London Library

The London Library is the world's largest independent lending library. It was founded in 1841 by (amongst others) Thomas Carlyle, who was dissatisfied with some of the policies at the British Library. The library has been based at 14 St. James's Square since 1845,having originally occupied the first floor of the Travellers Club at 49 Pall Mall.

The library has a stock of over one million books, mostly housed in open stacks and available for loan off-site. The library collects books in all subject areas, with special emphasis on the arts and humanities. It acquires approximately 8,000 new titles a year and subscribes to some 850 periodicals. Membership is open to all, upon payment of an annual subscription. A book mailing service is available to members resident outside London and overseas. The library maintains a club-like atmosphere. It has approximately 8,000 members, mostly private individuals with some 250 corporate members.

Trustees & Governance

The London Library is a self-supporting, independent institution. It is a registered charity whose sole aim is the advancement of education, learning, and knowledge. Incorporated by Royal Charter, it has its own bylaws and the power to make or amend its rules. It has a royal patron, an elected president and vice presidents, and is administered by an elected board of a maximum of 15 trustees, including the Chairman and the Hon. Treasurer.The Earl of Clarendon was the library's first president, Thackeray was its first auditor and Gladstone and Sir Edward Bunbury were on the first committee. The Belgian freedom fighter and former Louvain librarian Sylvain van de Weyer was a vice-president from 1848-1874. (Van de Weyer's father-in-law Joshua Bates was a founder of the Boston Public Library in 1852).

A vigorous and long-serving presence in later Victorian times was Richard Monckton-Milnes, later Lord Houghton, a friend of Florence Nightingale. Dickens was among the founder members. In more recent times, Lord Clark and T. S. Eliot have been among the library's presidents, and Sir Harold Nicolson, Sir Rupert Hart-Davis and the Hon Michael Astor have been Chairmen.

In 1981 the patron was HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Lord Annan was president. The vice-presidents were Sir Isaiah Berlin, Sir Rupert Hart-Davis, Lord Kenyon. Lord Rayne, Hon. Sir Steven Runciman, Dame Veronica Wedgwood, and Dame Rebecca West. The chairman was Philip Ziegler, and the committee included: Correlli Barnett, Bamber Gascoigne, Lewis Golden, John Gross, Duff Hart-Davis, Sir Charles Johnson, Sir Oliver Millar, Anthony Quinton, Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, and Claire Tomalin.

Collections

The library's collections are strong within the fields of literature, history, fine and applied art, architecture, philosophy, religion, topography, and travel. The social sciences are more lightly covered. Pure and natural sciences, technology, medicine and law are not within the library's purview, although it has some books in all of those fields; books on their histories are normally acquired. Periodicals and annuals on a wide range of subjects are also held in the collections.

In 1944, the library suffered war damage to its stock and in 1970 its few incunabula were sold. Otherwise, the Library has retained most of the books it has acquired since its foundation in 1841.

ubscription

In 1903 the annual membership fee was £3. Around the time of the "Great War" it was £3 3s, with an entrance fee of £1 1s. During the 1930s it was £4 4s with an entrance fee of £3 3s. By 1946 the annual rate was still £4 4s, but the joining fee had fallen to £2 2s. In November 1981 it was £60 per annum (that would be the equivalent of c£150 in 2008, (using the consumer price index (CPI), or £165.75 using the retail price index (RPI)). From January 2008 it was increased from £210 to £375 per annum, with the same concessionary rates, and no initial fee.

External links

* [http://www.londonlibrary.co.uk The London Library] - Further information on the library, including its online catalogue.

References

* "The London Library", edited by Miron Grindea, Boydell Press & Adam Books, 1977 and 1978. (ISBN: 0 85115 098 5).::This book has contributions from:::Edmund Gosse, J. M. Barrie; Henry James; George Moore; T.E. Lawrence; Aldous Huxley (all letters);::and essays by: Raymond Mortimer; David Cecil; Anthony Powell; Edna O'Brien; Angus Wilson; Roy Fuller; David Wright; Sean O'Faolain; Michael Burn; Enoch Powell; Noel Annan; George Mikes; George D. Painter; D. J. Enright; John Julius Norwich; Miles Kington; J. W. Lambert; John Weightman; A. E. Ellis; Bruce Berlind; Dorothy M. Partington; Stanley Gillam; Douglas Matthews; Michael Higgins; Oliver Stallybrass; Charles Hagberg Wright; Antony Farrell; Marcel Troulay; Colin Wilson. The cover was by Nicolas Bentley and drawings by Edward Ardizzone and Michael Lasserson.