In mediÆval times the making, collecting, and preserving of books, as well as the maintenance of learning, were almost exclusively confined to monastic institutions, some of which lent books to laymen, and thus became the public libraries of the surrounding district. As to the literary life of Norwich in the fifteenth century, the late Dr. Jessopp wrote: “Whatever may have been the case in other dioceses, it is certain that the bishops of Norwich during the fifteenth century were resident in their see, and that they were prominent personages as scholars and men of culture and learning. . . . It is clear that . . . their influence was not inconsiderable in encouraging literary tastes and studious habits among their clergy. Pitts, in his list of distinguished Englishmen of letters who flourished during the latter half of the fifteenth century, mentions no less than twenty-four Norfolk men who were recognised as prominent scholars, controversialists, historians, or students of science.” [1] Coincident with the decline of monastic learning in Europe were the revival of secular learning and the invention of printing, which gave a great impetus to the collection of books, especially on the continent. The sixteenth century was a dark age in the history of British libraries, the iconoclasts of the Reformation ruthlessly destroying innumerable priceless treasures both of books and bindings. John Bale, Bishop of Ossory, who was educated at a Carmelite Convent in Norwich, and became vicar of Swaffham, Norfolk, in 1551, wrote scathingly of the literary condition of England in the middle of the sixteenth century, and referred specifically to Norwich: “O cyties of Englande, whose glory standeth more in bellye chere, than in the serch of wysdome godlye. How cometh it, that neyther you, nor yet your ydell masmongers, haue regarded thys most worthy commodyte of your contrey? I meane the conseruacyon of your Antiquytees, and of the worthy labours of your lerned men. . . . I have bene also at Norwyche, oure seconde cytie of name, and there all the library monumentes are turned to the vse of their grossers, candelmakers, sope sellers, and other worldly occupyers.” [2a]

In the early years of the seventeenth century many famous collegiate and town libraries—i.e., libraries under the guardianship of municipalities—were founded throughout the country, and in the history of the latter Norwich has a unique place. So far as can be ascertained from the published historical accounts of libraries, Norwich has the distinction of having established in 1608 (six years after the foundation of the Bodleian Library, and 145 years before the foundation of the British Museum) the first provincial town library under municipal control. [2b] The other earliest popular town libraries are those of Ipswich (1612), Bristol (founded in 1613 and opened in 1615), and Leicester (1632). Mr. Norris Mathews, the City Librarian of Bristol, contends that “The claim to the earliest [public library] in England still belongs to Bristol. This library was that of the Kalendars or Kalendaries, a brotherhood of clergy and laity who were attached to the Church of All-Hallowen or All Saints, still existing in Corn Street” (“Library Association Record,” vol. 2, 1900, p. 642). In some notes regarding this Gild of Kalendars in Miss Lucy Toulmin Smith’s Introduction to “Ricart’s Calendar” [3] it is stated that “In 1464 provision was made as to a library, lately erected in the house of the Kalendars,” and reference is made to a deed of that date by which it was “appointed that all who wish to enter for the sake of instruction shall have ‘free access and recess’ at certain times, and that, lest the books should be lost, three inventories shall be made, to be yearly collated with the books, which books shall be chained in a room, and for the loss of which heavy penalties are imposed on the prior. The prior to be appointed by the Mayor.” Mr. John Taylor in his article on “The earliest English free libraries” (“Library Chronicle,” vol. 3, 1886, p. 156), stated that these regulations were made by an ordinance of John, Bishop of Worcester, A.D. 1464. From the foregoing quotations it is obvious that the Library was under the control of the Gild, and not of the municipality, and therefore while, as a semi-monastic library, it may be regarded as a prototype of the modern public library, it cannot be justly claimed as the first public town library.

The following account of the first provincial town library and its successor is in two parts: part I. deals with the Library established in 1608 and now known as the City Library, and part II. deals with the Public Library, established under the Public Library Act of 1850.

or; and below are spacious vaults, which are devoted to trade purposes, and from which a considerable annual revenue is expected to be derived. Over the principal entrance is a well executed head of Homer, and in the entrance-hall which has a tesselated pavement, are four scagliola columns with Corinthian capitals. The Museum-room is 54 feet in length and 26 feet wide, and the Library is 44 feet long and 33 feet wide. A broad and handsome stone staircase conducts the visitor to the second floor, on which is a lecture-room of the same dimensions as the Library, and two apartments appropriated to the Literary Institution, which are collectively of the same size as the Museum beneath. On the third floor are two large rooms for the School of Art, with domed roofs and ample skylights, and four smaller apartments for classes are also provided.” A reproduction of a recent photograph of the building, showing to the left a portion of the Reading Room added in 1907, faces page 56.

The Library proper at first consisted of one room, as stated above, which combined a news and reading room, and reference and lending departments. Books were not issued from the lending department until January 1st, 1858, when the books in two classes, “General Literature” and “Voyages and Travels” were ready for circulation. Regarding rules for the loan of these books, the Committee provisionally adopted those of the Sheffield Free Library. By July of the same year all the books were available for borrowing, and the circulation “reached 500 volumes, always on loan, every volume being returned or renewed within a week.” When the first report was published in August, 1858, there were 3,354 volumes in the Library, of which 2,468 volumes were presented, arranged in ten classes: A, General Literature, 586 vols.; B, Geography, Voyages and Travels, 560 vols.; C, Dramatists, Poets, and Novelists, 454 vols.; D, History and Biography, 383 vols.; E, Bohn’s Libraries, 318 vols.; F, Bonn’s Libraries and Cabinet CyclopÆdia, 315 vols.; G, Natural History and Sciences, 244 vols.; H, Metaphysics, Logic and Religion, 306 vols.; I, Dictionaries, CyclopÆdias, Reviews, 88 vols.; [J] Magazines, 100 vols. All the books were apparently available either for reading at the library or for home-reading. In 1858 a record of issues was kept which showed that during the first half year 5,225 volumes were circulated “to nearly 700 persons,” and the total issue of books “for perusal” in the reading room was 10,066 “issued to a large number of citizens.”

Owing to the small amount of money available for the purchase of books and periodicals, the citizens were invited in the second quarter of 1857 to contribute for the supply of reviews, periodicals and newspapers, and by July 1858 nearly £60 in subscriptions for this purpose had been obtained.

Mr. A. D. Bayne, as Hon. Secretary to the Committee, virtually acted as Librarian until his resignation in April, 1860, attending its meetings, conducting its business, purchasing the books for the Library, etc. The first person to take charge of the Library was Mr. Henry Turner who was engaged pro tem. on the 31st December, 1856, to take care of the new building, to catalogue the books, collect the subscriptions, etc., at a salary of £1 weekly. For the first year he was regarded as an attendant, but subsequently he was called the Librarian. Apparently by reason of illness his engagement ceased at the end of 1858, and after a short interval, during which time Mr. R. L. M. Overton and Mr. C. Hunt were successively engaged, Mr. George Harper was appointed Librarian, the Committee recommending his appointment to the Council on 30th June, 1859. Mr. Harper remained the Librarian until his death at the end of 1876. During his tenure of office very little progress in the development of the Library was made, chiefly because the greater part of the library rate was absorbed in extinguishing the building loan, and no annual reports were issued. In a schedule in Edward Edwards’ “Free Town Libraries,” 1869, it is stated that the aggregate number of volumes in the Library in 1868 was 3,642, that the aggregate annual issues were 13,480, and that the annual expenditure on the Library was £600. As a matter of fact, the expenditure for the year ending 1st September, 1868, was £634 : 7 : 3, of which £492 : 9 : 11 was for the interest on, and repayment of, the loan. The product of the penny rate was £740, and an additional £119 : 6 : 5 was received as fees for the hire of the upper rooms and the cellars of the Library. In the early days of the Library these rooms were hired for many purposes, including Sunday services, temperance meetings, Cambridge University local examinations, lectures, dinners, entertainments, etc., the cellars were used for the storage of wines and spirits, and the Norwich Meteorological Society had an anemometer fixed on top of the building.

Mr. George Easter, who succeeded Mr. Harper as Librarian in January 1877, was a native of Norwich, who had followed the craft of a wood-carver in Cambridge, and had had no training in library work. The burden of debt upon the Library having been considerably diminished, and the librarian coming to his duties with enthusiasm and a disposition to seek advice on books and library matters from those competent to give it, he was able to effect some improvements in the administration of the Library, and to develop it. About six months after his appointment he had prepared for the press an author catalogue of the books in the Lending and Reference Departments of the Library, which was ready for sale at sixpence each in December. One thousand copies of this crown octavo catalogue of 94 pages were printed. In this catalogue the hours of the Lending Department were stated to be from 11 a.m. till 3.30 p.m. on week-days.

The publication of an annual report was revived in 1879 when a report covering the period December 1st, 1877 to December 31st 1878 was submitted to the Town Council. It showed that the stock consisted of 4,400 volumes, of which nearly 1,000 had been added during the year; and that during the period 1,545 borrowers’ tickets had been issued, and 27,408 volumes had been issued, as compared with 15,312 vols. issued from September 1875 to September 1876.

In 1879 the Librarian requested the Committee to allow him to purchase works relating to Norwich, which eventually led to the formation of the Local Collection, which is described on pp. 77-81.

The library rate was one penny in the pound from the date of the opening of the library until 1871, but for several years afterwards it was either about three farthings or one halfpenny. The rate was raised to three farthings in the pound in 1880, and in the following year it was raised to one penny in the pound, thereby providing £937 : 10 : 0 for the year, since which time the full library rate has always been levied. Mr. F. W. Harmer took a prominent part in securing the increase in the library rate. He pointed out that to spend the product of a halfpenny rate on the plea of economy was really the reverse of economical, as it just sufficed to pay standing charges, leaving little or nothing for the purchase of books.

The annual report for the year ending March 25th, 1888, is interesting as it records that the great burden of the debt on the building had been cleared off, and briefly reviews the work of the Library after ten years’ service of the Librarian, as follows:

“The present Librarian was appointed in 1877, starting with a stock of 3,500 books in the Lending Department and almost none in the Reference Department; whereas the present stock consists of 11,500 for Lending and 5,000 for Reference purposes, about 1,200 of the latter, with 1,650 pamphlets, pictures, &c., being of a local character and purchased with fines imposed for detaining books beyond the time allowed for reading.

“The number of borrowers in 1877 was 1,540, whereas the number in 1887 was 3,550; the number of issues of books in the same period increasing from 27,000 to 77,000—about 10,000 of the population of the city over 14 years of age having taken advantage of the boon afforded by this department.”

The report draws attention to an increase in the hours of the lending library, which hitherto had been 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m., to 11 a.m. till 9 p.m. every week-day except Thursday.

The establishment of a juvenile department as a means of stimulating interest in the Library was one of the first suggestions made by Mr. Easter after his appointment, and although the Committee did not entertain it then he did not abandon it, and the subject was raised in the press and in Committee in 1885. As a result the Mayor, Mr. John Gurney, who was keenly interested in the proposal, offered to give £100 on condition that an additional £150 was raised, but he died before the establishment of the scheme. The Chairman of the School Board, Mr. (afterwards Sir) George White, who was a member of the Committee, promised to raise the matter at a School Board Meeting, but the scheme, to be financed by public subscription, did not come to fruition until 1889. In that year the total amount of subscriptions reached £276 : 14 : 9, and 3,667 volumes suitable for juveniles were obtained.

Batches of books were forwarded to every elementary school in the City, and the head teacher in each was made responsible for the distribution of the books to the scholars in standards IV and upwards. The tables published in the annual report for the year ending March 1890 show that 3,621 books were sent to 38 schools, and that the total issues for the first seven months was 52,312. In the report for the year ending March 1893 the Committee reported:

“The Juvenile Department having proved a source of labour and cost much beyond what was anticipated, a Sub-Committee appointed to report on the subject recommended that the School Board should be asked to contribute to the expense of repair and renewal of books, and to urge upon their staff increased care and vigilance in the management of the Department. This expense the Board report they are unable legally to incur. Pending this decision the distribution of the books was suspended, but the Committee have now decided to continue the circulation for another twelve months.”

The wear and tear of the juvenile books proceeded apace, and the report for 1894-95 stated that when they were last called in “1,700 had to be rebound or repaired, and in the four circulations about 800 volumes have been found defective or worn out and withdrawn. The Committee therefore decided to issue the reduced number of books, to such schools as made application for them, under more systematic regulations.” The juvenile books went from bad to worse, and in the report for the year ending March 1900 it was stated that the Committee had decided to hand over the stock to the Norwich School Board, which had recently decided to establish and work a Juvenile Library of its own. Thus ended an experiment which was financed unsatisfactorily, badly controlled, and of very doubtful utility as a means of developing the work of the Library.

The large increase in the stock of the lending library necessitated a new catalogue, and one (304 pp.) was printed and published in 1889, which was followed by supplements (88 pp. and 106 pp.) in 1889 and 1895. These catalogues were compiled on the dictionary plan, the authors’ names and the titles and subjects of the books being arranged in one alphabetical sequence.

The question of Sunday opening was discussed by the Committee in July, 1884, but the Council declined to sanction the Committee’s recommendation to open the Reading Room. Five and a half years later the Council revoked its decision, and the men’s and women’s reading rooms on the first floor were opened on Sundays between the hours of 3 and 9 p.m. In the annual report following the Sunday opening the experiment was described as “quietly successful,” and in the reports for the next few years the visits were estimated at 15,000 annually—a daily average of 289. The Reading Room continued to be open all the year round until 1913, when owing to the small attendances during the summer months it was closed from June to September inclusive; in that year the average attendance on the Sundays was 117. Having regard to the small attendances and the inadequate library staff, the Committee in 1915 decided that the Reading Room should be closed on Sundays during the war.

The Report for the year ending March 1894 briefly reviewed the work of the Library after forty years. By that time the stock had reached 30,124 volumes in all departments, and the annual issue from the lending library, excluding 49,000 books issued by the teachers in 36 elementary schools, was 86,355. The Reference Library, including the Local Collection, contained 10,520 volumes and 5,367 pamphlets.

The large room on the ground floor vacated by the Museum was extended and renovated during the year 1895-6, and was partially furnished with book-cases and shelving in order to provide accommodation for the Reference Library, which then comprised 8,450 volumes and 2,081 pamphlets, with 2,987 local books and 4,327 local pamphlets.

In 1896 a loan of £1,300 was sanctioned by the Local Government Board for defraying the cost of the extension of the Reference Library and fittings, the purchase of a Cotgreave Indicator, installed in 1897, the restoration of the exterior stonework of the building, and interior decoration and repairs. The total expenditure amounted to £1,740, the difference between the cost and the amount of the loan being paid from the balance in hand.

During the year 1898-1899 a catalogue of the Reference Library was prepared for printing in sections, and in the following year five were printed. The entries in these sectional catalogues were single-line author and subject entries, the latter being merely inverted title-entries.

Mr. J. Geo. Tennant, the Sub-Librarian, who had been appointed to that position in 1888, having previously been engaged part-time at the Library, was promoted to the office of Librarian in 1901, following the death of Mr. Easter. A few months later the Committee advertised the vacant office of Sub-Librarian, candidates to have had training and experience in a public library, and Mr. Llewellyn R. Haggerston, an assistant in the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Public Libraries, was appointed.

The safeguarded open-access system, by which borrowers are allowed to choose books from the shelves, was considered by the Committee and the Council in 1905, but not adopted. The system was then in its infancy, but has since been introduced into many public libraries.

The provision of catalogues of the Library was considered by the Committee in 1905-6, and it was decided to provide type-written sheaf catalogues of authors and subjects for the Lending Department, which were completed in 1906-7.

Owing to the inadequate accommodation in the Reading Room on the first floor, the question of extending the Library building received the attention of the Committee for a considerable period, and eventually the City Engineer prepared plans for the extension of the building, to provide a reading room on the ground floor. The new room cost about £1,640 and was provided with book-cases, furniture, etc., at a cost of £267, and was opened to the public in April, 1907. Most of the book-cases were provided for shelving several classes of the Lending Library books, partly because more shelving accommodation was required, but principally to permit the public to inspect the books, “the object being to induce a more general use of these works in place of fiction.” A collection of directories, annuals, and reference books was placed on open shelves in the room for ready reference.

In accordance with the Committee’s decision to adopt the Dewey Decimal System of Classification, some attempt was made to classify the books according to this system.

An experiment which aimed at fostering the use of the Library by school children was made during the winter of 1907-8. “By arrangement with the Education Committee a selection of books likely to meet the tastes of elementary school children was made by several of the teachers. These books were placed on Saturday mornings in one of the rooms on the top floor where tables and chairs were provided. One or more teachers attended in rotation to superintend the young readers . . . It has to be confessed, however, that the attendance, once the novelty had worn off, was not sufficient to justify the expenditure of time and trouble which was necessarily involved.” [70]

Owing to ill-health Mr. Tennant, who had served the Library faithfully for about 21 years, was compelled to vacate the office of Librarian in 1909, and light occupation was found for him in the capacity of Superintendent of the Reading Room, which post he filled until his death in August, 1911. He was succeeded as Librarian by the Sub-Librarian, Mr. Haggerston, who resigned his appointment on 1st March, 1911. Following Mr. Haggerston’s resignation, the Committee advertised for a trained librarian, and from 110 candidates the author of this History, who was the Chief Assistant Librarian of the St. Pancras Public Libraries, and who received his earlier training at the Bishopsgate Institute, was appointed in May, 1911.

The administration of the Library for many years had, in the words of the Report for 1909-10 “proceeded steadily on the old lines,” and when the present Librarian took office his first duty was to present a comprehensive report to the Committee on the condition of the Library, and to make suggestions for its re-organisation on up-to-date methods of library administration. The Report was approved in principle, and since that date the work of re-organisation has proceeded as rapidly as the conditions have allowed.

The work of re-organisation may be briefly described. The rules and regulations for the conduct and management of all departments of the Library were revised with the view of affording additional facilities to the public. Structural alterations were made for the better lighting and arrangement of the Lending Library, and improvements were made in the electric lighting of the several departments.

The condition of the Lending Library was especially serious. The Library had been in existence for over half a century, and the stock of books had never been subjected to a thorough overhauling, so that there were accumulations of old, useless and worn-out books, while numerous standard works on various branches of knowledge were not in the Library. The work of re-organisation was done systematically, class by class. First the useless books were discarded, and new standard and popular books were added. The class was then closely classified according to the Dewey System of Classification, and catalogued. As complaints regarding the lack of a printed catalogue had been made continuously for several years, it was decided, as an immediate advantage to the public, to publish at the price of one penny, a bi-monthly magazine entitled “The Readers’ Guide,” which would contain the whole or a portion of an annotated and classified catalogue of the books in one of the sections immediately after its revision, and also an annotated list of new books added to the Library. The Fiction Catalogue was published in the first number, which was issued on 1st November, 1911, and the series of classified catalogues containing altogether the titles of over 17,000 volumes was completed in the issue for May, 1915, since which date the “Readers’ Guide” has contained special bibliographies of local subjects and topics of current interest, in addition to the usual list of recent books. The special bibliographies have included the subjects of the University Extension lectures each year, George Borrow, Lord Nelson, Agincourt and Erpingham, Norfolk Artists, the European War, Shakespeare, Child Welfare, and Thomas Gray. For the use of borrowers two card catalogues have been installed in the Lending Library, the one being a complete author catalogue, and the other a complete classified catalogue, with numerous subject guide cards to facilitate reference.

A stock of books specially suitable for juvenile readers was obtained in 1911 to form a Juvenile Department of the Lending Library, in order that the young people should acquire a facility in the use of a large library which would be of value to them after leaving school. A classified catalogue of the books in this Department was prepared by the Sub-Librarian under the supervision of the City Librarian, and was published in September, 1914, and an enlarged edition was published in September, 1916.

During the period 1911-1916 there were several changes in the personnel of the staff. The great pressure of the re-organising work and the need for a trained assistant on the staff led the Committee to advertise for a Sub-Librarian in 1913, and in November Mr. Charles Nowell, Chief Assistant of the Coventry Public Libraries, and the holder of four certificates of the Library Association, was appointed to the position. With the view of increasing the efficiency of the staff the Committee, in common with many other Public Library Committees, has made the appointments of junior assistants conditional on their obtaining the professional certificates of the Library Association.

The title of the Library was altered in July, 1911, by the Council from “Free Library” to its statutory title “Public Library.”

The large oval room on the second floor, which in the early days of the Library had been used as an art room, was converted into an exhibition and lecture room in 1912.

The Norfolk and Norwich Photographic Survey Record was inaugurated in 1913, particulars of which are given on pp. 81-82.

The Library has fulfilled special national functions during the present European War. Several thousand leaflets issued by the Central Committee for National Patriotic Organisations were distributed at the Library. The Committee realising the importance to the public of studying the deeper causes of the war, and other important matters involved, appointed a Sub-Committee to deal with the problem of war literature. A large and representative selection, dealing with the subject from every point of view, was made from the several thousand books published. The books thus purchased made the collection of war books a thoroughly representative one, and an annotated and classified catalogue of the books was printed in the “Readers’ Guide.” The Library has also been at the service of soldiers billeted in Norwich both for borrowing and for reference, and a large number of soldiers have availed themselves of its facilities for recreative reading and study. To assist the Camps Library, which provides libraries for all the camps of the British armies at home and abroad, the Committee sent many of its worn-out books, collected for it hundreds of books and magazines from readers frequenting the Library, and sent a donation of £12 : 15 : 0, referred to on page 85.

Three members of the staff enlisted in H.M. Forces in 1915, with the promise of their positions being retained. The Sub-Librarian, 2nd Lieut. Chas. Nowell (22nd London Regiment) was wounded in France in September, 1916, but he was able to return to his military duties in December; Mr. F. T. Bussey, the Senior Assistant in the Lending Department is serving in France with the Norfolk Division of the Royal Engineers; and Mr. A. R. Nobbs, a Junior Assistant, is a Sick Berth Attendant in the Royal Navy.

CHAIRMEN AND VICE-CHAIRMEN OF COMMITTEE.

During the earliest years of the Library Committee, the Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen were not regularly appointed annually. The following is a list of the definite appointments:—

Date.	Chairman.	Vice-Chairman.
1850-1856	Various.
1857	J. Godwin Johnson.	J. H. Tillett.
1858-1860	Various.
1861	George Middleton (who was generally in the Chair during 1860).
1862	Various.
1863-1868	Councillor J. W. Dowson.
1869-1870	Councillor Carlos Cooper.
1871-1877	Councillor Thomas Jarrold.
1878-1885	Councillor James Freeman.
1886-1887	The Mayor, John Gurney, Esq., of Sprowston.	Alderman James Freeman.
1887-1890	Councillor (afterwards Alderman) James Freeman.
1891-1892	Alderman Samuel Newman.	Alderman George White.
1893-1907	Councillor T. Breese.	1893-1902 Alderman George White.
		1903-1907 Councillor H. J. Copeman.
1908-1917	Councillor (afterwards Alderman) H. J. Copeman.	Alderman R. G. Bagshaw.

DONATIONS.

Although the Public Library Act of 1855 amended the first act, and made provision for the purchase of books, a power denied under the first act, the Library was so deeply involved in debt at its commencement that appeals had to be made for donations of books and money for the purchase of books, newspapers, and periodicals. As previously stated, the Committee’s first annual report presented to the Council on 31st August, 1858, showed that donations in cash, with interest, had amounted to £357 : 7 : 1. The same report gave a list of the donors of 2,468 volumes—about two-thirds of the entire stock—of which 833 were from the People’s College, and 1,000 were transferred from the Penny Library.

The donations to the Library during its history have been many and varied—good, bad, and indifferent—such as are usually offered to public libraries. Notice may be made of some of the outstanding gifts. The British Association in 1868, the year of its visit to Norwich, made a grant of £50 to the Library for the purchase of books, perhaps at the suggestion of the Rev. (afterwards Canon) Hinds Howell, who was the Organising Secretary for the visit. At any rate, at the meeting of the Library Committee on 4th November, 1868, he attended to explain “that the grant would be expended in the purchase of books, which embraced thirty-five different scientific subjects, or such of them as the Committee might think best adapted to the wants of, and most beneficial to, the classes using the Library,” and he received the thanks of the Committee for representing the wants of the Library to the Association. The Committee complied with the request that a bookcase should be provided for the books, bearing a suitable inscription.

A large number of patent specifications were presented by H.M. Patent Office about the year 1865, and in 1889 the Office acceded to the Committee’s request for Abridgments of Specifications, since which time they have been presented as issued.

Having regard to the slender financial resources of the Library the Mayor (Mr. H. Bullard) in 1879 suggested a public subscription, and headed the list with £10. This was followed by donations of £10 from Mr. J. J. Colman, (who also gave £25 in 1887), and Mr. Henry Birkbeck, and by smaller sums from other people, amounting altogether to £91 : 2 : 0.

A successful application was made to H.M. Treasury in 1886, for a donation of official publications, and some 260 volumes of Calendars of State Papers, Chronicles, Records, etc. were received, followed in 1901 by a further donation of 193 volumes. In 1900 the Library received from the same source twenty-five Memoirs of the Geological Survey relating to the Eastern Counties.

In 1890 the late Alderman James Freeman, who was Chairman of the Public Library Committee for several years, bequeathed £20 for some special purpose in connection with the Library, which enabled the Committee to commence a Shakespeare Collection, now comprising over 600 books and pamphlets.

Mr. Russell J. Colman, J.P., D.L., made a handsome donation to the Reference Library in 1900, when he presented a set of Parliamentary Debates in 511 volumes, in half calf, comprising Cobbett’s “Parliamentary History,” continued by Hansard, 1066-1803, Hansard’s “Parliamentary Debates,” 1803-1890, and the “Official Parliamentary Debates” to 1897. Since that date the following members of Parliament for Norwich have partly kept the set up to date: Mr. Louis J. Tillett, Sir George White, Sir Frederick Low and Lieut. E. Hilton Young.

The firm of Messrs. J. and J. Colman, Ltd., of Norwich, presented 3,500 Parliamentary Papers, Blue Books, etc. in 1900 which Mr. J. J. Colman had accumulated.

Mr. T. R. Kemp, K.C., Recorder of Norwich, 1892-1905, who had made a study of the Letters of Junius, bequeathed his collection of various editions of the Letters and works relating to them, numbering altogether 128 volumes.

Mr. Henry F. Euren, a member of the Library Committee since 1880, gave 160 volumes on agriculture and other subjects in 1907, before and after which date he made other donations.

The Reference Library was largely increased in 1914 by a bequest of Mr. Bosworth W. Harcourt, an esteemed co-opted member of the Committee who had taken an active interest in the Library for over 27 years. The bequest, comprising about 2,250 books and pamphlets, was made on condition that such books and pamphlets should be known as the “Bosworth Harcourt Bequest” and that the same should not be placed in circulation, but only read or consulted in the Library. Miss C. M. Nichols, R.E., S.M., N.B.A., designed a suitable book-plate for the books, and a book-case, surmounted by the testator’s name was provided. Mr. Harcourt’s library naturally reflected his tastes: works of and about the chief poets and dramatists, well-illustrated volumes, and books on the graphic arts preponderate, and there are many volumes dealing with the history and antiquities of Norfolk and Norwich.

The munificent bequest of Mrs. Elizabeth Russell Hillen, by which the Library will receive £500 for the advancement of local archÆology, is mentioned in more detail on page 79.

The chief benefactor to the Library is Mr. Walter Rye, who has been a member of the Committee since 1904. In addition to his many and valuable gifts to the Local Collection, which are described on pages 78-79, he has given a large number of reference books, chiefly relating to heraldry and history, but also including a collection of books and tracts on the Civil War, and a number of calendars of patent rolls, and other official publications.

LOCAL COLLECTION.

The collection of literature relating to Norfolk and Norwich was first mooted on January 15th, 1879, when the Committee resolved that works of interest connected with Norwich should be purchased. This decision was doubtless the result of a recommendation from the Librarian, Mr. George Easter, as Mr. James Reeve, F.G.S., then Curator of the Castle Museum, had suggested to him the wisdom of forming a Local Collection. In April of the following year the Librarian reported to the Committee that he had received during the year £10 for fines, and he requested that he might retain the amount for the purpose of forming a Local Reference Library. The Committee sanctioned his request, and from that time to the present the fines imposed for the detention of lending library books beyond the time allowed for reading have been exclusively devoted to the Local Collection. Mr. Councillor Stanley, a member of the Committee, by way of a commencement, gave “the books containing a complete list of the city and county charities,” and the annual report for 1880 stated that “A collection of Books of local interest is proceeding very satisfactorily.” The collection had grown in ten years to 1,603 volumes and 1,933 pamphlets. In the annual report for 1893-94 it was stated that the receipts for fines from 1880 to that date had been £620, and that the collection numbered 2,646 volumes, 3,462 pamphlets, and numerous engravings, maps, portraits, etc. Mr. Easter was mainly responsible for the selection of the books for the Local Collection, and owing to his great enthusiasm in its development the collection comprised at his death in December, 1900, nearly 4,000 volumes and about 5,100 pamphlets.

Mr. Walter Rye joined the Committee as a co-opted member in the latter part of 1904, and within a few months the Committee had accepted his voluntary services as a Norfolk antiquary, to compile a card catalogue of the local books and pamphlets. This catalogue he has kept up to date. The collection soon engaged his special attention, and from the time of his joining the Committee until the present year he has been zealous in its development, giving each year donations from his private collection, and working in its interest in various ways. In 1908 he published at his own expense the following catalogues which he had compiled: “Catalogue of the Topographical and Antiquarian portions of the Free Library at Norwich” (81 pp.), “Calendar of the Documents relating to the Corporation of Norwich, preserved in the Free Library there” (22 pp.), “Catalogue of the Portraits referring to Norfolk and Norwich Men . . . preserved in the Free Library at Norwich” (33 pp.), and “Short List of Works relating to the Biographies of Norfolk Men and Women, preserved in the Free Library at Norwich” (34 pp.).

Mr. Rye’s donations have been both numerous and valuable. In 1905-06 he presented his collection of prints, comprising about 700 portraits and nearly 7,000 views, which included the well-known Smith Collection. During the years 1911-16 his donations became more extensive, and were crowned by his promise made to the Committee in 1916 that he would bequeath his valuable Norfolk manuscripts and the remainder of his printed books, of which copies were not in the Library. Some of the more important manuscripts which he has given to the Library are the following: Friar Brackley’s Armorial Manuscript, circa 1460—a paper volume of 142 pages, with 75 coloured drawings of arms of the Pastens and Mautbys and their matches, being the oldest Norfolk Armorial manuscript known; Collection of original manuscripts relating to the Carpenters’ Company of Norwich, 1594; Rev. F. Blomefield’s Original Entry Book for his “History of Norfolk,” 1733-6; Norfolk Pedigrees, compiled by Peter Le Neve—a volume (86 pp.) of Norfolk pedigrees, with the arms in colours, and an index of names. For these and other gifts the Committee provided an oak exhibition case in the Reading Room in February, 1912. In May 1916 the Council placed on record its appreciation of, and grateful thanks for, Mr. Walter Rye’s munificence to the Library.

At the close of 1911 the Committee, having a considerable balance in hand, resolved to bid for a number of items at the auction sales of Dr. Augustus Jessopp’s Library and the Townshend Heirlooms. At these sales many interesting and valuable documents relating to the history of Norfolk and Norwich were purchased for about £92, including fifteen of Dr. Jessopp’s note-books and an “Address from the Gentry of Norfolk and Norwich to General Monck” in 1660, bearing the signatures of about 800 persons. The latter manuscript was published in facsimile by Messrs. Jarrold and Sons in 1913, the volume also including an introduction by Mr. Hamon Le Strange, F.S.A., biographical notes and index by Mr. Walter Rye, a catalogue of the collection of books in the Library on the Civil War period by the City Librarian, and several portraits.

The Committee received in 1915 an intimation of a munificent bequest of £500 by the late Mrs. Elizabeth Russell Hillen, of King’s Lynn, for the advancement of local archÆology, etc., on condition that the name of Hillen should be permanently associated with the use of the money. The Norwich Castle Museum also received a similar bequest. Mrs. Hillen was the widow of Mr. Henry James Hillen, a native of King’s Lynn, who died in 1910. After retiring from the profession of schoolmaster he devoted much of his time to historical and archÆological research, and subsequently published the fruits of part of his work in local newspapers, several brochures, and his monumental “History of the Borough of King’s Lynn,” 2 vols., 1907. Mr. Hillen made considerable use of the Local Collection, and his wife’s bequest was no doubt partly in recognition of the services it had rendered.

For many years the Committee has tried to make the collection as complete as possible, its wise object being to collect everything local: it has endeavoured to obtain all books, pamphlets, prints, plans and maps, and important manuscripts relating to Norfolk and Norwich, all books and pamphlets printed locally until about 1850, all books and pamphlets by authors associated with the county either by birth or residence, portraits and biographical publications relating to Norfolk people, local newspapers, election literature, early theatre bills, broadsides, book-plates, reports and proceedings of local authorities and societies, etc.

When the present Librarian commenced his duties in 1911 the collection, as recorded in the stock-book of the Library, comprised 5,129 volumes and 6,362 pamphlets, since which time by purchase, spontaneous donations, and systematic application for local publications the collection has increased to 6,364 volumes and 8,126 pamphlets. In addition there are about 7,900 topographical prints and photographs, 950 portraits, and 380 maps, exclusive of the Photographic Survey Collection.

The collection contains extremely valuable files of local newspapers, including a rare volume of “Crossgrove’s News or the Norwich Gazette” for the years 1728-32, the “Norwich Gazette” 1761-64, a long file of its successor the “Norfolk Chronicle” from 1772 with a few gaps to date, the “Norwich Mercury” 1756-60, 1771-80, and from 1802 to date, and “The Eastern Daily Press” from 1875 to date. Recent features introduced in the Local Collection are files of obituary notices of Norfolk people, extracted from various papers and mounted on large cards, and cuttings from newspapers and periodicals of items of local interest, which are mounted on uniform sheets, classified, and filed for reference.

Donations to the Local Collection have been far too numerous even to allow mention of the names of all the chief donors, but the interest of Mr. James Reeve, F.G.S., the Consulting Curator of the Castle Museum, should not pass unnoticed. He has given in recent years several scarce books and prints, including a copy of his rare monograph on “John Sell Cotman,” and a volume of etchings by the Rev. E. T. Daniell.

In order to provide a handy guide to the extensive literature relating to Norwich, the present writer prepared an annotated and classified catalogue of the books, pamphlets, articles and maps in the Local Collection dealing with the City under its most important aspects. The catalogue, entitled “Guide to the Study of Norwich” was published in 1914, and the Norfolk and Norwich ArchÆological Society marked its appreciation of it by purchasing 360 copies. In 1915 a series of special annotated catalogues of literature in the Library relating to Norfolk Celebrities was commenced in the “Readers’ Guide.” The first was devoted to the collection of literature relating to Lord Nelson (comprising 218 books, 39 pamphlets, 81 articles, and 31 prints), and the second to Norfolk Artists. Both catalogues were reprinted as pamphlets for sale at sixpence each.

He also prepared a scheme of classification for the entire collection, and began classifying and cataloguing the contents in 1915, but the work has been suspended owing to the absence of his trained assistants on service. However, about 3,000 books and pamphlets have been classified and catalogued in accordance with modern bibliographical practice, and it is hoped that in due course a complete catalogue will be prepared and printed, which will not only serve as a key to unlock this vast store of local information, but will also form an extensive bibliography of Norfolk and Norwich.

NORFOLK AND NORWICH PHOTOGRAPHIC SURVEY.

A valuable adjunct to the Local Collection is the Norfolk and Norwich Photographic Survey Record which was inaugurated in January, 1913. Shortly after the disastrous flood in Norfolk and Norwich during August, 1912, the Committee favourably considered a report from the City Librarian on the collection of photographs of everything interesting, valuable and characteristic of Norfolk and Norwich. A conference was convened between a Sub-Committee of the Public Library Committee and representatives of the local learned and scientific societies on 13th January, 1913, and ultimately a comprehensive scheme was adopted. It is carried out by the Public Library in collaboration with the Norwich and District Photographic Society and other local scientific societies, with the following object: “To preserve by permanent photographic process, records of antiquities, art, architecture, geology and palÆontology, natural history, passing events of local or historical importance, portraits, old documents, prints, and characteristic scenery of the county of Norfolk.” The photographs contributed to the Survey become the property of the Public Library, under the care of the City Librarian, who is the Secretary and Curator of the Survey. The Public Library has undertaken the responsibility of the mounting, storage and cataloguing of the photographs. The Collection is increased by donations of prints, and the purchase of prints from money specially subscribed for the purpose.

Exhibition and Lecture Room

With the view of stimulating public interest in the Photographic Survey, and of acquainting persons with the scope and methods of photographic survey work, Mr. L. Stanley Jast, who was then the Chief Librarian of the Croydon Public Libraries, and the Hon. Curator of the Surrey Photographic Survey, delivered a public lecture with lantern illustrations to a large audience at Blackfriars’ Hall on 24th January, 1913. The first exhibition of photographs illustrative of the work of the survey was arranged by the City Librarian, and was held in the new Exhibition Room at the Library during December, 1913. An illustration of the room, from a photograph taken during the exhibition, faces this page. The opening ceremony was performed by Mr. Russell J. Colman, D.L., J.P., the President of the Survey, under the presidency of the Lord Mayor of Norwich (Mr. James Porter) who was accompanied by the Lady Mayoress and the Sheriff (Mr. C. T. Coller). The collection of photographs, which commenced in May, 1913, increased at a rapid rate, and although the work of the Survey has been practically at a standstill since the beginning of the war, the collection numbers 1,847 mounted prints and 59 lantern slides. The technique of the photographs reaches a very high standard, the majority of them are platinotypes, and many are of whole-plate size. The collection will undoubtedly be of service to antiquaries, historians, architects, geologists, naturalists, photographers, artists, and all lovers of the beautiful in nature and art, and it will also be of inestimable value to posterity.

LECTURES, READING-CIRCLES, AND EXHIBITIONS.

For a long period lectures have been regarded as an important part of the educational or “extension” work of organised public libraries throughout the country, but in the case of Norwich lectures were instituted as a means of promoting the extension of the Library itself. As soon as the first stone of the building was laid the Committee in January, 1855, authorised the Secretary to make arrangements for a course of lectures at the Bazaar, St. Andrew’s Street, in order to promote the objects of the Library, and by the April meeting lectures had been given by the Rev. A. B. Power (twice), the Rev. A. Reed, the Rev. J. Compton, the Rev. J. Gould, Mr. J. Fox (twice), Mr. J. H. Tillett, and Professor Edward Taylor, of Gresham College. Charges were made for admission, in aid of the funds of the library, and the net proceeds amounted to about £10, the attendances having been “better than usual at lectures in Norwich.”

In October, 1861, a sub-committee was formed to arrange weekly penny readings, interspersed with lectures, in the large room at the Library on Thursday evenings, and in April of the following year the Secretary reported a net balance in hand of £9 : 6 : 0, which sum was spent on books for the Library. In September, 1863, the Committee evidently intended to continue the penny readings, as it was resolved that Mr. Dowson, a member of the Committee, should have full liberty to make arrangements for conducting the penny readings during the following winter session.

A course of popular lectures in connection with the Library by distinguished scientists was inaugurated by Mr. F. W. Harmer, J.P., F.G.S., F.R.Met.Soc., in the year of his mayoralty, 1888. (Parenthetically it may be remarked that he has the distinction of being the oldest member of the Public Library Committee, he having served on it continuously since 1880.) Hoping to place the scheme on a permanent basis, Mr. Harmer suggested the appointment of a Committee of the Corporation to carry out arrangements for a yearly series of similar lectures on science by distinguished men, under the provisions of the Gilchrist Trust, and the matter was referred to the Library Committee. The first of these series, delivered early in 1889 by Sir Robert Ball, Dr. Lant Carpenter, Dr. Andrew Wilson, Professor Miall, Professor Seeley, and the Rev. Dr. Dallinger, were “crowned with complete success.” Under the management of the Committee another course was delivered during the following winter, when the lecturers were Sir Robert Ball, Dr. Andrew Wilson, Mr. Louis Fagan, and Mr. Henry Seebohm, and two lectures were given during the winter of 1890-91, by Sir Robert Ball and Dr. Andrew Wilson respectively. Unfortunately, for reasons of economy, these were supplemented by a series by local gentlemen (which were given in Blackfriars’ Hall), but the result was the reverse of successful, and led eventually to the abandonment of the original scheme. Lectures by Sir Robert Ball and Dr. Andrew Wilson, with others by local gentlemen were given, however, in the winter of 1892-93, and in the following winter by Sir Robert Ball, Dr. Andrew Wilson, and Dr. Drinkwater. No lectures were given in the winter of 1893-94 as the University Extension Lectures then inaugurated were regarded as sufficient, but these appealed to a different class, and never took the place of the others.

In that year the Committee-room was in frequent use by three public circles of the Norwich Branch of the National Home Reading Union, and by the Norwich Students’ Association, which again used the room in 1894-95. The National Home Reading Union continued to use the room for several years.

Lectures organised by the Committee were again revived in 1916 on the occasion of the Tercentenary of the death of Shakespeare, when the following lectures were delivered at the Technical Institute, the lecture room at the Library being too small for the purpose: “Shakespeare as National Hero,” by Sir Sidney Lee, D.Litt., F.B.A.; “Shakespeare and the English Ideal,” [84] by the Dean of Norwich (The Very Rev. H. C. Beeching, D.D., D.Litt.); “Shakespeare and Music,” by Mr. A. Batchelor, M.A.; “Dramatic Companies in Norwich of Shakespeare’s Time,” by Mr. L. G. Bolingbroke; and “The Plant Lore of Shakespeare,” by Mr. Edward Peake. For the first two lectures one shilling was charged for admission, and the net proceeds were sent to the Jenny Lind Hospital in Norwich (£7 : 12 : 6) and the Camps Library (£8 : 5 : 6). The remaining lectures were free, but collections were taken on behalf of the Camps Library, and £3 : 19 : 6 was received.

The Shakespeare Tercentenary was also commemorated by an exhibition in the Reading Room, consisting of books, prints and other material illustrative of the life and works of Shakespeare. The prints were arranged in groups as follows: Portraits, Shakespeare’s country, Contemporaries, Actors, Costume, Music, Pictorial illustrations of Shakespeare, Elizabethan London, and Shakespeare Memorials.

In connection with the Gray bicentenary, which took place on December 26th, 1916, the Dean of Norwich, who is a member of the Public Library Committee, delivered a lecture on Thomas Gray at the Technical Institute on December 15th, when the Deputy Mayor, Alderman H. J. Copeman, J.P. (Chairman of the Public Library Committee), presided. A small exhibition of prints, and works by and about Gray was arranged in the Reading Room.

It is hoped that in future lectures on literary subjects or connected with classes of books in the Library may be arranged from time to time.

CONCLUSION.

In the annual reports various statistics have been given of the visits to the News and Reading Rooms, and the number of books issued from the Lending and Reference Libraries, but as there was no uniform system of compilation, and the methods employed were not stated, an accurate statistical comparison between the past and present work of the Library is impossible. Suffice it to say that at no time of its history has it been so well equipped in all directions, and at no time has it stood higher in public esteem than it does at present. The old City Library possesses treasures befitting an old English “City of Churches,” and the present Public Library fulfils the general purposes of a modern rate-supported Library. The Lending Library consists of about 18,000 volumes in all departments of knowledge, from which some 6,000 adults and juveniles borrow about 110,000 volumes annually. The Reading Room and News Room contain a careful selection of the leading newspapers, and a large variety of the best periodicals. The Reference Library contains about 24,000 volumes, including sets of the publications of several learned societies, and is being brought up to date by the purchase of recent standard works of reference. The Local Collection, which for completeness probably equals that of any other county, has a rich store of material, valuable not only to the antiquary, but to all those who desire to know something of the literature and art of the county, or its natural and geological history, or the part played by Norfolk and Norwich in the general history of England. Further, the Library, being encyclopÆdic in character, may be regarded as a bureau of information, and as such it is playing an important part in the educational, industrial and social life of the City.

Printed by Jarrold & Sons, Ltd., Norwich, England.