Chapter IV: , VII (157)

"The books were at first kept in the house of Robert Grace,
whom Franklin characterizes as 'a young gentleman of some
fortune, generous, lively, and witty, a lover of punning and
of his friends.' Afterward they were allotted a room in the
State-House; and, in 1742, a charter was obtained from the
Proprietaries. In 1790, having in the interval absorbed
several other associations and sustained a removal to
Carpenter's Hall, where its apartment had been used as a
hospital for wounded American soldiers, the Library was at
last housed in a building especially erected for it at Fifth
and Chestnut streets, where it remained until within the last
few years. It brought only about eight thousand volumes into
its new quarters, for it had languished somewhat during the
Revolution and the war of words which attended our political
birth. But it had received no injury. … Two years after
removal to its quarters on Fifth street, the Library received
the most valuable gift of books it has as yet had. James
Logan, friend and adviser of Penn, … had gathered a most
important collection of books.
{2019}
Mr. Logan was translator of Cicero's 'Cato Major,' the first
classic published in America, besides being versed in natural
science. His library comprised, as he tells us, 'over one
hundred volumes of authors, all in Greek, with mostly their
versions; all the Roman classics without exception; all the
Greek mathematicians. … Besides there are many of the most
valuable Latin authors, and a great number of modern
mathematicians.' These, at first bequeathed as a public
library to the city, became a branch of the Philadelphia
Library under certain conditions, one of which was that,
barring contingencies, one of the donor's descendants should
always hold the office of trustee. And to-day his direct
descendant fills the position, and is perhaps the only example
in this country of an hereditary office-holder. … In 1869
died Dr. James Rush, son of Benjamin Rush, and himself well
known as the author of a work on the human voice, and as
husband of a lady who almost succeeded in naturalizing the
salon in this country. By his will about one million dollars
were devoted to the erection and maintenance of an isolated
and fire-proof library-building, which was to be named the
Ridgway Library, in memory of his wife. This building was
offered to the Philadelphia Company, and the bequest was
accepted. That institution had by this time accumulated about
one hundred thousand volumes. … A building of the Doric
order was erected, which with its grounds covers an entire
square or block, and is calculated to contain four hundred
thousand volumes, or three times as many as the Library at
present has, and to this building the more valuable books of
the Library were removed in 1878; the fiction and more modern
works being placed in another designed in imitation of the old
edifice, and nearer the center of the city."

_B. Samuel,
The Father of American Libraries
(Century Magazine, May, 1883)._

In 1893, the library of the Philadelphia Library Company
contained 171,069 volumes.

LIBRARIES:
The First Library in New York.

The New York Society Library is the oldest institution of the
kind in the city of New York. "In 1729, the Reverend Dr.
Millington, Rector of Newington, England, by his will,
bequeathed his library to the Society for the Propagation of
the Gospel in Foreign Parts. By this society the library of
Dr. Millington was presented to the corporation of the city,
for the use of the clergy and gentlemen of New-York and the
neighbouring provinces. … 'In 1754 [as related in Smith's
History of New York] a set of gentlemen undertook to carry
about a subscription towards raising a public library, and in
a few days collected near 600 pounds, which were laid out in
purchasing about 700 volumes of new, well-chosen books. Every
subscriber, upon payment of five pounds principal, and the
annual sum of ten shillings, is entitled to the use of these
books,—his right, by the articles, is assignable, and for
non-compliance with them may be forfeited. The care of this
library is committed to twelve trustees, annually elected by
the subscribers, on the last Tuesday of April, who are
restricted from making any rules repugnant to the fundamental
subscription. This is the beginning of a library which, in
process of time, will probably become vastly rich and
voluminous, and it would be very proper for the company to
have a Charter for its security and encouragement.' The
library of the corporation above alluded to, appearing to have
been mismanaged, and at length entirely disused, the trustees
of the New-York Society Library offered to take charge of it,
and to deposit their own collection with it, in the City-Hall.
This proposal having been acceded to by the corporation, the
Institution thenceforward received the appellation of 'The
City Library,' a name by which it was commonly known for a
long time. A good foundation having been thus obtained, the
library prospered and increased. … In 1772, a charter was
granted to it by the colonial government. The war of the
revolution, however, which soon after occurred, interfered
with these pleasing prospects; the city fell into the
possession of the enemy; the effect on all our public
institutions was more or less disastrous, and to the library
nearly fatal. An interval of no less than fourteen years, (of
which it possesses no record whatever,) here occurs in the
history of the society. At length it appears from the minutes,
that 'the accidents of the late war having nearly destroyed
the former library, no meeting of the proprietors for the
choice of trustees was held from the last Tuesday in April,
1774, until Saturday, the 21st December, 1788, when a meeting
was summoned.' In 1789, the original charter, with all its
privileges, was revived by the legislature of this state; the
surviving members resumed the payment of their annual dues, an
accession of new subscribers was obtained, and the society,
undeterred by the loss of its books, commenced almost a new
collection."

_Catalogue of the New York Society Library:
Historical Notice._

LIBRARIES:
Redwood Library.

While Bishop Berkeley was residing, in 1729, on his farm near
Newport, Rhode Island, "he took an active share in forming a
philosophical society in Newport. … Among the members were
Colonel Updike, Judge Scott (a granduncle of Sir Walter
Scott), Nathaniel Kay, Henry Collins, Nathan Townsend, the
Reverend James Honeyman, and the Reverend Jeremiah Condy. …
The Society seems to have been very successful. One of its
objects was to collect books. It originated, in 1747, the
Redwood Library."

_A. C. Fraser,
Life and Letters of George Berkeley
(volume 4 of Works), page 169._

The library thus founded took its name from Abraham Redwood,
who gave £500 to it in 1747. Other subscriptions were obtained
in Newport to the amount of £5,000, colonial currency, and a
building for the library erected in 1750.

_United States of America: Free Public Libraries._

"Mr. Ewart, in his Report of the Select Committee on Public
Libraries, 1849, says: 'Our younger brethren, the people of
the United States, have already anticipated us in the
formation of libraries entirely open to the public.' No free
public library, however, was then in operation, in the United
States, yet one had been authorized by legislative action. The
movements in the same direction in England and the United
States seem to have gone on independently of each other; and
in the public debates and private correspondence relating to
the subject there seems to have been no borrowing of ideas, or
scarcely an allusion, other than the one quoted, to what was
being done elsewhere. In October, 1847, Josiah Quincy, Jr.,
Mayor of Boston, suggested to the City Council that a petition
be sent to the State legislature asking for authority to lay a
tax by which the city of Boston could establish a library free
to all its citizens. The Massachusetts legislature, in March,
1848, passed such an act, and in 1851 made the act apply to
all the cities and towns in the State.
{2020}
In 1849 donations of books were made to the Boston Public
Library. Late in the same year Mr. Edward Everett made to it
the donation of his very complete collection of United States
documents, and Mayor Bigelow a gift of $1,000. In May, 1852,
the first Board of Trustees, with Mr. Everett as president,
was organized, and Mr. Joshua Bates, of London, made his first
donation of $50,000 for the use of the library. It was
fortunate that the public-library system started where it did
and under the supervision of the eminent men who constituted
the first board of trustees of the Boston Public Library. Mr.
George Ticknor was the person who mapped out the sagacious
policy of that library—a policy which has never been
improved, and which has been adopted by all the public
libraries in this country, and, in its main features, by the
free libraries of England. For fifteen years or more Mr.
Ticknor gave the subject his personal attention. He went to
the library every day, as regularly as any of the employes,
and devoted several hours to the minutest details of its
administration. Before he had any official relations with it,
he gave profound consideration to, and settled in his own
mind, the leading principles on which the library should be
conducted. … Started as the public-library system was on
such principles, and under the guidance of these eminent men,
libraries sprang up rapidly in Massachusetts, and similar
legislation was adopted in other States. The first legislation
in Massachusetts was timid. The initiative law of 1848 allowed
the city of Boston to spend only $5,000 a year on its Public
Library, which has since expended $125,000 a year. The State
soon abolished all limitation to the amount which might be
raised for library purposes. New Hampshire, in 1849,
anticipated Massachusetts, by two years, in the adoption of a
general library law. Maine followed in 1854; Vermont in 1865;
Ohio in 1867; Colorado, Illinois, and Wisconsin in 1872;
Indiana and Iowa in 1873; Texas in 1874; Connecticut and Rhode
Island in 1875; Michigan and Nebraska in 1877; California in
1878; Missouri and New Jersey in 1885; Kansas in 1886. … The
public library law of Illinois, adopted in 1872, and since
enacted by other Western States, is more elaborate and
complete than the library laws of any of the New England
States. … The law of Wisconsin is similar to that of
Illinois. … New Jersey has a public-library law patterned
after that of Illinois."

_W. F. Poole,
President's Address at the annual meeting of
the American Library Association, 1887._

The State of New York adopted a library law in 1892, under
which the creation of free libraries has been promisingly
begun. A law having like effect was adopted in New Hampshire
in 1891.

LIBRARIES:
United States of America:
Library Statistics of 1891.

"As to the early statistics of libraries in this country but
little can be found. Prof. Jewett, in his 'Notices of Public
Libraries,' published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1850,
gave a summary of public libraries, amounting to 694 and
containing at that time 2,201,632 volumes. In the census of
1850 an attempt was made to give the number of libraries and
the number of volumes they contained, exclusive of school and
Sunday school libraries. This number was 1,560; the number of
volumes, 2,447,086. In 1856 Mr. Edward Edwards in his summary
of libraries gave a much smaller number of libraries, being
only 341, but the number of volumes was nearly the same, being
2,371,887, and was also based upon the census of 1850. Mr.
William J. Rhees, in his 'Manual of Public Libraries,' which
was printed in 1859, gave a list of 2,902 libraries, but of
all this number only 1,312 had any report whatever of the
number of volumes they contained. From these meager statistics
it is seen that the reports do not vary very much, giving
about the same number of libraries and number of volumes in
them, taking account of the changes that would occur from the
different classifications as to what was excepted or omitted
as a library. The annual reports of the Bureau from 1870 to
1874 contained limited statistics of only a few hundred
libraries, and little more is shown than the fact that there
were about 2,000 public libraries of all kinds in the United
States. About five years of labor was expended in collecting
material for the special report of the Bureau upon public
libraries, which was printed in 1876, and this gave a list of
3,649 libraries of over 300 volumes, and the total number of
volumes was 12,276,964, this being about the first fairly
complete collection of library statistics. In the report of
the Bureau for 1884-85, after considerable correspondence and
using the former work as a basis, another list of public
libraries was published, amounting to 5,388 libraries of over
300 volumes, an increase of 1,869 libraries in ten years, or
almost 54 per cent. The number of volumes contained in these
libraries at that time was 20,622,076, or an increase of about
66 per cent, and showing that the percentage of increase in
the number of volumes was even greater than that of the number
of libraries. An estimate of the proportion of smaller
libraries under 500 volumes in that list indicates that these
smaller libraries included only about 20 per cent of the
books, so that this list could be said to fairly show the
extent of the libraries at that time. In the report for
1886-87, detailed statistics of the various classes of
libraries were given, except those of colleges and schools,
which were included in the statistics of those institutions.
From the uncertainty of the data and the imperfect records
given of the very small libraries, it was deemed best to
restrict the statistics to collections of books that might be
fairly called representative, and as those having less than
1,000 volumes made but a proportionally small percentage of
the whole number of books the basis of 1,000 volumes or over
was taken. This list includes the statistics only of libraries
of this size and amounted to 1,777 libraries, containing
14,012,370 volumes, and were arranged in separate lists by
classes as far as it could be done. … The number of
libraries and of volumes in each of the seven special classes
in the report made in 1887 was as follows: Free public lending
libraries, 434; volumes, 3,721,191; free public reference
libraries, 153; volumes, 3,075,099; free public school
libraries, 93; volumes, 177,560; free corporate lending
libraries, 241; volumes 1,727,870; libraries of clubs,
associations, etc., 341; volumes, 2,460,334; subscription
corporate libraries, 452; volumes, 2,644,929; and circulating
libraries proper, 751; volumes, 215,487. The statistics [now]
given … are for the year 1891, and include only libraries of
1,000 volumes and over, thus differing from the complete report
of 1885. …
{2021}
There were, in 1891, 3,804 libraries. Of these, 3 contain over
500,000 volumes; 1 between 300,000 and 500,000; 26 between
100,000 and 300,000; 68 between 50,000 and 100,000; 128
between 25,000 and 50,000; 383 between 10,000 and 25,000; 565
between 5,000 and 10,000; and 2,360 between 1,000 and 5,000.
… The North Atlantic Division contains 1,913 libraries, or
50.3 per cent of the whole number; the South Atlantic, 339, or
8.88 per cent; the South Central, 256, or 6.73 per cent; the
North Central, 1,098, or 28.87 per cent, and the Western, 198,
or 5.22 per cent. Of the distribution of volumes in the
libraries, the North Atlantic Division has 16,605,286 or 53.34
per cent; the South Atlantic, 4,276,894, or 13.71 per cent;
the South Central 1,345,708, or 4.03 per cent; the North
Central, 7,320,045, or 23.32 per cent; and the Western,
1,593,974, or 5.34 per cent. … From [1885 to 1891] the
increase in the United States in the number of libraries was
from 2,987 to 3,804, an increase of 817, or 27.35 per cent; in
the North Atlantic, from 1,543 to 1,913, an increase of 370,
or 24 per cent; in the South Atlantic, from 289 to 338, an
increase of 49, or 17 per cent; in the South Central, from 201
to 256, an increase of 55, or 27.5 per cent; in the North
Central, from 813 to 1,099, an increase of 286, or 35.18 per
cent; and in the Western, from 141 to 198, an increase of 57,
or 40.43 per cent. These figures show that, comparatively, the
largest increase in the number of libraries was in the Western
Division, and of the number of volumes the greatest increase
was in the North Central Division. The percentage of increase
in the whole country was 66.3 for six years, or an average of
over 11 per cent each year, which at this rate would double
the number of volumes and libraries every nine years. … In
the United States in 1885 there was one library to each 18,822
of the population, while in 1891 there was one to every
16,462, or a decrease of population to a library of 2,360, or
12.5 percent; in the North Atlantic Division the decrease was
from 10,246 to 9,096, 1,150, or 11.2 per cent; in the South
Atlantic, from 28,740 to 26,206, 2,534, or 8.08 per cent; in
the South Central, from 48,974 to 42,863, 6,111, or 12.5 per
cent; in the North Central, from 24,807 to 20,348, 4,459, or
18 per cent; and in the Western, from 15,557 to 15,290, 277 or
1.8 per cent. The distribution of libraries in the North
Atlantic Division shows the smallest average population to a
library and the least change in the number, except the Western
Division, where the increase of population from immigration
has been greater than the increase in the number of libraries.
But, generally, the establishment and growth in the size of
libraries have been very large in nearly every section. …
This shows that in 1885 there were in the United States in the
libraries of the size mentioned 34 books to every 100 of the
population, while in 1891 this number was 50, or an increase
of 16 books, or 47 per cent. In the North Atlantic Division
the increase was from 66 to 95, an increase of 29 books, or 34
per cent; in the South Atlantic, from 34 to 48, an increase of
14, or 41 per cent; in the South Central, from 9 to 12, an
increase of 3, or 33.33 per cent; in the North Central, from
20 to 33, an increase of 13, or 65 per cent; and in the
Western, from 43 to 53, an increase of 10, or 23 per cent.
These figures show that, comparatively, the largest increase
of books to population has been in the great Northwest, over
11 per cent each year. In the whole country there has been an
average increase of 7.8 per cent per annum; that is, the
increase of the number of books in the libraries of the
country has been 7.8 per cent greater than the increase of the
population during the past six years."

_W. Flint,
Statistics of Public Libraries
(United States Bureau of Education,
Circ. of Information Number 7, 1893)._

LIBRARIES:
United States of America:
Massachusetts Free Libraries.

"In 1839 the Hon. Horace Mann, then Secretary of the Board of
Education, stated as the result of a careful effort to obtain
authentic information relative to the libraries in the State,
that there were from ten to fifteen town libraries, containing
in the aggregate from three to four thousand volumes, to which
all the citizens of the town had the right of access; that the
aggregate number of volumes in the public libraries, of all
kinds, in the State was about 300,000; and that but little
more than 100,000 persons, or one-seventh of the population of
the State, had any right of access to them. A little over a
half century has passed. There are now 175 towns and cities
having free public libraries under municipal control, and 248
of the 351 towns and cities contain libraries in which the
people have rights or free privileges. There are about
2,500,000 volumes in these libraries, available for the use of
2,104,224 of the 2,238,943 inhabitants which the State
contains according to the census of 1890. The gifts of
individuals in money, not including gifts of books, for
libraries and library buildings, exceed five and a half
million dollars. There are still 103 towns in the State, with
an aggregate population of 134,719, which do not have the
benefit of the free use of a public library. These are almost
without exception small towns, with a slender valuation, and
67 of them show a decline in population in the past five
years. The State has taken the initiative in aiding the
formation of free public libraries in such towns."

_First Report of the Free Public Library
Commission of Massachusetts, 1891, pref._

The second report of the Commissioners, 1892, showed an
addition of 36 to the towns which have established free public
libraries.

LIBRARIES:
United States of America:
The American Library Association.

A distinctly new era in the history of American libraries—and
in the history, it may be said, of libraries throughout the
English-speaking world,—was opened, in 1876, by the meeting
of a conference of librarians at Philadelphia, during the
Centennial Exhibition of the summer of that year. The first
fruit of the conference was the organization of a permanent
American Library Association, which has held annual meetings
since, bringing large numbers of the librarians of the country
together every year, making common property of their
experience, their knowledge, their ideas,—animating them with
a common spirit, and enlisting them in important undertakings
of cooperative work. Almost simultaneously with the
Philadelphia meeting, but earlier, there was issued the first
number of a "Library Journal," called into being by the
sagacious energy of the same small band of pioneers who
planned and brought about the conference. The Library Journal
became the organ of the American Library Association, and each
was stimulated and sustained by the other: Their combined
influence has acted powerfully upon those engaged in the work
of American libraries, to elevate their aims, to increase
their efficiency, and to make their avocation a recognized
profession, exacting well-defined qualifications.
{2022}
The general result among the libraries of the country has been
an increase of public usefulness beyond measure. To this
renaissance in the library world many persons contributed; but
its leading spirits were Melvil Dewey, latterly Director of
the New York State Library; Justin Winsor, Librarian of
Harvard University, formerly of the Boston Public Library; the
late William F. Poole, LL.D., Librarian of the Newberry
Library and formerly of the Chicago Public Library; Charles A.
Cutter, lately Librarian of the Boston Athenæum; the late
Frederick Leypoldt, first publisher of the "Library Journal,"
and his successor, R. R. Bowker. The new library spirit was
happily defined by James Russell Lowell, in his address
delivered at the opening of a free public library in Chelsea,
Massachusetts, and published in the volume of his works
entitled "Democracy and other Addresses"; "Formerly," he said,
"the duty of a librarian was considered too much that of a
watch-dog, to keep people as much as possible away from the
books, and to hand these over to his successor as little worn
by use as he could. Librarians now, it is pleasant to see,
have a different notion of their trust, and are in the habit
of preparing, for the direction of the inexperienced, lists of
such books as they think best worth reading. Cataloguing has
also, thanks in great measure to American librarians, become a
science, and catalogues, ceasing to be labyrinths without a
clew, are furnished with finger-posts at every turn. Subject
catalogues again save the beginner a vast deal of time and
trouble by supplying him for nothing with one at least of the
results of thorough scholarship, the knowing where to look for
what he wants. I do not mean by this that there is or can be
any short cut to learning, but that there may be, and is, such
a short cut to information that will make learning more easily
accessible."

The organization of the American Library Association led to
the formation, in 1877, of the Library Association of the
United Kingdom, which was incident to the meeting of an
international conference of Librarians held in London.

LIBRARIES:
United States of America:
Principal Libraries.

The following are the libraries in the United States which
exceeded 100,000 volumes in 1891, as reported in the
"Statistics of Public Libraries" published by the Bureau of
Education. The name of each library is preceded by the date of
its foundation:

1638. Harvard University Library,
292,000 volumes; 278,097 pamphlets.

1701. Yale College Library, New Haven,
185,000 volumes; 100,000 pamphlets.

1731. Philadelphia Library Company,
165,487 volumes; 30,000 pamphlets.

1749. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia,
100,000 volumes; 100,000 pamphlets.

1754. Columbia College Library, New York,
135,000 volumes.

1789. Library of the House of Representatives, Washington,
125,000 volumes.

1800. Library of Congress, Washington,
659,843 volumes; 210,000 pamphlets.

1807. Boston Athenæum,
173,831 volumes; 70,000 pamphlets.

1818. New York State Library, Albany,
157,114 volumes.

1820. New York Mercantile Library, New York,
239,793 volumes.

1821. Philadelphia Mercantile Library,
166,000 volumes; 10,000 pamphlets.

1826. Maryland State Library, Annapolis,
100,000 volumes.

1849. Astor Library, New York,
238,946 volumes; 12,000 pamphlets.

1852. Boston Public Library,
556,283 volumes.

1857. Brooklyn Library,
113,251 volumes; 21,500 pamphlets.

1857. Peabody Institute, Baltimore,
110,000 volumes; 13,500 pamphlets.

1865. Library of the Surgeon-General's Office, Washington,
104,300 volumes; 161,700 pamphlets.

1865. Detroit Public Library,
108,720 volumes.

1867. Cincinnati Public Library,
156,673 volumes; 18,326 pamphlets.

1868. Cornell University Library, Ithaca, New York,
111,007 volumes; 25,000 pamphlets.

1872. Chicago Public Library,
175,874 volumes; 25,293 pamphlets.

1882. Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore,
106,663 volumes; 1,500 pamphlets.

1890. University of Chicago Library,
280,000 volumes.

1891. Sutro Library, San Francisco,
200,000 volumes.

LIBRARIES:
United States of America:
Library Gifts.

A remarkable number of the free public libraries of the United
States are the creations of private wealth, munificently
employed for the common good. The greater institutions which
have this origin are the Astor Library in New York, founded by
John Jacob Astor and enriched by his descendants; the Lenox
Library in New York, founded by James Lenox; the Peabody
Institute, in Baltimore, founded by George Peabody; the Enoch
Pratt Free Library, in Baltimore, founded by the gentleman
whose name it bears; the Newberry Library, in Chicago, founded
by the will of Walter L. Newberry, who died in 1868; the Sutro
Library in San Francisco, founded by Adolph Sutro, and the
Carnegie Libraries founded at Pittsburg, Alleghany City and
Braddock by Andrew Carnegie. By the will of John Crerar, who
died in 1889, trustees for Chicago are in possession of an
estate estimated at $2,500,000 or $3,000,000, for the
endowment of a library which will soon exist. The intention of
the late Samuel J. Tilden, former Governor of the State of New
York, to apply the greater part of his immense estate to the
endowment of a free library in the City of New York, has been
partially defeated by contesting heirs; but the just feeling
of one among the heirs has restored $2,000,000 to the purpose
for which $5,000,000 was appropriated in Mr. Tilden's intent.
Steps preparatory to the creation of the library are in
progress. The lesser libraries, and institutions including
libraries of considerable importance, which owe their origin
to the public spirit and generosity of individual men of
wealth, are quite too numerous in the country to be catalogued
in this place. In addition to such, the bequests and gifts
which have enriched the endowment of libraries otherwise
founded are beyond computation.

{2023}

LIBRARIES:
United States of America:
Government Departmental Libraries at Washington.

A remarkable creation of special libraries connected with the
departments and bureaus of the national Government, has
occurred within a few years past. The more important among
them are the following:

Department of Agriculture,
20,000 volumes and 15,000 pamphlets;

Department of Justice, 21,500 volumes;

Department of State, 50,000 volumes;

Department of the Interior, 11,500;

Navy Department, 24,518;

Post Office Department, 10,000;

Patent Office Scientific Library,
50,000 volumes and 10,000 pamphlets;

Signal Office, 10,540 volumes;

Surgeon General's Office,
104,300 volumes and 161,700 pamphlets (reputed to be the best
collection of medical literature, as it is certainly the best
catalogued medical library, in the world);

Treasury Department, 21,000 volumes;

Bureau of Education,
45,000 volumes and 120,000 pamphlets;

Coast and Geodetic Survey,
12,000 volumes and 4,000 pamphlets;

Geological Survey,
30,414 volumes, and 42,917 pamphlets;

Naval Observatory,
13,000 volumes and 3,000 pamphlets;

United States Senate, 72,592 volumes;

United States House of Representatives,
125,000 (both of these being distinct from the great Library
of Congress, which contained, in 1891, 659,843 volumes);

War Department, 30,000 volumes.

LIBRARIES:
Canada.

"In 1779 a number of the officers stationed at Quebec, and of
the leading merchants, undertook the formation of a
subscription library. The Governor, General Haldimand, took an
active part in the work, and ordered on behalf of the
subscribers £500 worth of books from London. The selection was
entrusted to Richard Cumberland, the dramatist: and an
interesting letter from the Governor addressed to him,
describing the literary wants of the town and the class of
books to be sent, is now in the Public Archives. A room for
their reception was granted in the Bishop's Palace; and as
late as 1806, we learn from Lambert's Travels that it was the
only library [?] in Canada. Removed several times, it slowly
increased, until in 1882 it numbered 4,000 volumes. The list
of subscribers having become very much reduced, it was leased
to the Quebec Literary Association in 1843. In 1854 a portion
of it was burnt with the Parliament Buildings, where it was
then quartered; and finally in 1866 the entire library,
consisting of 6,990 volumes, were sold, subject to conditions,
to the Literary and Historical Society for a nominal sum of
$500. … Naturally on the organization of each of the
provinces, libraries were established in connection with the
Parliaments. We have therefore the following:

Nova Scotia, Halifax, 25,319;
New Brunswick, Fredericton, 10,850;
Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, 4,000;
Quebec, Quebec, 17,400;
Ontario, Toronto, 40,000;
Manitoba, Winnipeg, 10,000;
Northwest Territory, Regina, 1,480;
British Columbia, Victoria, 1,200;
Dominion of Canada, Ottawa, 120,000.
Total volumes in Parliamentary libraries, 230,249.

By far the most important of our Canadian libraries is the
Dominion Library of Parliament at Ottawa. Almost corresponding
with the Congressional Library at Washington in its sources of
income and work, it has grown rapidly during the past ten
years, and now numbers 120,000 volumes. Originally established
on the union of the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada in
1841, it was successively removed with the seat of government
from Kingston to Montreal, to Quebec, to Toronto, again to
Quebec, and finally to Ottawa. … The 38 colleges in Canada
are provided with libraries containing 429,470 volumes, or an
average of 11,302. The senior of these, Laval College, Quebec,
is famous as being, after Harvard, the oldest on the
continent, being founded by Bishop Laval in 1663. … In 1848
the late Dr. Ryerson, Superintendent of Education from
1844-1876, drafted a school bill which contained provisions
for school and township libraries, and succeeded in awakening
a deep interest in the subject. … In 1854 Parliament passed
the requisite act and granted him the necessary funds to carry
out his views in the matter. The regulations of the department
authorized each county council to establish four classes of
libraries—

1. An ordinary common school library in each schoolhouse for
the use of the children and rate-payers.

2. A general public lending library available to all the
ratepayers in the municipality.

3. A professional library of books on teaching, school
organization, language, and kindred subjects, available for
teachers only.

4. A library in any public institution under the control of
the municipality, for the use of the inmates, or in any county
jail, for the use of the prisoners. …

The proposal to establish the second class was however
premature; and accordingly, finding that mechanics institutes
were being developed throughout the towns and villages, the
Educational Department wisely aided the movement by giving a
small grant proportionate to the amount contributed by the
members and reaching a maximum of $200, afterwards increased
to $400 annually. In 1869 these had grown to number 26; in
1880, 74; and in 1886, 125. The number of volumes possessed by
these 125 is 206,146, or an average of 1,650. … In the
cities, however, the mechanics institute, with its limited
number of subscribers, has been found unequal to the task
assigned it, and accordingly, in 1882, the Free Libraries Act
was passed, based upon similar enactments in Britain and the
United States. … By the Free Libraries Act, the maximum of
taxation is fixed at ½ a mill on the annual assessment. …
None of the other provinces have followed Ontario in this
matter."

_J. Bain,
Brief Review of the Libraries of Canada
(Thousand Islands Conference of Librarians, 1887)._

"The total number of public libraries in Canada of all kinds
containing 1,000 or more volumes is 202, and of this number
the Province of Ontario alone has 152, or over three-fourths
of all, while Quebec has 27 or over one-half of the remaining
fourth, the other provinces having from 2 to 6 libraries each.
The total number of volumes and pamphlets in all the libraries
reported is 1,478,910, of which the Province of Ontario has
863,332 volumes, or almost 60 per cent, while the Province of
Quebec has 490,354, or over 33 percent; Nova Scotia, 48,250
volumes, or 3½ per cent; New Brunswick, 34,894 volumes, a
little over 2.3 per cent; Manitoba, 31,025 volumes, or 2.1 per
cent; British Columbia, 10,225 volumes, or not quite 0.7 per
cent; and Prince Edward Island, 5,200 volumes, or over 0.3 per
cent of the total number."

_V. Flint,
Statistics [1891] of Public Libraries
in the United States and Canada
(United States Bureau of Education, Circular
of Information No.7, 1893)._

LIBRARIES:
Mexico.

The National Library of Mexico contains 155,000 books, besides
manuscripts and pamphlets.

{2024}

LIBRARIES:
China.
The Imperial Library.

"It would be surprising if a people like the Chinese, who have
the literary instinct so strongly developed, had not at an
early date found the necessity of those great collections of
books which are the means for carrying on the great work of
civilization. China had her first great bibliothecal
catastrophe two centuries before the Christian era, when the
famous edict for the burning of the books was promulgated.
Literature and despotism have never been on very good terms,
and the despot of Tsin, finding a power at work which was
unfavorable to his pretensions, determined to have all books
destroyed except those relating to agriculture, divination and
the history of his own house. His hatred to books included the
makers of them, and the literati have not failed to make his
name execrated for his double murders of men and books. When
the brief dynasty of Tsin passed, the Princes of Han showed
more appreciation of culture, and in 190 B. C. the atrocious
edict was repealed, and the greatest efforts made to recover
such literary treasures as had escaped the destroyer. Some
classics are said to have been rewritten from the dictation of
scholars who had committed them to memory. Some robbers broke
open the tomb of Seang, King of Wei, who died B. C. 295, and
found in it bamboo tablets containing more than 100,000 peen
[bamboo slips]. These included a copy of the Classic of
Changes and the Annals of the Bamboo Books, which indeed take
their title from this circumstance. This treasure trove was
placed in the Imperial Library. So the Shoo-king is said to
have been found in a wall where it had been hidden by a
descendant of Confucius, on the proclamation of the edict
against books. Towards the close of the first century a
library had been formed by Lew Heang and his son Lew Hin. …
Succeeding dynasties imitated more or less this policy, and
under the later Han dynasty great efforts were made to restore
the library. … In the troubles at the close of the second
century the palace at Lo-Yang was burned, and the greater part
of the books destroyed. … Another Imperial collection at
Lo-Yang, amounting to 29,945 books, was destroyed A. D. 311.
In A. D. 431, Seäy Ling-Yuen, the keeper of the archives, made
a catalogue of 4,582 books in his custody. Another catalogue
was compiled in 473, and recorded 5,704 books. Buddhism and
Taouism now began to contribute largely to the national
literature. Amongst the other consequences of the overthrow of
the Tse dynasty at the end of the fifth century was the
destruction of the royal library of 18,010 books. Early in the
next century a collection of 33,106 books, not including the
Buddhist literature, was made chiefly, it is said, by the
exertions of Jin Fang, the official curator. The Emperor
Yuen-te removed his library, then amounting to 70,000 books,
to King Chow, and the building was burnt down when he was
threatened by the troops of Chow. The library of the later Wei
dynasty was dispersed in the insurrection of 531, and the
efforts made to restore it were not altogether successful. The
later Chow collected a library of 10,000 books, and, on the
overthrow of the Tse dynasty, this was increased by a mass of
5,000 mss. obtained from the fallen dynasty. When towards the
close of the sixth century the Suy became masters of the
empire they began to accumulate books. … The Tang dynasty
are specially remarkable for their patronage of literature.
Early in the eighth century the catalogue extended to 53,915
books, and a collection of recent authors included 28,469
books. Printing began to supersede manuscript in the tenth
century, plentiful editions of the classics appeared and
voluminous compilations. Whilst the Sung were great patrons of
literature, the Leaou were at least lukewarm, and issued an
edict prohibiting the printing of books by private persons.
The Kin had books translated into their own tongue, for the
benefit of the then Mongolian subjects. A similar policy was
pursued by the Yuen dynasty, under whom dramatic literature
and fiction began to flourish. In the year 1406, the printed
books in the Imperial Library are said to have amounted to
300,000 printed books and twice the number of mss. … The
great Imperial Library was founded by K'in Lung in the last
century. In response to an imperial edict, many of the
literati and book-lovers placed rare editions at the service
of the government, to be copied. The Imperial Library has many
of its books, therefore, in mss. Chinese printing, however, is
only an imperfect copy of the caligraphy of good scribes. Four
copies were made of each work. One was destined for the Wan
Yuen Repository at Peking; a second for the Wan-tsung
Repository at Kang-ning, the capital of Kiang-su province; a
third for the Wan-hwui Repository at Yang-chou-fu, and the
fourth for the Wan-lan Repository at Hong-Chou, the capital of
Cheh-Kiang. A catalogue was published from which it appears
that the library contained from ten to twelve thousand
distinct works, occupying 168,000 volumes. The catalogue is in
effect an annotated list of Chinese literature, and includes
the works which were still wanting to the library and deemed
essential to its completion. Dr. D. J. McGowan, who visited
the Hong-Chou collection, says that it was really intended for
a public library, and that those who applied for permission to
the local authorities, not only were allowed access, but were
afforded facilities for obtaining food and lodging, 'but from
some cause or other the library is rarely or never consulted.'
Besides the Imperial, there are Provincial, Departmental and
District Libraries. Thus, the examination hall of every town
will contain the standard classical and historical books. At
Canton and other cities there are extensive collections, but
their use is restricted to the mandarins. There are
collections of books and sometimes printing presses in
connection with the Buddhist monasteries."

_W. E. A. Axon,
Notes on Chinese Libraries
(Library Journal, January and February, 1880)._

For an account of the ancient library of Chinese classics in
stone,

See EDUCATION, ANCIENT: CHINA.

{2025}

LIBRARIES:
Japan.

"The Tokyo Library is national in its character, as the
Congressional Library of the United States, the British Museum
of Great Britain, etc. It is maintained by the State, and by
the copyright Act it is to receive a copy of every book,
pamphlet, etc., published in the empire. The Tokyo Library was
established in 1872 by the Department of Education with about
70,000 volumes. In 1873 it was amalgamated with the library
belonging to the Exhibition Bureau and two years later it was
placed under the control of the Home Department, while a new
library with the title of Tokyo Library was started by the
Education Department at the same time with about 28,000
volumes newly collected. Thus the Tokyo Library began its
career on a quite slender basis; but in 1876, the books
increased to 68,953, and in 1877 to 71,853. Since that time,
both the numbers of books and visitors have steadily
increased, so much so that in 1884 the former reached 102,350
and latter 115,986, averaging 359 persons per one day. The
library was then open free to all classes; but the presence of
too many readers of the commonest text-books and light
literature was found to have caused much hindrance to the
serious students. … This disadvantage was somewhat remedied
by introducing the fee system, which, of course, placed much
restriction to the visitors of the library. … It is very
clear from the character of the library that it is a reference
library and not a circulating library. But as there are not
any other large and well-equipped libraries in Tokyo, a system
of 'lending out' is added, something like that of Königliche
Bibliothek zu Berlin, with a subscription of 5 yen (about $5)
per annum. … The Tokyo Library now contains 97,550 Japanese
and Chinese books and 25,559 European books, besides about
100,000 of duplicates, popular books, etc., which are not
used. The average number of books used is 337,262 a year. …
The Library of the Imperial University, which is also under my
charge, comprises all the books belonging to the Imperial
University of Japan. These books are solely for the use of the
instructors, students, and pupils, no admittance being granted
to the general public. The library contains 77,991 European
books and 101,217 Japanese and Chinese books. As to other
smaller libraries of Japan, there are eight public and ten
private libraries in different parts of the empire. The books
contained in them are 66,912 Japanese and Chinese books and
4,731 European books with 43,911 visitors! Besides these, in
most of towns of respectable size, there are generally two or
three small private circulating libraries, which contain books
chiefly consisting of light literature and historical works
popularly treated."

_I. Tanaka,
Tokyo Library
(San Francisco Conference of Librarians, 1891)._

LIBRARIES:
India.

The first free library in a native state of India was opened
in 1892, with 10,000 volumes, 7,000 being in English. It was
founded by the brother of the Maharajah.

_Library Journal,
volume 17, page 395._

----------LIBRARIES: End----------

LIBURNIANS, The.

See KORKYRA.

LIBYAN SIBYL.

See SIBYLS.

LIBYANS, The.

"The name of Africa was applied by the ancients only to that
small portion of country south of Cape Bon; the rest was
called Libya. The bulk of the population of the northern
coast, between Egypt and the Pillars of Hercules, was of the
Hamitic race of Phut, who were connected with the Egyptians
and Ethiopians, and to whom the name of Libyans was not
applied until a later date, as this name was originally
confined to some tribes of Arian or Japhetic race, who had
settled among the natives. From these nations sprung from Phut
descended the races now called Berbers, who have spread over
the north of Africa, from the northernmost valleys of the
Atlas to the southern limits of the Sahara, and from Egypt to
the Atlantic; perhaps even to the Canaries, where the ancient
Guanches seem to have spoken a dialect nearly approaching that
of the Berbers of Morocco. These Berbers—now called Amazigh,
or Shuluh, in Morocco; Kabyles, in the three provinces of
Algeria, Tunis, and Tripoli; Tibboos, between Fezzan and
Egypt; and Tuariks in the Sahara—are the descendants of the
same great family of nations whose blood, more or less pure,
still runs in the veins of the tribes inhabiting the different
parts of the vast territory once possessed by their ancestors.
The language they still speak, known through the labours of
learned officers of the French army in Africa, is nearly
related to that of Ancient Egypt. It is that in which the few
inscriptions we possess, emanating from the natives of Libya,
Numidia, and Mauritania in olden times, are written. The
alphabet peculiar to these natives, whilst under the
Carthaginian rule, is still used by the Tuariks. Sallust, who
was able to consult the archives of Carthage, and who seems
more accurate than any other classical writer on African
history, was acquainted with the annals of the primitive
period, anterior to the arrival of the Arian tribes and the
settlement of the Phœnician colonies. Then only three races,
unequally distributed in a triple zone, were to be met with
throughout Northern Africa. Along the shore bordering the
Mediterranean were the primitive Libyans, who were Hamites,
descendants of Phut; behind them, towards the interior, but on
the western half only, were the Getulians … ; further still
in the interior, and beyond the Sahara, were the negroes,
originally called by the Greek name 'Ethiopians, which was
afterwards erroneously applied to the Cushites of the Upper
Nile. Sallust also learnt, from the Carthaginian traditions,
of the great Japhetic invasion of the coast of Africa. … The
Egyptian monuments have acquainted us with the date of the
arrival of these Indo-Europeans in Africa, among whom were the
Libyans, properly so called, the Maxyans, and Macæ. It was
contemporary with the reigns of Seti I. and Ramses II."

_F. Lenormant,
Manual of Ancient History of the East,
book 6, chapter 5 (volume 2)._

See, also, NUMIDIANS; and AMORITES.

LICINIAN LAWS, The.

See ROME: B. C. 376-367.

LICINIUS, Roman Emperor, A. D. 307-323.

LICTORS. FASCES.

"The fasces were bundles of rods (virgæ) of elm or birchwood,
tied together round the handle of an axe (securis) with (most
likely red) straps. The iron of the axe, which was the
executioner's tool, protruded from the sticks. The fasces were
carried on their left shoulders by the lictors, who walked in
front of certain magistrates, making room for them, and
compelling all people to move out of the way (summovere),
barring Vestals and Roman matrons. To about the end of the
Republic, when a special executioner was appointed, the
lictors inflicted capital punishment. The king was entitled to
twelve fasces, the same number being granted to the consuls.
… The dictator was entitled to twenty-four lictors. …
Since 42 B. C. the Flamen Dialis and the Vestals also were
entitled to one lictor each. In case a higher official met his
inferior in the street, he was saluted by the lictors of the
latter withdrawing the axe and lowering the fasces."

_E. Guhl and W. Koner,
Life of the Greeks and Romans,
section 107, foot-note._

{2026}

LIDUS, LEUD, LATT, The.

See SLAVERY, MEDIÆVAL: GERMANY.

----------LIÈGE: Start--------

LIÈGE:
The Episcopal Principality.

"Liège lies on the borderland of the French and German
speaking races. … It was the capital of an ecclesiastical
principality, whose territory extended some distance up the
river and over the wooded ridges and green valleys of the
Ardennes. The town had originally sprung up round the tomb of
St. Lambert—a shrine much frequented by pilgrims. … The
Prince Bishop of Liège was the vassal of the emperor, but his
subjects had long considered the kings of France their natural
protectors. It was in France that they found a market for
their manufactures, from France that pilgrims came to the tomb
of St. Lambert or to the sylvan shrine of St. Hubert.
Difference of language and rivalry in trade separated them
from their Dutch-speaking neighbours. We hear, as early as the
10th century, of successful attempts on the part of the people
of Liège, supported and directed by their bishops, to subdue
the lords of the castles in their neighbourhood. A population
of traders, artizans, and miners, were unlikely to submit to
the pretensions of a feudal aristocracy. Nor was there a
burgher oligarchy, as in many of the Flemish and German towns.
Every citizen was eligible to office if he could obtain a
majority of the votes of the whole male population.
Constitutional limits were imposed on the power of the bishop;
but he was the sole fountain of law and justice. By suspending
their administration he could paralyse the social life of the
State, and by his interdicts annihilate its religious life.
Yet the burghers were involved in perpetual disputes with
their bishop. When the power of the Dukes of Burgundy was
established in the Low Countries, it was to them that the
latter naturally applied for assistance against their unruly
flock. John the Fearless defeated the citizens with great
slaughter in 1408. He himself reckoned the number of slain at
25,000. In 1431 Liège was compelled to pay a fine of 200,000
crowns to the Duke of Burgundy." The Duke—Philip the
Good—afterwards forced the reigning bishop to resign in favor
of a brother of the Duke of Bourbon, a dissolute boy of
eighteen, whose government was reckless and intolerable.

_P. F. Willert,
Reign of Lewis XI.,
pages 93-94._

ALSO IN:
_J. F. Kirk,
History of Charles the Bold,
book 1, chapter 7._

LIÈGE: A. D. 1467-1468.
War with Charles the Bold of Burgundy
and destruction of the city.

See BURGUNDY: A. D. 1467-1468;
also, DINANT.

LIÈGE: A. D. 1691.
Bombardment by the French.

The Prince-bishop of Liège having joined the League of
Augsburg against Louis XIV., and having received troops of the
Grand Alliance into his city, the town was bombarded in May,
1691, by the French General Boufflers. There was no attempt at
a siege; the attack was simply one of destructive malice, and
the force which made it withdrew speedily.

_H. Martin,
History of France: Age of Louis XIV.,
volume 2, chapter 2._

LIÈGE: A. D. 1702.
Reduced by Marlborough.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1702-1704.

LIÈGE: A. D. 1792-1793.
Occupation and surrender by the French.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1792 (SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER);
and 1793 (FEBRUARY-APRIL).

----------LIÈGE: Start--------

----------LIEGNITZ: Start----------

LIEGNITZ, The Battle of (1241).

On the 9th of April, A. D. 1241, the Mongols, who had already
overrun a great part of Russia, defeated the combined forces
of Poland, Moravia and Silesia in a battle which filled all
Europe with consternation. It was fought near Lignitz (or
Liegnitz), on a plain watered by the river Keiss, the site
being now occupied by a village called Wahlstadt, i. e.,
"Field of Battle." "It was a Mongol habit to cut off an ear
from each corpse after a battle, so as to have a record of the
number slain; and we are told they filled nine sacks with
these ghastly trophies," from the field of Lignitz.

_H. H. Howorth,
History of the Mongols,
part 1, page 144._

See MONGOLS: A. D. 1229-1294.

LIEGNITZ:
Battle of (1760).

See GERMANY: A. D. 1760.

----------LIEGNITZ: End----------

LIGERIS, The.

The ancient name of the river Loire.

LIGHT BRIGADE, The Charge of the.

See RUSSIA: A. D. 1854 (OCTOBER-NOVEMBER).

LIGII, The.

See LYGIANS.

LIGNY, Battle of.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1815 (JUNE).

LIGONIA.

See MAINE: A. D. 1629-1631; and 1643-1677.

LIGURIAN REPUBLIC, The.

The mediæval republic of Genoa is often referred to as the
Ligurian Republic; but the name was distinctively given by
Napoleon to one of his ephemeral creations in Italy.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1797 (MAY-OCTOBER), and 1804-1805.

LIGURIANS, The.

"The whole of Piedmont in its present extent was inhabited by
the Ligurians: Pavia, under the name of Ticinum, was founded
by a Ligurian tribe, the Lævians. When they pushed forward
their frontier among the Apennines into the Casentino on the
decline of the Etruscans, they probably only recovered what
had before been wrested from them. Among the inhabitants of
Corsica there were Ligurians. … The Ligurians and Iberians
were anciently contiguous; whereas in aftertimes they were
parted by the Gauls. We are told by Scylax, that from the
borders of Iberia, that is, from the Pyrenees, to the Rhone,
the two nations were dwelling intermixed. … But it is far
more probable that the Iberians came from the south of the
Pyrenees into Lower Languedoc, as they did into Aquitaine, and
that the Ligurians were driven back by them. When the Celts,
long after, moving in an opposite direction, reached the shore
of the Mediterranean, they too drove the Ligurians close down
to the coast, and dwelt as the ruling people amongst them, in
the country about Avignon, as is implied by the name
Celto-Ligurians. … Of their place in the family of nations
we are ignorant: we only know that they were neither Iberians
nor Celts."

_G. B. Niebuhr,
History of Rome,
volume 1._