From 1906 to 1920 Edmund Pearson wrote a column entitled The Librarian for the newspaper, the Boston Evening Transcript. Many of the columns were opinion pieces about the library world, and many were fictional stories which demonstrated Pearson's dry wit and view point and which often featured the fictional Ezra Beesly Free Public Library of the town of Baxter. This book consists of 12 stories from the column, and an additional two stories "printed here for the first time. " The index is particularly well worth perusing.