Africa.
There are several important libraries in South Africa, and many small town libraries which used to receive a government grant equal to the subscriptions of the members, but in no case did such grants exceed £150 for any one library in one year. These grants fluctuate considerably owing to the changes and temper of successive governments, and since the last war they have been considerably reduced everywhere. One of the oldest libraries is the South African Public Library at Cape Town established in 1818, which enjoys the copyright-privilege of receiving a free copy of every publication issued in Cape Colony. This library contains the great collection of colonial books bequeathed by Sir George Grey. The libraries of the various legislatures are perhaps the best supported and most important, but mention should be made of the public libraries of Port Elizabeth, Cape Colony, which published an excellent catalogue, and the public libraries at Kimberley; Durban, Natal; Bloemfontein, Orange River Colony; Bulawayo, Rhodesia; Johannesburg, Transvaal; and the public and university libraries at Pretoria. None of the libraries of North Africa are specially notable, although there are considerable collections at Cairo and Algiers.
Australasia.
All the public libraries, mechanics’ institutes, schools of arts and similar institutes receive aid from the government, either in the form of grants of money or boxes of books sent from some centre. The public library of New South Wales, Sydney (1869), which includes the Mitchell Library of over 50,000 vols., now possesses a total of nearly 250,000 vols., and circulates books to country libraries, lighthouses and teachers’ associations to the number of about 20,000 vols. per annum. The public library of Victoria, Melbourne (1853), with about 220,000 vols., also sends books to 443 country libraries of various kinds, which among them possess 750,000 vols., and circulate annually considerably over 2½ million vols. The university library at Melbourne (1855) has over 20,000 vols., and the libraries connected with the parliament and various learned societies are important. The public library of South Australia, Adelaide, has about 75,000 vols., and is the centre for the distribution of books to the institutes throughout the colony. These institutes possess over 325,000 vols. There is a good public library at Brisbane, Queensland, and there are a number of state-aided schools of arts with libraries attached. The Library of Parliament in Brisbane possesses over 40,000, and the Rockhampton School of Arts has 10,000 vols. Western Australia has a public library at Perth, which was established in 1887, and the small town institutes are assisted as in the other colonies.
Tasmania has several good libraries in the larger towns, but none of them had in 1910 taken advantage of the act passed in 1867 which gives municipalities practically unlimited powers and means as far as the establishment and maintenance of public libraries are concerned. At Hobart the Tasmanian Public Library (1849) is one of the most important, with 25,000 vols.
New Zealand is well equipped with public libraries established under acts dating from 1869 to 1877, as well as subscription, college and government libraries. At Auckland the Free Public Library (1880) has 50,000 vols., including Sir George Grey’s Australasian collection; the Canterbury Public Library, Christchurch (1874), has 40,000 vols.; the University of Otago Library, Dunedin (1872), 10,000 vols.; and the public library at Wellington (1893) contains 20,000 vols.
India and the East.
Apart from government and royal libraries, there are many college, society, subscription and others, both English and oriental. It is impossible to do more than name a few of the most notable. Lists of many of the libraries in private hands including descriptions of their MS. contents have been issued by the Indian government. At Calcutta the Sanskrit college has 1652 printed Sanskrit volumes and 2769 Sanskrit MSS., some as old as the 14th century; there is also a large collection of Jain MSS. The Arabic library attached to the Arabic department of the Madrasa was founded about 1781, and now includes 731 printed volumes, 143 original MSS. and 151 copies; the English library of the Anglo-Persian department dates from 1854, and extends to 3254 vols. The library of the Asiatic Society of Bengal was founded in 1784, and now contains 15,000 printed vols., chiefly on eastern and philological subjects, with a valuable collection of 9500 Arabic and Persian MSS.
At Bombay the library of the Bombay branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, established in 1804 as the Literary Society of Bengal, is now an excellent general and oriental collection of 75,000 printed vols. and MSS., described in printed catalogues. The Moolla Feroze Library was bequeathed for public use by Moolla Feroze, head priest of the Parsis of the Kudmi sect in 1831, and consisted chiefly of MSS., in Arabic and Persian on history, philosophy and astronomy; some additions of English and Gujarati works have been made, as well as of European books on Zoroastrianism. The Native General Library (1845) has 11,000 vols., and there are libraries attached to Elphinstone College and the university of Bombay.
The library of Tippoo Sahib, consisting of 2000 MSS., fell into the hands of the British, and a descriptive catalogue of them by Charles Stewart was published at Cambridge in 1809, 4to. A few were presented to public libraries in England, but the majority were placed in the college of Fort William, then recently established. The first volume, containing Persian and Hindustani poetry, of the Catalogue of the Libraries of the King of Oudh, by A. Sprenger, was published at Calcutta in 1854. The compiler shortly afterwards left the Indian service, and no measures were taken to complete the work. On the annexation of the kingdom in 1856 the ex-king is believed to have taken some of the most valuable MSS. to Calcutta, but the largest portion was left behind at Lucknow. During the siege the books were used to block up windows, &c., and those which were not destroyed were abandoned and plundered by the soldiers. Many were burnt for fuel; a few, however, were rescued and sold by auction, and of these some were purchased for the Asiatic Society of Bengal.