London Library

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The London Library

Facade of the London Library in James's Square
Formation 1841
Type Subscription library
Location 14 St. James's Square, London
Membership 7,000+
Patron Elizabeth II
President Sir Tom Stoppard
Chairman of Trustees Bill Emmott.
Librarian Inez Lynn
Website http://www.londonlibrary.co.uk

The London Library is the world's largest independent lending library, and one of the UK's leading literary institutions. It is located in the St James's area of the City of Westminster, London.[1]

The library was founded in 1841 on the initiative of Thomas Carlyle, who was dissatisfied with some of the policies at the British Museum Library.[2][3] It has been based at 14 St. James's Square since 1845, after initially occupying the first floor of 49 Pall Mall.[4]

Membership is open to all, on payment of an annual subscription. Life membership is also available, on a scale depending on age. Corporate bodies and other institutions can also join at commercial rate. As of March 2012 the library has 7,155 members.[5]

T. S. Eliot, a long-serving President of the library, argued in 1952 in an address to members that, "whatever social changes come about, the disappearance of the London Library would be a disaster to civilisation".[6]

Contents

Trustees and governance [edit]

The London Library is a self-supporting, independent institution. It is a registered charity[7] whose sole aim is the advancement of education, learning, and knowledge. It was originally incorporated by Royal Charter on 13 June 1933, with a supplemental Royal Charter granted on 21 October 1988. On 6 July 2004, the Queen granted the Library a new Royal Charter, which revoked both the 1933 and 1968 charters.[8] It has its own byelaws 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 Honorary 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.)

19th-century London Library book label

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 1957 the Library suddenly received a demand from the Westminster City Council for rates (despite being registered as a tax-free charity), and the Inland Revenue was also involved. Most publishers then donated free copies of their books to the library. The final appeal was turned down by the Court of Appeal in 1959, and a letter in The Times of 5 November from the President and Chairman (T. S. Eliot and Rupert Hart-Davis) appealed for funds. An auction of manuscripts from many authors on 22 June 1960 raised £17,000 and £25,000 respectively; enough to clear debts and legal expenses of £20,000. At the sale T. E. Lawrence items from his brother fetched £3,800, Eliot’s The Waste Land fetched £2,800, and Lytton Strachey’s Queen Victoria £1,800, though 170 inscribed books and pamphlets from John Masefield fetched only £200, which Hart-Davis thought "shamefully low". The Queen and Queen Mother both gave some rare and valuable old books.[9][10]

20th-century London Library book label designed by Reynolds Stone

Collections [edit]

The library's collections, which range from the 16th century to the present day, are strong within the fields of literature, fiction, fine and applied art, architecture, history, biography, 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, some stock was lost to bomb damage and in 1970 its few incunabula were sold. This apart, the library has (except for some duplicates) retained all items acquired since its foundation. The library now holds more than one million items, and in 2011 it acquired 8,123 books and periodicals. 97% of the collection is available for loan, either on-site or through the post. The Library is the largest lending library in Europe.

It is a central tenet of the Library that, as books are never entirely superseded, and therefore never redundant, the collections should not be weeded of material merely because it is old, idiosyncratic or unfashionable: except in the case of occasional duplicate volumes, almost nothing has ever been discarded from the Library shelves.

The library also subscribes to many ejournals and other online databases.[11] All post-1950 acquisitions are searchable on the on-line catalogue, and pre-1950 volumes are progressively being added as part of the Retrospective Cataloguing Project.[12]

95% of the collection is housed on open shelves (the remaining 5% includes rare books which need to be held in secure storage). This open access policy (which contrasts with that in many other large libraries, including the British Library), and the opportunity it provides to discover books through serendipity, is greatly valued by members. Colin Wilson remembered his first visit to the library in the mid 1960s: "I have always had an obsession about books, and in this place I felt like a sex maniac in the middle of a harem".[13] Arthur Koestler recorded how in 1972, commissioned to report on the Spassky–Fischer chess championship in Reykjavík, he visited the London Library to carry out some background research:

I hesitated for a moment whether to go to the "C" for chess section first, or the "I" for Iceland section, but chose the former, because it was nearer. There were about twenty to thirty books on chess on the shelves, and the first that caught my eye was a bulky volume with the title, Chess in Iceland and Icelandic Literature by Williard Friske, published in 1905 by the Florentine Typographical Society, Florence, Italy.[14]
Bookstack in the 1896–8 building.

Buildings [edit]

Apart from the brief period of four years (1841–5) when it occupied rooms at 49 Pall Mall, the library has always been based on the same site at 14 St. James's Square. However, its premises have undergone a number of changes and extensions over the years as the collections have grown.

The property in St James's Square first occupied by the library was a house, Beauchamp House, built in 1676 and renovated at later dates. A proposal in the 1770s (when it was owned by Lord Newhaven) to rebuild it to a design by Robert Adam was abandoned, but it was refronted shortly afterwards. Located in the north-west corner of the square, it had a much smaller frontage than its neighbours, and was described by A.I. Dasent in 1895 as "admittedly the worst house in the Square".[15] The library rented the house from 1845, and in 1879 bought the freehold.[16][17] In the early years, to defray costs, some of the rooms were let to the Statistical Society of London, the Philological Society, and the Institute of Actuaries.[18][19][20]

In 1896–8 the premises were completely rebuilt to the designs of James Osborne Smith, and this building survives as the front part of the present library complex. The facade, overlooking St James's Square, is constructed in Portland stone in a broadly Jacobethan style, described by the Survey of London as "curiously eclectic".[16] The main reading room is on the first floor; and above this three tall windows light three floors of bookstack. Another four floors of bookstacks were built to the rear. Osborne Smith was also responsible for an additional seven-storey bookstack, built further back still in 1920–2. (This new stack was notable for its opaque glass floors: an unforeseen drawback of the combination of glass and structural metal shelving was that browsers in the stacks were liable to receive periodic jolts of static electricity, a problem which continues to catch new members unawares, and for which no solution has ever been found.[21]) In 1932–4 another extension was carried out to the north, incorporating a committee room (named the Prevost Room, after a major benefactor), an Art Room, and five more floors of bookstacks: the architects were the firm of Mewès & Davis.[16][22][23]

In February 1944 the northern bookstacks suffered considerable damage when the library suffered a direct hit from a bomb: 16,000 volumes were destroyed, including most of the Biography section. Although the library reopened in July, repairs to the buildings were not completed until the early 1950s.[16][24][25]

Following World War II, the library continued to experience a need for increased space, although the practical possibilities for expansion were limited. A mezzanine was inserted within the Art Room in the early 1970s; four floors of bookstack were constructed above the north bay of the reading room in 1992; and in 1995 the Anstruther Wing (named after its benefactor, Ian Anstruther) was erected at the extreme rear of the site, a nine-storey building on a small footprint designed principally to house rare books storage.[26]

View of the library buildings from Mason's Yard. The windows in the blind alley to the left include those of the north bay of the Reading Room on the first floor, with the 1992 bookstack above. The brick building at centre right is T.S. Eliot House.

In 2004, the library acquired Duchess House, a four-storey 1970s office building adjoining the north side of the existing site, which increased overall capacity by 30%.[27][28] The building was renamed T.S. Eliot House in 2008. The opportunity was taken for a major rationalisation and overhaul of the greater part of the library's premises. Staff activities were concentrated in T.S. Eliot House (freeing up space in the older buildings for book storage and members' facilities); a new reading room was inserted in a lightwell; the Art Room was completely restructured and redesigned; the main Issue Hall remodelled; new circulation routes created; and other alterations made elsewhere. The first phase of work, the modification and refurbishment of T.S. Eliot House, was completed in 2007; and the second phase in 2010. The architects for the redevelopment were Haworth Tompkins; while the toilets were designed in collaboration with Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Creed.[29][30]

London Library's copy of a book by Patrick Leigh Fermor on location, Morea, August 2007

Subscription [edit]

In 1903 the annual membership fee was £3. Around the time of the First World 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. In the wake of the acquisition of T.S.Eliot House, the annual subscription was raised dramatically in January 2008 from £210 to £375 (with certain concessionary rates, and no initial fee).

As of January 2013 the annual fee for Individual membership is £460. Concessionary rates include Young Person's membership (£230), Spouse/Partner membership (£230) and Carlyle membership.[31]

Support [edit]

The London Library has a Corporate Patron scheme offering many benefits including exclusive hire of the Library for private events. The Founders' Circle is a group dedicated to supporting the running of the Library year by year, ensuring that it has the means to continue at the service of all who have need of its intellectual capital. Named in honour of the first 500 members who set the Library on its feet in 1841, the Founders' Circle come together at a variety of interesting and exclusive events throughout the year.

Individuals can also support the Library by donating to The Book Fund or taking part in Adopt a Book schemes, whereby members can adopt new, favourite or rare books in the Library.

Awards and competitions [edit]

The London Library launched a Student Prize in October 2011 in partnership with The Times and FreshMinds. The London Library Student Prize is a writing competition open to all final-year undergraduates studying at higher education institutions in the UK. The theme was "The future of Britain lies with the right-hand side of the brain" and the winner was announced in March 2012 as Ben Mason, who studied Philosophy and Modern Languages (German) at Trinity College, Oxford. [32]

Now in its second year and partnered with The Times and Milkround, The London Library Student Prize 2013 is open for entries. Entrants must write an 800-word piece on the theme "Gap years - a new form of colonialism?", the winning piece to be published in the comment pages of The Times and in The London Library Magazine, with the winner receiving £5000.[33]

Website and social media [edit]

The library has a Facebook page and Twitter account, with over 7000 users on both Facebook and Twitter. It launched a new website in September 2011, designed and developed by GR/DD.

Literary references [edit]

The library has featured in a number of works of literature and fiction.[34]

Patrons [edit]

Shortly after the library's foundation, Prince Albert agreed to serve as its patron.[37][38] Subsequent royal patrons have been King Edward VII; King George V; King George VI; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother; and Queen Elizabeth II.[39]

Presidents [edit]

The office of President of the library has been held by the following:[40]

Vice-presidents have included Lord Lyttelton, Sir Isaiah Berlin, Sir Rupert Hart-Davis, Lord Kenyon, Lord Rayne, Hon. Sir Steven Runciman, Dame Veronica Wedgwood, and Dame Rebecca West. Trustees have included Philip Ziegler, 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.

Librarians [edit]

The office of senior librarian of the library (historically known by the title of Librarian and Secretary, and more recently simply as Librarian) has been held by the following:[41]

  • John George Cochrane, 1841–1852
  • William Bodham Donne, 1852–1857
  • Robert Harrison, 1857–1893
  • Charles Theodore Hagberg Wright, 1893–1940
  • Christopher Purnell, 1940–1950
  • Simon Nowell-Smith, 1950–1956
  • Stanley Gillam, 1956–1980
  • Douglas Matthews, 1980–1993
  • Alan Bell, 1993–2001
  • Inez Lynn, 2002–

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ "Libraries." City of Westminster. Retrieved on 21 January 2009.
  2. ^ Grindea 1978, pp. 9–13
  3. ^ Wells 1991, pp. 24–31.
  4. ^ Wells 1991, p. 57.
  5. ^ London Library: 2011-2012 Annual Report and Financial Statements
  6. ^ T.S. Eliot, A Presidential Address to the Members of the London Library, July 1952: reproduced in McIntyre 2006, p. 33.
  7. ^ THE LONDON LIBRARY, Registered Charity no. 312175 at the Charity Commission
  8. ^ http://www.london-library.co.uk/images/PDFs/LLCharter6July2004FINALSEALEDVERSION.pdf
  9. ^ Wells 1991, pp. 188–202.
  10. ^ Hart-Davis, Rupert (1998). Halfway to Heaven: concluding memoirs of a literary life. Stroud: Sutton. ISBN 0-7509-1837-3. 
  11. ^ London Library: Collections
  12. ^ London Library: Catalogues
  13. ^ Grindea 1978, p. 91.
  14. ^ Quoted in Wells 1991, pp. 224–5.
  15. ^ Dasent, Arthur Irwin (1895). The History of St James's Square. London: Macmillan. p. 127. 
  16. ^ a b c d Sheppard, F.H.W., ed. (1960). "St James's Square: individual houses". The Parish of St James Westminster: Part One: South of Piccadilly. Survey of London 29. London: Athlone Press. pp. 139–42.  Text "issue " ignored (help)
  17. ^ Wells 1991, pp. 66–8.
  18. ^ Wells 1991, pp. 69–70.
  19. ^ McIntyre 2006, pp. 9-10.
  20. ^ Dasent 1895, p. 237.
  21. ^ Wells 1991, pp. 221–2.
  22. ^ McIntyre 2006, pp. 11–19.
  23. ^ Wells 1991, pp. 159–66.
  24. ^ Wells 1991, pp. 178–81.
  25. ^ McIntyre 2006, pp. 19-20.
  26. ^ McIntyre 2006, pp. 22-3.
  27. ^ McIntyre 2006, pp. 23, 39–40.
  28. ^ "Timeline: A fascinating history". London Library. Retrieved 13 January 2013. 
  29. ^ "The London Library (phase 1)". Haworth Tompkins. Retrieved 13 January 2013. 
  30. ^ "The London Library (phase 2)". Haworth Tompkins. Retrieved 13 January 2013. 
  31. ^ Join The London Library
  32. ^ http://www.londonlibrarystudentprize.com/winner-announced/
  33. ^ The London Library Student Prize
  34. ^ Several further brief references are noted in Grindea 1978, pp. 64–5.
  35. ^ Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur (1928). "The Illustrious Client". Sherlock Holmes: the Complete Short Stories. London: John Murray. p. 1108. 
  36. ^ Grindea 1978, pp. 35, 65.
  37. ^ Grindea 1978, p. 14.
  38. ^ Wells 1991, p. 51.
  39. ^ McIntyre 2006, p. 43.
  40. ^ McIntyre 2006, p. 43.
  41. ^ McIntyre 2006, p. 43.

Bibliography [edit]

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 Theodore Hagberg Wright; Antony Farrell; Marcel Troulay; Colin Wilson. The cover was by Nicolas Bentley and other illustrations include drawings by Edward Ardizzone and Michael Lasserson.
  • McIntyre, Anthony (2006). Library Book: an architectural journey through the London Library, 1841-2006. London: London Library. ISBN 9780955327704. 
  • Wells, John (1991). Rude Words: a discursive history of the London Library. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0333475194. 
  • Wright, C. T. Hagberg; Purnell, C. J. (1913-55). Catalogue of the London Library, St. James's Square, London. London.  (10 vols.) Includes: Supplement: 1913-20. 1920. Supplement: 1920-28. 1929. Supplement: 1928-53. 1953 (in 2 vols). Subject index: (Vol. 1). 1909. Vol. 2: Additions, 1909-22. Vol. 3: Additions, 1923-38. 1938. Vol. 4: (Additions), 1938-53. 1955.

External links [edit]

Coordinates: 51°30′25″N 0°08′13″W / 51.507°N 0.137°W / 51.507; -0.137

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