which are with a few exceptions those of the year 1880-81, the number of volumes in stock and of the total issues is as follows. In eighty-one libraries returning their number of volumes, there is a total of 1,448,192 volumes in stock; while the total issues for the year in seventy-six libraries amounted to the enormous number of 9,023,742 volumes. Even these figures afford a very inadequate idea of the service rendered by these institutions in supplying popular reading. They take no account of the visits made to the newsrooms which are almost invariably connected with the libraries, or of the use made of the magazines and periodicals which lie upon the tables. The free public libraries generally consist of a lending department, with a reference library wherever the institution can provide one. A very large proportion of the issues from the lending departments consists of fiction, the percentage varying in different libraries from about 50 to as much as 75 per cent, of the whole. It is only in the case of the wealthier institutions, such as those in the great towns of Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham, that the reference departments are so important as to claim consideration here in respect of the intrinsic character of their collections. Even some of the smaller libraries, however, present features of interest in their collections of local books, or of books illustrating the trade or industry of the district, or the life and writings of some great man connected with or born in the locality.
The Salford Free Public Library was one of the libraries which were established under the Museums Act of 1845, and was opened in 1850 in connexion with the museum and picture gallery at Peel Park. The buildings are pleasantly situated in grounds of 46 acres in extent. The reference library now contains 33,500 volumes, and besides the central lending departments there are three branches in different parts of the borough. The income from the penny rate is about £3300; but this is found to be inadequate.
The Manchester Free Library was the first to be established under the Act of 1850. A public subscription of nearly £13,000 was raised to defray the expenses of its establishment, and the library was opened in September 1852. The working of this library was a success from the outset. The issues in the first year were in the reference departments 61,080 volumes, and in the lending departments 77,232. The progress made since then may be measured by the number of volumes issued last year (1881), which amounted to 966,468, and by the fact that six branch libraries have been established. The rate produces an income of £11,000. The reference library now possesses a valuable collection of 65,000 volumes, chiefly of standard works. It contains several special collections, chiefly connected with the industries and history of the district. The library of the English Dialect Society, of which a catalogue has been printed, is deposited here. In addition, the library possesses a very extensive series of periodicals, and a larger collection of political and commercial tracts than can be found any where in the country except at the British Museum. A good catalogue was printed in 1864, and a new and extensive index has just appeared.
The library at Liverpool, which was established under a special Act passed in 1852, is the most successful of all the free public libraries, and is connected with a splendid museum and art gallery, the former formed around the nucleus of the ornithological specimens bequeathed to the town by the thirteenth earl of Derby. The rapid extension of museum and library soon rendered larger premises a necessity. The late Sir William Brown took upon himself the entire cost of the present extensive buildings, which were opened in 1860. In 1880 was opened the Picton Heading-Room. It is a circular room 100 feet in diameter, surmounted by a dome, the entire height being 56 feet. It contains 50,000 volumes, and will accommodate over 300 readers. Since April 1881 the electric light has been employed. Under the reading-room is a large circular lecture-room accommodating 1500 persons, in which lectures are regularly delivered. There is a numerous collection of local books and pamphlets. The Binns collection, consisting of maps, plans, drawings, portraits, &c., all having reference to the county of Lancaster, is very interesting and valuable. The issues from the reference library in 1880 were 870,716, and with the issues from the two lending departments make the enormous aggregate of 1,307,131. The rate produces an income of 13,000 per annum, of which more than 5000 is expended upon the libraries. An elaborate catalogue of the reference library was published in 1872, and a supplement is now being printed. In 1853 Bolton established a library which now hns a circulation of over 240,000 volumes. In 1855 libraries were established at Birkenhead and Sheffield. At Birkenhead the rate produces 1500, and 130,000 volumes were lent out last year. At Sheffield, where the rate produces 4750, there are three branches, and the total issues last year were 384,266. The reference library has only 9000 volumes.
The Acts, after having been rejected at Birmingham in 1852, were adopted in 1860. By 1868 four branches had been opened in addition to the central reference and lending libraries. The issues from the lending departments last year were 400,000 volumes. The reference library consisted of over 50,000 volumes. The Shakespeare Memorial Library consisted of about 7000 volumes. There were also the Staunton Warwickshire collections of books and MSS. and the Cervantes books. All these collections were unfortunately destroyed by a fire on January 11, 1879. The inhabitants of Birmingham have shown much public spirit in repairing the losses then sustained so far as is possible, and the new central reference and lending libraries are expected to be open early in 1882, when it is anticipated that there will be as many volumes ready to be placed in the reference library as there were when the former library was destroyed. No town in England is so surrounded with free libraries as Birmingham. The rate at Birmingham produces over £6000.
The free library at Nottingham (1867) has recently had new quarters found for it in the new university buildings. It has two branches, and its issues are about 160,000. The rate produces £2200. The local collections include a Byron library. The library at Leeds (1868) has no less than twenty-one branches, and together they count over 109,000 volumes. The issues last year, in addition to the use made of the central reference library, were 639,613. The rate produces nearly 5000. At Leicester there is only a halfpenny rate, which produces about 800. The issues last year were 192.317. At Bradford (Acts adopted 1871) the rate produces 3200, and there are five branches with a circulation of 291,276 volumes, besides the use made of the reference library. At Plymouth (Acts adopted 1871, library opened 1876) the circulation was 171,851 last year; at Rochdale (Acts adopted 1872) 168,514. At each place there is a good collection of local literature, and at Rochdale a collection of works on the woollen manufacture. The library at Newcastle, opened in 1880, has issued from its lending departments, in its first year, no less than 301,925 volumes to about 14,000 readers. A splendid building is in course of erection to accommodate the reference library. This department is intended to contain a complete collection of all standard works, and also a collection of books and manuscripts relating to Newcastle and the northern counties generally. The rate produces 2800. At Bristol a town library had been established in 1614 by Robert Redwood and Archbishop Matthew, and this has formed the nucleus of the collections formed under the Acts when they were adopted in 1875. The total number of volumes is about 46,000. The issues were 432,646 at the central library and its three branches. At Southport (1875) Mr Atkinson gave the building called after him for a library and art gallery. The issues last year were 110,778. The rate produced 775, and an additional voluntary rate produced a little over 100 besides.
It will be seen from this summary statement that the libraries established under the Acts have in the cases mentioned been abundantly used. The merit of these results is very largely due to the enlightened energy of those who are entrusted with their administration.
Amongst the English libraries that have not yet been described there are few that call for special mention. Some of these have been founded by individuals, and still bear their names. The most notable of these is the fine old library established by Humphrey Chetham at Manchester in 1653, which is still housed in the old collegiate buildings where Raleigh was once entertained by Dr Dee. The collection consists largely of older literature, and numbers 40,000 volumes, with 300 MSS. It is freely open to the public, and may be said to have been the first free library in England. Dr Shepherd's library at Preston was bequeathed by the founder, a physician of the town, to the corporation of Preston in trust for the inhabitants in the year 1759. It is a library of reference, accessible on a recommendation from an alderman. The William Salt Library, a special Staffordshire library with numerous MSS. and other collections, formed to bring together materials for a history of Staffordshire, was opened to the public in 1874.
Subscription libraries.Some mention should be made also of the more important subscription or proprietary libraries, which were formed for the most part in the latter half of the 18th century. It is difficult for us to realize how few collections of books were accessible to the public of the last century even in London. The earliest circulating library in the metropolis was established about the middle of the century. The first in Birmingham was opened by Hutton in 1757. The idea of a proprietary library appears to have been first carried out at Liverpool in 1758. The library then formed still flourishes at the Lyceum, and possesses a collection of 72,000 volumes and an income of £1200 a year. In 1760 a library was formed at Warrington which has been merged
