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Cambridge Books Online http://universitypublishingonline.org/ The Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland Edited by Alistair Black, Peter Hoare Book DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521780971 Online ISBN: 9781139055321 Hardback ISBN: 9780521780971 Chapter 11 - Circulating libraries in the Victorian age and after pp. 125-146 Chapter DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521780971.013 Cambridge University Press 11 Circulating libraries in the Victorian age and after simon eliot Introduction Circulating and subscription libraries overlapped and frequently shared many characteristics, so the distinction between them is often rather arbitrary. Indeed, occasionally circulating libraries referred to themselves as ‘subscription’ libraries, and vice versa. Nevertheless, most subscription libraries had a different origin from circulating libraries. Many evolved out of small, private book clubs during the eighteenth century and shared many of their characteristics. They tended to have rather high annual subscriptions, they sometimes required subscribers to take a share in the library and they frequently concen- trated on ‘serious’ subjects (theology, philosophy, history, biography, travel, etc.) to the exclusion or underrepresentation of fiction. However, with the growing production and consumption of fiction – particularly in the form of the novel – such libraries were never going to satisfy what many would have regarded as a vulgar demand. This was left to commerce, and commerce was what circulating libraries were all about. The circulating library was certainly a success in its time: the Library History Database to currently lists 5,481 circulating libraries or 44.5% of all the institutions recorded.1 It is no coincidence that circulating libraries and the novel rose together. As commercial organisations, their subscription rates were closely tailored to their market. One might subscribe on a yearly, quarterly or monthly basis. Some libraries allowed shorter subscription periods offering a weekly or even a daily rate; these shorter subscriptions could be frequently found in small circulating libraries serving poorer areas or in libraries with a distinctly seasonal trade(suchasspatownsandseasideresorts).Somecirculatinglibrariescharged by the volume borrowed (with or without a security deposit). Most circulating libraries, of whatever size, were general in content, that is, they stocked 1 As at 19 August 1998, see http://www.r-alston.co.uk/stat.htm. 125 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 Downloaded from Cambridge Histories Online by IP 128.103.149.52 on Sat Mar 02 18:29:03 WET 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521780971.013 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2013 libraries of our own fictionandnon-fiction;additionallytheycommonlyhadsomereferenceworks, newspapers and magazines on offer. But the generality and the commercialism of circulating libraries often went further. It has been remarked that specialised book shops were rare in the past, most selling many more things than books. Similarly, circulating libraries were a focus for other forms of commercial activity, often but not always print related. Sometimes the library was the main focus of activity, with other sales being added to it; in many other cases the circulating library was simply an appendage to other, and probably more profitable, activities. Suppliers of stationery, printed forms, books, newspapers and magazines could also advertise a circulating library on the premises but in practice this might be no more than a few shelves of miscellaneous titles. This was even more likely to be the case if the shop sold items more remote from those of the book trade: groceries, patent medicines, musical instruments or fancy goods. Even the largest circulating libraries offered other services. Lovejoy’s library in Reading was, by 1887, performing many roles: insurance agent, pub- lisher of an ‘Estates Register’, seller of board games, stationer and newsagent, seller of leather goods, seller of maps and travel guides, bookbinder, printer, engraver, die-sinker and relief-stamper – and running a rare-book finding ser- vice.2 Advertisements for businesses for sale in the book trade journals of the later nineteenth century frequently mentioned a circulating library as part of the business, though often it was placed rather far down in the list of attractions. One of the reasons for this diversity – and it is something of a paradox for libraries of a commonly commercial character – was that it seems to have been difficult over most of our period for circulating libraries to generate sufficient profits to be stand-alone enterprises. Partly this was due to the problem confronting any commercial library that was trying to satisfy two rather different sorts of customer: those who were essentially wanting to read the latest fashionable and popular books (commonly novels), and those who wanted to read canonical works of fiction and/or non-fiction. Holding the balance between a rich stock of books always available for borrowing and 2 A catalogue of the books in the General Subscription Circulating Library at Reading (Reading, [1887]). The library had been established by George Loveday in 1832 and in its mid- Victorian heyday attracted the likes of Thackeray, Wilkie Collins, Charles Kingsley and Charles Dickens through its doors. A feature of the library was its collection of ‘rare and valuable Editions of Mr Ruskin’s Works’ which, by 1887, had been turned into a reference collection. 126 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 Downloaded from Cambridge Histories Online by IP 128.103.149.52 on Sat Mar 02 18:29:03 WET 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521780971.013 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2013 Circulating libraries a large enough range of multiple copies of currently in-demand titles was a tricky business. However, it needed to be done efficiently and continuously if the library were to satisfy a diverse range of readers and make them think it worthwhile to renew their subscriptions. Most circulating libraries were not as well founded or as large as those described below, and this fact of scale is important. Most users of small circulating libraries would have experienced both a quantitative and a qualitative difference. Obviously there would be fewer books to borrow, fewer copies of popular works and a longer delay in getting the most recent books (indeed, many would have had to wait until surplus copies from larger libraries began to filter down or cheap reprints were produced). But a recent analysis has sug- gested that smaller libraries tended to stock conservatively: in such libraries the percentage of canonical works went up and the proportion of less-well-known titles went down. In libraries with between 2,000 and 3,000 titles 40–60% might be canonical. In libraries with fewer than 500 titles that percentage might be as high as 70–90%.3 It is likely that the circulating libraries that got closest to independent prof- itability were those that serviced specialist markets. There were circulating libraries such as Lewis’s Library at 186 Gower Street devoted to scientific and technical books.4 There was the Universal Circulating Musical Library at 86 Newgate Street, established early in 1853 and run first by C. J. Graue then by Gustav Scheurmann & Co., and Novello’s Music Library at 1 Berners Street, both lending printed music.5 In the 1930s there was the Circulating Library of the Children’s Book Club at 17 Connaught Street.6 There were also libraries that offered exclusively foreign texts such as Rolandi’s at 20 Berners Street that in 1849 stocked over 1,400 books in Italian and Spanish.7 Libraries in special locations catering to a transient but affluent clientele, such as those in fashionable seaside resorts or spa towns, would also be in 3 F. Moretti, Atlas of the European novel – (London, 1998), 144–8. 4 For example, Catalogue of Lewis’s Medical & Scientific Library [. .] New edition revised to Midsummer (London, 1888). 5 Graue published the Catalogue of the Universal Circulating Musical Library (London, [1853]), describing it as ‘Importers of Foreign Music, and Publishers’. A later catalogue ‘including the Supplements of 1855 & 1856’ was published by Scheurmann, and claimed that the library contained ‘upwards of 50,000 distinct works’. 6 Catalogue of the Circulating Library of the Children’s Book Club (London, April 1933). The library was opened in December 1931. 7 Libri italiani & spagnoli: Catalogue of Italian and Spanish Books with a few in Portuguese, lent to read by P.Rolandi, at his French, Italian, German, and Spanish Circulating Library (London, 1849). 127 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 Downloaded from Cambridge Histories Online by IP 128.103.149.52 on Sat Mar 02 18:29:03 WET 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521780971.013 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2013 libraries of our own an advantageous position. For instance, in Scarborough in 1868 there were at least nine libraries of a commercial character, five of which were located in booksellers’ and stationers’ shops, for a population of around 18,000 people.8 In Bath in 1852 there were thirteen circulating libraries and two specialising in music; despite the growth of public libraries there were still eleven in 1902 and four as late as 1952.9 Circulating libraries abroad stocking English books and catering to a transient population

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