanwhile, use can be made of photostat copies of books and manuscripts, so great an aid to students when travel is difficult, resources straitened, and access to books and manuscripts by no means easy.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis 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.