[From Brown's Directory, 1881/2]

PREFACE

We place this volume before the business men of the Island and the public generally with a full assurance that they will appreciate our efforts to produce a work reliable and trustworthy. As it is our first essay of the kind we will not venture to say that it is without fault, but this we may assert, that neither expense nor labour has been spared to make it as complete as possible. A fresh edition will be published every few years, and any faults there may be discovered in this edition will be remedied in future issues.

In our efforts to make the work as full, complete, and reliable as possible, nothing has been taken for granted. Every address in the book, every fact mentioned, has been verified by a personal canvass and by personal inquiry. The public may by this statement form some idea of the amount of labour involved, and we hope that it will induce them to extend their indulgence to us should they find any error in its compilation. At the same time we shall take it as a personal favour if they will inform us of any errors, so that each succeeding issue of the work may be made more and more trustworthy.

That in the publication of a Directory for the Isle of Man we are supplying a long felt want is evident from the favour with which it has been received. The idea has evoked commendation from nearly every business and official man in the Insular community, and our only fear is that, notwithstanding our efforts, we have not been able to so fully realize their anticipations as we could have wished. The canvassing for, and the compiling, printing, and publishing of such a work is not only an expensive, but a difficult and complicated undertaking. This, we think, every man who gives a moment’s thought to the subject will admit. The importance and value of the work will be readily admitted by all who have occasion to use it, and, we fear not, it will meet with the approval of all except those who will deem it to be their duty to pick out all the little errors they can find and to exaggerate their importance.

For the superior style of compilation and the management of this work, we are indebted to Mr. W. L. CALLIN, of Wheeling, West Virginia, United States, whose long experience in every department of the business fitted him for the position, and greatly tended to the success of the enterprise.

We have to apologise for the delay in the publication, but that delay arose from a variety of causes which it was impossible to control.