Three Centuries of a City Library / an Historical and Descriptive Account of the Norwich Public Library Established in 1608 and the present Public Library opened in 1857

by Geo. A. Stephen

DONATIONS.

Although the Public Library Act of 1855 amended the first act, and made provision for the purchase of books, a power denied under the first act, the Library was so deeply involved in debt at its commencement that appeals had to be made for donations of books and money for the purchase of books, newspapers, and periodicals. As previously stated,

the Committee’s first annual report presented to the Council on 31st August, 1858, showed that donations in cash, with interest, had amounted to £357 : 7 : 1. The same report gave a list of the donors of 2,468 volumes—about two-thirds of the entire stock—of which 833 were from the People’s College, and 1,000 were transferred from the Penny Library.

The donations to the Library during its history have been many and varied—good, bad, and indifferent—such as are usually offered to public libraries. Notice may be made of some of the outstanding gifts. The British Association in 1868, the year of its visit to Norwich, made a grant of £50 to the Library for the purchase of books, perhaps at the suggestion of the Rev. (afterwards Canon) Hinds Howell, who was the Organising Secretary for the visit. At any rate, at the meeting of the Library Committee on 4th November, 1868, he attended to explain “that the grant would be expended in the purchase of books, which embraced thirty-five different scientific subjects, or such of them as the Committee might think best adapted to the wants of, and most beneficial to, the classes using the Library,” and he received the thanks of the Committee for representing the wants of the Library to the Association. The Committee complied with the request that a bookcase should be provided for the books, bearing a suitable inscription.

A large number of patent specifications were presented by H.M. Patent Office about the year 1865, and in 1889 the Office acceded to the Committee’s request for Abridgments of Specifications, since which time they have been presented as issued.

Having regard to the slender financial resources of the Library the Mayor (Mr. H. Bullard) in 1879 suggested a public subscription, and headed the list with £10. This was followed by donations of £10 from Mr. J. J. Colman, (who also gave £25 in 1887), and Mr. Henry Birkbeck, and by smaller sums from other people, amounting altogether to £91 : 2 : 0.

A successful application was made to H.M. Treasury in 1886, for a donation of official publications, and some 260 volumes of Calendars of State Papers, Chronicles, Records, etc. were received, followed in 1901 by a further donation of 193 volumes. In 1900 the Library received from the same source

twenty-five Memoirs of the Geological Survey relating to the Eastern Counties.

In 1890 the late Alderman James Freeman, who was Chairman of the Public Library Committee for several years, bequeathed £20 for some special purpose in connection with the Library, which enabled the Committee to commence a Shakespeare Collection, now comprising over 600 books and pamphlets.

Mr. Russell J. Colman, J.P., D.L., made a handsome donation to the Reference Library in 1900, when he presented a set of Parliamentary Debates in 511 volumes, in half calf, comprising Cobbett’s “Parliamentary History,” continued by Hansard, 1066-1803, Hansard’s “Parliamentary Debates,” 1803-1890, and the “Official Parliamentary Debates” to 1897. Since that date the following members of Parliament for Norwich have partly kept the set up to date: Mr. Louis J. Tillett, Sir George White, Sir Frederick Low and Lieut. E. Hilton Young.

The firm of Messrs. J. and J. Colman, Ltd., of Norwich, presented 3,500 Parliamentary Papers, Blue Books, etc. in 1900 which Mr. J. J. Colman had accumulated.

Mr. T. R. Kemp, K.C., Recorder of Norwich, 1892-1905, who had made a study of the Letters of Junius, bequeathed his collection of various editions of the Letters and works relating to them, numbering altogether 128 volumes.

Mr. Henry F. Euren, a member of the Library Committee since 1880, gave 160 volumes on agriculture and other subjects in 1907, before and after which date he made other donations.

The Reference Library was largely increased in 1914 by a bequest of Mr. Bosworth W. Harcourt, an esteemed co-opted member of the Committee who had taken an active interest in the Library for over 27 years. The bequest, comprising about 2,250 books and pamphlets, was made on condition that such books and pamphlets should be known as the “Bosworth Harcourt Bequest” and that the same should not be placed in circulation, but only read or consulted in the Library. Miss C. M. Nichols, R.E., S.M., N.B.A., designed a suitable book-plate for the books, and a book-case, surmounted by the testator’s name was provided. Mr. Harcourt’s library naturally reflected his tastes: works of and about the chief poets and dramatists, well-illustrated volumes, and books on the

graphic arts preponderate, and there are many volumes dealing with the history and antiquities of Norfolk and Norwich.

The munificent bequest of Mrs. Elizabeth Russell Hillen, by which the Library will receive £500 for the advancement of local archæology, is mentioned in more detail on page 79.

The chief benefactor to the Library is Mr. Walter Rye, who has been a member of the Committee since 1904. In addition to his many and valuable gifts to the Local Collection, which are described on pages 78-79, he has given a large number of reference books, chiefly relating to heraldry and history, but also including a collection of books and tracts on the Civil War, and a number of calendars of patent rolls, and other official publications.