THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from Microsoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/freelibraryitshiOOogleiala XEbe Xtfrrarg Series EDITED BY Dr. RICHARD GARNETT I THE FREE LIBRARY Cbe Xlbratg Setles Edited, with Introductions, by Dr. RICHARD GARNETT, Keeper op Printed Books in the British Museum. I. THE FREE LIBRARY : Its History and Present Condition. By J. J. Ogle, of Bootle Free Library. Cloth. II. LIBRARY CONSTRUCTION, ARCHITEC- TURE, AND FITTINGS. By F. J. Bur- GOYNE, of the Tate Central Library, Brixton. With 141 Illustrations. Cloth. III. LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION. By J. Macfarlane, of the British Museum. Cloth. IV. PRICES OF BOOKS. By Henry B. Wheatley, of the Society of Arts. Cloth. THE FREE LIBRARY ITS HISTORY AND PRESENT CONDITION JOHN J. OGLE NEW YORK : FRANCIS P. HARPER LONDON : GEORGE ALLEN 1898 ; Z19I GENERAL INTRODUCTION The present age has received divers epithets, mostly uncomplimentary. If ever defined as the Age of Gold, this has by no means been intended in the ancient sense of an age of primitive innocence and simplicity. It has been styled the Age of Steam, the Age of Veneer, and the Age of Talk. As these dis- paraging epithets have all been affixed by itself, it may occur to some that the Age of Modesty, or at least of Penitence, might not be an inappropriate designation ; and after all, we do not apprehend that future ages will consider it so very inferior to most of its predecessors, and are sure that it will be universally preferred to the Ages of Darkness. With these, at least, it has nothing in common. To call it the Age of Light were presumptuous, but an Age of Light it assuredly is, and, did we seek for a name, we should be inclined to entitle it the Age of Books. Not merely that there never before were so many books in the world, or that there never was a time when books and news- papers were so widely read or so influential but that there never before was so much interest and curiosity respecting the makers of books, authors—the emitters of books, publishers—or the 511187 vi GENERAL INTRODUCTION custodians of books, librarians. This curiosity, frequently frivolous and annoying, bears testimony, at all events, to the place which literature has taken, not merely in fact, but in general apprehension, among the agencies which mould the world. She always has had this place in effect ever since hieroglyphical writing passed into alphabetical, but the man of the world has been singularly uncon- scious of the agency by which its course was in large measure determined. Alexander has been conspicuous, Aristotle has been overlooked. Now the attention paid to authorship in all its forms shows that mankind has become aware that its destinies may be much affected by what some unknown young man is at the present moment scribbling in a garret. Those who have especially interested themselves in education, among whom librarians are to be reckoned, may justly regard this general percep- tion as a proof that their efforts have not been in vain. Before men can be interested in trifling details about authors, they must have conceived an interest in books which certainly did not exist in the eighteenth century. The more trivial the gossip—and it is often most provokingly so—the greater the evidence of a demand. And this testi- mony is corroborated when curiosity is found to pass beyond the persons of authors, and to com- prise inquisitiveness respecting books themselves ; whether evinced by curiosity respecting particular copies or editions, or by such particulars as the circulation of successful books, the rarity of such GENERAL INTRODUCTION Vll as have been for a time neglected, the peculiarities of particular copies, or extraordinary prices realised at sales. That this curiosity exists, the columns of the press afford daily evidence. It is clear that the schoolmaster has been abroad to some purpose, and that one of the results of his mission has been the awakening of an intelligent interest, not merely in the producers and distributors of books, but in the history, the commercial value, the ex- ternal semblance, and the fitting treatment of the volumes themselves. The individual book has been ably dealt with of late in monographs referring to the subject of Bibliography. The object of the little series now introduced to the public is to deal with the Book, not so much individually, but collectively, in the aggregated form which is called the Library. Bibliography is neither excluded from the volumes already arranged, nor proscribed as the theme of volumes which may succeed. But it is believed that the most profitable and generally acceptable information which can be given to the public in the first instance is that which relates to the books of the public, the collections which are the property of the entire community, and in whose general administration every citizen should feel interested. Provision has accordingly been made for free libraries in particular. The scheme includes a complete account of the history of the establish- ment of free libraries in the United Kingdom, including the National Library, with particular de- tails of the progress of the more important, and a Vlll GENERAL INTRODUCTION brief exposition of the legislation by which they are governed ; for a practical discussion on library architecture, illustrated with numerous illustrations of libraries and library appurtenances ; and a manual of the leading points in library administra- tion. These little treatises, it is hoped, will be found practically useful by all interested in libraries, and more especially in free libraries, whether practically concerned in their management as librarians or committee men, or merely frequenters and well- wishers. Another volume, dealing mainly with the prices of books, besides its practical utility to purchasers, illustrates a very interesting nook of literary history. Other volumes may not improb- ably follow. Undertaken, as has been explained, in deference *to what appeared the growing popu- lar interest in books and everything pertaining to them, the series, it is hoped, may contribute something to raising the general estimate of the importance of the librarian's office, and the status to which the faithful discharge of its duties entitles him. We have got long past the days when the librarian was defined as "a harmless drudge," and the few posts in his profession worth having were employed to satisfy embarrassing claims on the dispensers of patronage. Much yet remains to be accomplished before the position which the librarian might, and ought to, occupy is sufficiently recognised either by the community in general or the profession itself. Any approxima- tion towards it is doubly welcome, as an index both to an improved appreciation of the supreme GENERAL INTRODUCTION IX importance of knowledge on the part of the public, and to an elevation of the ideals of librarians themselves. The more generous recognition of their services which it is their ambition to obtain can only be insured by a steady increase in the value of these services, and the librarian will be honoured not as the mere distributor of an inferior class of literature, but in proportion as he approves himself a dispenser of information and enlighten- ment, and a guide qualified to direct the popular taste for reading. R. GARNETT. PREFACE The aim of this work is sufficiently indicated by the title-page and table of contents. The Library per se is its subject, hence only incidental notice has been taken of library buildings and library administration ; moreover, these subjects are dealt with in other books of the same series. The infor- mation as far as possible has been gathered at first hand ; but for the early history Hansard's Parlia- mentary Debates, the various Returns concerning Public Libraries presented to Parliament, old news- papers and reports have been diligently searched. The publications of the Library Association, and in particular Library, edited Y. The by Mr. J. W. MacAlister, have been of the greatest use for the facts they have furnished. Other sources of infor- mation are indicated in the work itself. The most conflicting statements are in print, especially re- garding the dates of local adoptions of the Public Libraries Acts. Great care has been taken to ascertain the true dates, and these have been given as precisely as could be ascertained in the limits of time set for the preparation of this work. My thanks for special assistance in my researches are due, and are hereby tendered, to Mr. Peter Xll PREFACE Cowell, librarian of the Liverpool Free Public Libraries, and to Mr. Thomas Formby, the sub- librarian ; also to Mr. C. W. Sutton, the city lib- rarian of Manchester, and to Mr. W. R. Credland, deputy chief librarian of the same city. To Mr. Charles Madeley of the Warrington Museum I am indebted for access to various monumental docu- ments of the early days of the movement, and for tfce loan of certain blue-books. Mr. F. T. Barrett, librarian of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow, and Mr. W. E. Doubleday, librarian of the Hampstead Public Libraries, have assisted me with informa- tion for Chapter XIII.; and I have also to thank Mr. T. W. Lyster, librarian of the National Library of Ireland, for valuable assistance and suggestions during the reading of the proofs. Finally, my hearty thanks are tendered to the librarians and secretaries of libraries who answered my long list of questions, and whose names are recorded in the statistical tables of the Appendix. Without their valued aid this work could not have been written. In such a work as this, errors of fact are very apt to creep in ; with a view to their amendment in a second edition, the author will be glad to receive any duly authenticated corrections.