The Purposes of Reading in late Georgian Britain: Science, Medicine, Industry and Intellectual Culture in the Leeds Subscription Libraries, 1768-1815 Rebecca Elizabeth Bowd Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Philosophy, Religion and the History of Science June 2015 - ii - The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his/her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. The right of Rebecca Elizabeth Bowd to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. © 2015, The University of Leeds and Rebecca Elizabeth Bowd - iii - In memory of Gerald Limb (1931-2011) Thank you for inspiring my love of history. - iv - Acknowledgements First and foremost I would like to thank my two supervisors Adrian Wilson and Jonathan Topham. I would not have been able to complete this thesis without their commitment and support. John Chartres and Malcolm Chase, my MA supervisors, who first brought my attention to the Leeds Library and inspired my love of library history also deserve special mention. Thank you to everyone at the Leeds Library, especially Geoffrey Forster (former librarian), without whom this project would not have first been possible. In addition, to all the library staff at Special Collections, University of Leeds (especially Richard High), and the staff in the various archives and libraries I have visited along the way: thank you for your help. Thanks also must go to Mark Towsey at the University of Liverpool and the various members of the AHRC sponsored network ‘Community Libraries: Connecting Readers in the Atlantic World, c.1650-c.1850’ in the Atlantic World’ project with whom I have shared many frank and fruitful discussions about the importance of libraries in the long eighteenth century. I would also like to thank my family (Mum, Nan and Emma) for their support during the process of researching and writing this thesis. To my friends, I owe you a debt of gratitude that can never fully be repaid. Anna, my errand girl! I do not know what I would have done without you. Liz, I cannot thank you enough for your endless cups of tea, advice, and your delicious vegetarian food. Alex, thank you for allowing me Chloe cuddles; Vanessa and Siobhan, just thank you! Emma, Laura and all the folks at the University Library, thank you for reassuring me and for putting up with me! To all my friends in the department (those still here and those long gone) who have helped and supported me along the way; Alan, Anne, Carl, Claire, Coreen, Dani, Dom, Jade, Jo, Laura, Matt, Michael, Mike, Paul, Sarah and too many other people at Leeds and elsewhere to mention, thank you! Lastly a big thank you goes to my boyfriend Callum. - v - Abstract This study of libraries in Leeds in the late Georgian era establishes why a range of subscription libraries came into being in the town in the mid eighteenth century, and provides a localised and integrated account of how several such libraries worked within the cultural economy of a provincial town. At the heart of this study is the question of how the Leeds libraries related to the reading and associate requirements of their first readers. Association, sociability, improvement and taste are words which usually describe the motivations for the establishment of subscription libraries but I argue for a new interpretation. The observation that a medical library was the first subscription library founded in Leeds in the eighteenth century raises the possibility that factors were at play in the decision to found these libraries other than those leisure purposes usually suggested by historians. I suggest that the Leeds libraries were founded to meet a range of practical purposes – professional, learned and industrial – as well as the leisure and other associated interests which have been discussed so widely in the prevailing literature. - vi - Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................... iv Abstract .............................................................................................................. v Table of Contents ............................................................................................... vi List of Tables ..................................................................................................... viii List of Figures ..................................................................................................... ix List of Abbreviations and Acronyms .................................................................... x Chapter 1 Introduction ........................................................................................ 2 1.1 Libraries and the History of Reading......................................................... 7 1.2 Reading and the ‘Industrial Enlightenment’ ........................................... 11 1.3 Urban History .......................................................................................... 19 1.4 Research Methods and Materials ........................................................... 24 1.5 Overview ................................................................................................. 26 PT I Chapter 2 Improvement, Association and Print Culture in Georgian Leeds ......... 28 2.1 Georgian Leeds: Commerce and Culture ................................................ 29 2.2 Georgian Leeds: An Improving Town ...................................................... 35 2.3 Georgian Leeds: Print Culture ................................................................. 38 2.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 45 PT II Chapter 3 The Founding of the Leeds Libraries: Medics, Merchants and Ministers……………………………………………………………………………………………… 47 3.1 The Medical Library at Leeds .................................................................. 48 3.2 Leeds Circulating Library ......................................................................... 54 3.3 Foreign Circulating Library ...................................................................... 67 - vii - 3.4 New Subscription Library ........................................................................ 77 3.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 84 Chapter 4 Working Libraries: The Development and Operation of the Leeds Subscription Libraries ............................................................................... 85 4.1 The Medical Library at Leeds .................................................................. 86 4.2 Leeds Circulating Library ....................................................................... 102 4.3 Foreign Circulating Library .................................................................... 112 4.4 New Subscription Library ...................................................................... 123 4.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................. 128 PT III Chapter 5 Knowledge and Professionalisation: Absorbing and Communicating Medical Knowledge in eighteenth-century Leeds .................................... 130 5.1 William Hey (1733-1819): Background and Medical Training .............. 131 5.2 William Hey: An elite practitioner ........................................................ 146 5.3 William Hey: Printed Medical Matter in Hey’s Case Histories.............. 153 5.4 The Wider Medical Print Culture in Georgian Leeds ............................ 156 5.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................. 165 Chapter 6 The Reading Habits of Manufacturers in Georgian Leeds: The Quest for Practical Knowledge ............................................................................... 167 6.1 John Marshall (1765-1845): Scientific Reading, Self-Education and Manufacturing ...................................................................................... 169 6.2 John Marshall: Printed Matter and Experiments on Bleaching ............ 179 6.3 John Marshall: The Role of Reading in Experimentation ...................... 191 6.4 Merchant-Manufacturers in the Leeds Libraries .................................. 195 6.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................. 206 Chapter 7 Conclusion ...................................................................................... 207 Bibliography ................................................................................................... 213 - viii - List of Tables Table 1 Subscription Library Development in Eighteenth-Century England ........... 3 Table 2: Subject Analysis of the Leeds Library Catalogue (1778) ....................... 104 Table 3: Number of Volumes in the Collections of the Leeds Library (1768 to 1790) ...................................................................................................... 107 Table 4: Membership of the Leeds Library (1768 to 1827) ................................ 108 Table 5: Leeds Library Expenditure on Books January-December 1816 ............. 109 Table 6: The cost of a Share