On September 30th, 1854, the Council proceeded to the formation of a body of management, on lines suggested by a Committee which had been appointed to arrange preliminary proceedings for establishing a free library, and the following accepted office: President and Treasurer, Sir Samuel Bignold, Mayor of Norwich. Vice-Presidents: The Lord Bishop of Norwich, Lord Wodehouse, Lord Stafford, Lord Suffield, Sir J. P. Boileau, Mr. S. M. Peto, M.P., Mr. J. H. Gurney, M.P., Mr. H. J. Stracey, and the Rev. Edwin Sidney. Committee: Aldermen E. Willett and C. Darkins; Councillors Thomas Brightwell, J. G. Johnson, J. H. Tillett, J. Barwell, W. J. Utten Browne, O. Springfield, and two co-opted members, Dr. Goodwin and Mr. J. W. Dowson. Hon. Secretary, Mr. A. D. Bayne, the author of the “Comprehensive History of Norwich,” 1869. The Committee had power to add to its number not exceeding five, and it was also resolved that the Committee should include five members to be nominated by the subscribers and five by the working classes. The Committee shortly afterwards added to its number. Protests were received regarding the proposal that admission to the Library should be by subscription, and apparently it was not proceeded with. In accordance with the other resolution of the Council, to the effect that the working classes should nominate five persons to serve on the Committee, the Mayor convened a meeting of the “working classes” at St. Andrew’s Hall on the 1st October, 1856, when the following were selected for nomination to the
Council, and were duly elected on the 16th October: Mr. C. J. Bunting, printer, Mr. Daniel Weavers, weaver, Mr. Henry Roberts, herbalist, Mr. L. Hill, news-vendor, and Mr. James Lofty, hairdresser.
The Library was opened on the 16th March, 1857, without any public function, owing to the difficulty of getting an eminent person to perform the ceremony, and the Committee resolved to celebrate the opening at a later date, which, however, was not done, although Mr. Ewart had promised to be present. According to the particulars in the appendices of J. J. Ogle’s “The Free Library,” Norwich was the eleventh modern rate-supported public library to open its doors, the previous ten libraries being those of Warrington and Salford (established under the Museums Act of 1845), Winchester, Manchester, Liverpool, Bolton, Kidderminster, Cambridge, Birkenhead and Sheffield. The following is a description of the building which appeared in the Illustrated London News, May 16th, 1857:
“The exterior of the lower story of the building is Roman Doric, the second story Roman Ionic, and the third Italian. The Library and an adjoining apartment, appropriated to the Museum, are on the ground floor; and below are spacious vaults, which are devoted to trade purposes, and from which a considerable annual revenue is expected to be derived. Over the principal entrance is a well executed head of Homer, and in the entrance-hall which has a tesselated pavement, are four scagliola columns with Corinthian capitals. The Museum-room is 54 feet in length and 26 feet wide, and the Library is 44 feet long and 33 feet wide. A broad and handsome stone staircase conducts the visitor to the second floor, on which is a lecture-room of the same dimensions as the Library, and two apartments appropriated to the Literary Institution, which are collectively of the same size as the Museum beneath. On the third floor are two large rooms for the School of Art, with domed roofs and ample skylights, and four smaller apartments for classes are also provided.” A reproduction of a recent photograph of the building, showing to the left a portion of the Reading Room added in 1907, faces page 56.
The Library proper at first consisted of one room, as stated
above, which combined a news and reading room, and reference and lending departments. Books were not issued from the lending department until January 1st, 1858, when the books in two classes, “General Literature” and “Voyages and Travels” were ready for circulation. Regarding rules for the loan of these books, the Committee provisionally adopted those of the Sheffield Free Library. By July of the same year all the books were available for borrowing, and the circulation “reached 500 volumes, always on loan, every volume being returned or renewed within a week.” When the first report was published in August, 1858, there were 3,354 volumes in the Library, of which 2,468 volumes were presented, arranged in ten classes: A, General Literature, 586 vols.; B, Geography, Voyages and Travels, 560 vols.; C, Dramatists, Poets, and Novelists, 454 vols.; D, History and Biography, 383 vols.; E, Bohn’s Libraries, 318 vols.; F, Bonn’s Libraries and Cabinet Cyclopædia, 315 vols.; G, Natural History and Sciences, 244 vols.; H, Metaphysics, Logic and Religion, 306 vols.; I, Dictionaries, Cyclopædias, Reviews, 88 vols.; [J] Magazines, 100 vols. All the books were apparently available either for reading at the library or for home-reading. In 1858 a record of issues was kept which showed that during the first half year 5,225 volumes were circulated “to nearly 700 persons,” and the total issue of books “for perusal” in the reading room was 10,066 “issued to a large number of citizens.”
Owing to the small amount of money available for the purchase of books and periodicals, the citizens were invited in the second quarter of 1857 to contribute for the supply of reviews, periodicals and newspapers, and by July 1858 nearly £60 in subscriptions for this purpose had been obtained.
Mr. A. D. Bayne, as Hon. Secretary to the Committee, virtually acted as Librarian until his resignation in April, 1860, attending its meetings, conducting its business, purchasing the books for the Library, etc. The first person to take charge of the Library was Mr. Henry Turner who was engaged pro tem. on the 31st December, 1856, to take care of the new building, to catalogue the books, collect the subscriptions, etc., at a salary of £1 weekly. For the first year he was regarded as an attendant, but subsequently he was called the Librarian. Apparently
by reason of illness his engagement ceased at the end of 1858, and after a short interval, during which time Mr. R. L. M. Overton and Mr. C. Hunt were successively engaged, Mr. George Harper was appointed Librarian, the Committee recommending his appointment to the Council on 30th June, 1859. Mr. Harper remained the Librarian until his death at the end of 1876. During his tenure of office very little progress in the development of the Library was made, chiefly because the greater part of the library rate was absorbed in extinguishing the building loan, and no annual reports were issued. In a schedule in Edward Edwards’ “Free Town Libraries,” 1869, it is stated that the aggregate number of volumes in the Library in 1868 was 3,642, that the aggregate annual issues were 13,480, and that the annual expenditure on the Library was £600. As a matter of fact, the expenditure for the year ending 1st September, 1868, was £634 : 7 : 3, of which £492 : 9 : 11 was for the interest on, and repayment of, the loan. The product of the penny rate was £740, and an additional £119 : 6 : 5 was received as fees for the hire of the upper rooms and the cellars of the Library. In the early days of the Library these rooms were hired for many purposes, including Sunday services, temperance meetings, Cambridge University local examinations, lectures, dinners, entertainments, etc., the cellars were used for the storage of wines and spirits, and the Norwich Meteorological Society had an anemometer fixed on top of the building.
Mr. George Easter, who succeeded Mr. Harper as Librarian in January 1877, was a native of Norwich, who had followed the craft of a wood-carver in Cambridge, and had had no training in library work. The burden of debt upon the Library having been considerably diminished, and the librarian coming to his duties with enthusiasm and a disposition to seek advice on books and library matters from those competent to give it, he was able to effect some improvements in the administration of the Library, and to develop it. About six months after his appointment he had prepared for the press an author catalogue of the books in the Lending and Reference Departments of the Library, which was ready for sale at sixpence each in December. One thousand copies of this crown octavo catalogue of 94 pages