Obituary.

Bradbury.—On the 13th October, aged 60, Mr William Hardwick Bradbury, principal of the great publishing firm of Bradbury, Agnew, & Co., formerly Bradbury & Evans.

Owen.—On 19th December, in his 89th year, Sir Richard Owen, the distinguished comparative anatomist. One of his special studies was the subject of the extinct wingless birds of New Zealand, on which he has written largely.

Thompson.—On 6th December, at Melbourne, in his 63rd year, Mr Stephen Thompson, a frequent contributor to the Argus under the name of « Lancelot." He was a contributor the leading home magazines, his subjects being art and travel. He came to Victoria for the Melbourne exhibition of 1880, and was for a year art critic for the Age. For some years he was curator of the art museum at the public library.

Lockwood.—On 4th November, at New York, of heart disease, Howard Lockwood, in his 47th year. He early became connected with the paper industry, and recognizing the field for a trade organ, established in 1872 the Paper Trade Journal. This was the first of a number of successful serial publications issued from the Lockwood press, others being the American Stationer, the American Mail and Export Journal, the American Bookmaker; besides the Directory of the Paper and Stationery Trades, and the American Dictionary of Printing and Book-making, now in course of publication.

Nelson.—On the 20th October, Mr Thomas Nelson, head of the celebrated publishing firm of Thomas Nelson & Sons, aged 70. The business was established by his father about 1820, and was greatly extended by the sons, the oldest of whom, William, died in 1887. Mr Thomas Nelson entered the business at the age of 17. In 1844 he was entrusted with the opening of the London branch. Besides being a large publisher of educational books, Mr Nelson was also an author. He possessed great mechanical skill, and invented a rotary press, besides many devices in printing, bookbinding, and photo-zincography.

Lord.—Recently, in New York, Richard Halkett Lord. Mr Lord was the first editor of the Napier Daily Telegraph, but did not long hold the position. His tastes lay more in the direction of personal writing than serious journalism. For a number of years past he has lived in the United States, and, in conjunction with Mr Julian Hawthorne, edited the Bookmart, a librarians' magazine, which, we think, has ceased to exist. Mr Lord also collaborated with Mr Hawthorne, supplying the colonial « local color » in some of his works of fiction. As a writer, Mr Lord had no claim to originality, his line lying entirely in compilation, adaptation, and parody. It has been erroneously stated that he belonged to the Punch staff. The mistake probably arose from the fact of his mother, a widow, having married one of the prominent contributors to the early volumes of that periodical.