The most important endowed library in Scotland is the Mitchell Library in Glasgow, founded by Stephen Mitchell, tobacco-manufacturer (1874), who left £70,000 for the purpose. It was opened in 1877 in temporary premises, and after various changes will soon be transferred to a very fine new building specially erected. It contains some very valuable special collections, among which may be mentioned Scottish poetry, Burns’ works, Glasgow books and printing, and a choice collection of fine books on art and other subjects given by Robert Jeffrey. It contains nearly 200,000 vols. and is the reference library for the Glasgow public library system. Another older Glasgow public library, also founded by a tobacco merchant, is Stirling’s and Glasgow Public Library (1791), which was endowed by Walter Stirling, and amalgamated with an existing subscription library. It contains 60,000 vols. and is free to reference readers, but a subscription is charged for borrowing privileges. Still another Glasgow institution is Baillie’s Institution Free Reference Library, established under the bequest of George Baillie (1863), but not opened till 1887. It contains over 24,000 vols. Other Scottish endowed libraries are the Anderson Library, Woodside, Aberdeen (1883); the Taylor Free Library, Crieff (1890); the Elder Free Library, Govan (1900); and the Chambers Institution, Peebles (1859), founded by William Chambers, the well-known publisher. The public library of Armagh, Ireland, was founded by Lord Primate Robinson in 1770, who gave a considerable number of books and an endowment. The books are freely available, either on the spot, or by loan on deposit of double the value of the work applied for.
There are many libraries belonging to societies devoted to the study of every kind of subject, and it is only necessary to mention a few of the principal. Full particulars of most of them will be found in Reginald A. Rye’s Libraries of societies and learned bodies. Libraries of London: a Guide for Students (1910), a work of accuracy and value.
Of the law libraries, that at Lincoln’s Inn, London, is the oldest and the largest. It dates from 1497, when John Nethersale, a member of the society, made a bequest of forty marks, part of which was to be devoted to the building of a library for the benefit of the students of the laws of England. A catalogue of the printed books was published in 1859 and since supplemented, and the MSS. were catalogued by the Rev. Joseph Hunter in 1837. There are about 72,000 vols. The library of the Inner Temple is known to have existed in 1540. In the middle of the 17th century it received a considerable benefaction from William Petyt, the well-known keeper of the Tower records. There are now about 60,000 vols., including the pamphlets collected by John Adolphus for his History of England, books on crime and prisons brought together by Mr Crawford, and a selection of works on jurisprudence made by John Austin. A library in connexion with the Middle Temple was in existence during the reign of Henry VIII., but the date usually assigned to its foundation is 1641, when Robert Ashley left his books to the inn of which he had been a member. There are now about 50,000 vols. Gray’s Inn Library (21,000 vols.) was perhaps established before 1555. In 1669 was made the first catalogue of the books, and the next, still extant, in 1689. The Law Society (1828) has a good law and general library (50,000 vols.), including the best collection of private acts of parliament in England. The library of the Royal Society (1667), now housed in Burlington House, contains over 80,000 vols., of which many are the transactions and other publications of scientific bodies. The Royal Institution of Great Britain (1803) possesses a reference library of 60,000 vols. Some of its early catalogues were in classified form. The London Institution (1805), in the City, is a general library of reference and lending books open to members only. There are about 150,000 vols., and lectures are given in connexion with the institution. The Royal Society of Arts has a library numbering about 11,000 vols., chiefly the publications of other learned bodies.
The best library of archaeology and kindred subjects is that of the Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House, consisting of nearly 40,000 printed vols. and many MSS. It is rich in early printed books, topography, heraldry and numismatics, and includes a curious collection of books on pageants presented by Mr Fairholt, and the remarkable assemblage of lexicographical works formerly belonging to Albert Way.
Of libraries devoted to the natural sciences may be mentioned those of the Geological Society of London (1807), with over 30,000 vols. and maps; the Linnean Society (1788), 35,000 vols.; the Zoological Society (1829), about 31,000 vols. Of libraries associated with medicine there are those of the Royal Society of Medicine (1907), incorporating a number of medical societies, over 95,000 vols., about to be housed in a new building; the Royal College of Physicians (1525), 26,000 vols.; the British Medical Association, 20,000 vols.; the Royal College of Surgeons of England (1800), 60,000 vols., with a MS. catalogue on cards; the Chemical Society (1841), over 25,000 vols.; and the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (1841), about 15,000 vols. Other important London society libraries are—the Royal Geographical Society (1830), 50,000 vols., and numerous maps in a special room, open to the public for reference; the Royal Colonial Institute (1868), 70,000 vols. of British colonial literature; the Royal United Service Institution, Whitehall (1831), has 32,000 works on military and naval subjects and a museum. Large and interesting collections of books are owned by the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institution of Electrical Engineers (containing the Ronalds Library), the Royal Academy, the Royal Institute of British Architects, and practically every other working society in London.
The English provincial libraries connected with societies or learned bodies are mostly attached to those concerned with law, medicine, and various antiquarian, literary and scientific subjects. The headquarters of most national societies being in London to some extent accounts for the comparatively small number of these special libraries in the provinces.
The most important libraries of this description outside London are situated in Scotland and Ireland, and one at least is practically a national collection.
The principal library in Scotland is that of the Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh, who in 1680 appointed a committee of their number, which reported that “it was fitt that, seeing if the recusants could be made pay their entire money, there wold be betwixt three thousand and four thousand pounds in cash; that the same be imployed on the best and fynest lawers and other law bookes, conforme to a catalogue to be condescended upon by the Facultie, that the samen may be a fonde for ane Bibliothecque whereto many lawers and others may leave their books.” In 1682 the active carrying out of the scheme was committed to the Dean of Faculty, Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh, who may be regarded as the founder of the library. In 1684 the first librarian was appointed, and the library appears to have made rapid progress, since it appears from the treasurer’s accounts that in 1686 the books and furniture were valued at upwards of £11,000 Scots, exclusive of donations. In the year 1700, the rooms in the Exchange Stairs, Parliament Close, in which the library was kept, being nearly destroyed by fire the collection was removed to the ground floor of the Parliament House, where it has ever since remained. The library retains the copyright privilege conferred upon it in 1709. Of the special collections the most important are the Astorga collection of old Spanish books, purchased by the faculty in 1824 for £4000; the Thorkelin collection, consisting of about 1200 vols., relating chiefly to the history and antiquities of the northern nations, and including some rare books on old Scottish poetry; the Dietrich collection of over 100,000 German pamphlets and dissertations, including many of the writings of Luther and Melanchthon, purchased for the small sum of £80; and the Combe collection.
The faculty appear early to have turned their attention to the collection of MSS., and this department of the library now numbers about 3000 vols. Many of them are of great interest and value, especially for the civil and ecclesiastical history of Scotland before and after the Reformation. There are thirteen monastic chartularies which escaped the destruction of the religious houses to which they belonged. The MSS. relating to Scottish church history include the collections of Spottiswoode, Wodrow and Calderwood. The Wodrow collection consists of 154 vols., and includes his correspondence, extending from 1694 to 1726. Sir James Balfour’s collection and the Balcarres papers consist largely of original state papers, and include many interesting royal letters of the times of James V., Queen Mary and James VI. The Sibbald papers, numbering over 30 vols., are largely topographical. The Riddel notebooks, numbering 156 vols., contain collections to illustrate the genealogy of Scottish families. There are about one hundred volumes of Icelandic MSS., purchased in 1825 from Professor Finn Magnusson, and some Persian and Sanskrit, with a few classical, manuscripts. The department has some interesting treasures of old poetry, extending to 73 vols. The most important are the Bannatyne MS., in 2 vols. folio, written by George Bannatyne in 1568, and the Auchinleck MS., a collection of ancient English poetry, named after Alexander Boswell of Auchinleck, who presented it in 1774.
The first catalogue of the printed books was compiled in 1692, and contains a preface by Sir George Mackenzie. Another was prepared under the care of Ruddiman in 1742. In 1853 the late Mr Halkett commenced a catalogue, which has been printed in 6 vols. 4to, with a supplement, and includes all the printed books in the library at the end of 1871, containing about 260,000 entries. The library, managed by a keeper and staff, under a board of six curators, is easily accessible to all persons engaged in literary work, and now contains about 500,000 vols.
The library of the Writers to the Signet was established by the Society at Edinburgh in 1755. At first it consisted of law books exclusively, but in 1788 they began to collect the best editions of works in other departments of literature. During the librarianship of Macvey Napier (1805–1837) the number of volumes was more than sextupled, and in 1812 the library was removed to the new hall adjoining the Parliament House. In 1834 the upper hall was devoted to the collection. This is a magnificent apartment 142 ft. long, with a beautiful cupola painted by Stothard. The library now contains over 110,000 vols. and includes some fine specimens of early printing, as well as many other rare and costly works. It is especially rich in county histories and British topography and antiquities. A catalogue of the law books was printed in 1856. The late David Laing, who became librarian in 1837, published the first volume of a new catalogue in 1871, and in 1891 this was completed with a subject
