The library of King’s Inns was founded, pursuant to a bequest of books and legal MSS. under the will of Mr Justice Robinson in 1787, to form the nucleus of a library for law students. It is partly supported from the funds of the benchers, but partly also by a treasury grant in lieu of the copyright privilege.
It is needless to describe the other society libraries, as most of them are described in annuals like the Literary Year-book and similar publications, with statistics of stock, issues, &c., brought up to date.
Proprietary and subscription libraries were at one time more common than now, as, owing to the steady advance of the municipal library, the minor subscription libraries have been gradually extinguished. A striking example Proprietary and subscription libraries. of this is furnished by the mechanics’ institutes which used to flourish all over the country. In most cases these have been handed over to the local authorities by the owners to form the nucleus of the public rate-supported library, and in this way the older libraries have been preserved and valuable aid has been given to the popular library movement. Somewhat akin to the mechanics’ institutes are the libraries established in connexion with various co-operative societies in the north of England. Together with working men’s club libraries, there must be nearly 100 libraries of the class just mentioned, ranging in size from a few hundred vols. to 30,000 or 40,000 vols. The affiliated clubs of the Working Men’s Club and Institute Union possess among them over 100,000 vols.
Among subscription libraries, the London Library stands first in order of importance. It was founded in 1841 as a lending library for the use of scholars, and Dean Milman, Sir G. C. Lewis, W. E. Gladstone, Thomas Carlyle, Henry Hallam and other eminent men took part in its formation. By means of a moderate subscription, funds were raised for the purchase of books on general subjects, which now amount to about 250,000 vols. Of these elaborate and excellent author and subject catalogues have been printed. The last is valuable as a classified guide to the contents of the library.
Some mention should be made also of the more important subscription or proprietary libraries, which were formed for the most part in the latter half of the 18th century. The earliest circulating library in the metropolis was established about the middle of the 18th century. The first in Birmingham was opened by Hutton in 1757. The idea of a proprietary library appears to have been first carried out at Liverpool in 1758. The library then formed still flourishes at the Lyceum, and possesses a collection of 55,000 vols. and an income of £1000 a year. In 1760 a library was formed at Warrington which has been merged in the Warrington Museum. The Leeds library was established in 1768, and now has 64,000 vols. In 1772 the Bristol museum and library was formed, and numbered Coleridge, Southey and Landor among its earlier members. It has now been merged in the reference collection of the Bristol public libraries. The Birmingham (old) library was formed in 1779, and its rules were drawn up by Dr Priestley. The library has now about 80,000 vols.
Other English proprietary libraries have been established at Leicester, Liverpool (Athenaeum, 1798), Manchester, Nottingham and elsewhere. In Scotland the first subscription library was started by Allan Ramsay, the poet, at Edinburgh in 1725, and since that time commercial subscription libraries have increased greatly in number and size, Mudie’s and The Times Book Club being typical modern examples.
Many of the principal clubs possess libraries; that of the Athenaeum (London) is by far the most important. It now numbers about 75,000 vols. of books in all departments of literature, and is especially rich in well-bound and Club libraries. fine copies of works on the fine arts, archaeology, topography and history. The pamphlets, of which there is a complete printed catalogue, as well as of the books, form a remarkable series, including those collected by Gibbon and Mackintosh. Next comes the Reform Club, with about 60,000 vols., chiefly in belles-lettres, with a fair proportion of parliamentary and historical works. The National Liberal Club, containing the Gladstone Library, has about 45,000 vols., and may be used occasionally by non-members. The Oxford and Cambridge Club has 30,000 vols. in general and classical literature. At the Garrick there is a small dramatic collection; and the (Senior) United Service Club, besides a number of books on professional subjects, possesses the fine library which formerly belonged to Dugald Stewart.
Other London clubs which possess libraries are the Carlton with 25,000 vols.; the Constitutional with 12,000 vols.; Grand Lodge of Freemasons, 10,000 vols.; Alpine, 5000 vols.; Travellers, 8000 vols.; and Junior Carlton, 6000 vols. In the provinces and in Scotland and Ireland every club of a social character has a reading-room, and in most cases a library is attached.
The first act of parliament authorizing the establishment of public libraries in England was obtained by William Ewart, M.P. for the Dumfries Burghs, in 1850. This arose out of the report of a special parliamentary committee Municipal libraries. appointed to enquire into the management of the British Museum in 1835, and a more general report on libraries in 1849, at which much evidence was submitted to prove the necessity for providing public libraries. Ewart obtained both committees and also, in 1845, procured an act for “encouraging the establishment of museums in large towns.” Neither the 1845 nor 1850 acts proved effective, owing chiefly to the limitation of the library rate to ½d. in the £ of rental, which produced in most cases an insufficient revenue. In 1853 the Library Act of 1850 was extended to Ireland and Scotland, and in 1854 Scotland obtained an act increasing the rate limit from ½d. to 1d. in the £. In 1855 Ireland also obtained a penny rate, and later in the same year England obtained the same power by an act which remained the principal library act, with some intermediate amendments, till 1892, when a Public Library Consolidation Act was passed. In the following year, 1893, the power of adopting the acts, or putting them in operation, was transferred from the ratepayers to the local authority, save in the case of rural parishes and the metropolitan vestries. By the London Government Act of 1899, however, the metropolitan boroughs were given the power of adopting the acts of 1892-1893 without consulting the ratepayers, so that as the law at present stands, any urban district can put the public libraries acts in force without reference to the voters. Rural parishes are still required by the provisions of the Local Government Act 1894 to adopt the 1892 Libraries Act by means of a parish meeting, or if a poll is demanded, by means of a poll of the voters.
The main points in British library legislation are as follows:—