The Voluntary Libraries of Victorian Britain

ebook Volume 1 · New Directions in Book History

By Keith A. Manley

cover image of The Voluntary Libraries of Victorian Britain

Sign up to save your library

With an OverDrive account, you can save your favorite libraries for at-a-glance information about availability. Find out more about OverDrive accounts.

   Not today

Find this title in Libby, the library reading app by OverDrive.

Download Libby on the App Store Download Libby on Google Play

Search for a digital library with this title

Title found at these libraries:

Library Name Distance
Loading...

This volume provides an examination of the kind of free (or nearly free) libraries which were available to the general public in England and Wales in the late nineteenth century, but which were not supported by local taxation. They were effectually substitutes for municipal public libraries in areas where that sort of library provision did not exist. And they were voluntary because they did not enjoy funding from local councils but from wealthy philanthropists or from raising money themselves from well-wishers. Many of those libraries were located in cities and towns (there were many in London) but village libraries are included. Volume 2 covers Scotland and Ireland, as well as the often-ignored subject of workplace libraries.

The Voluntary Libraries of Victorian Britain