Memoirs of Libraries
Including a Handbook of Library Economy

This history of libraries is particularly important as a pioneering work on all aspects of public library management and organisation.

Edward Edwards (Author)

9781108012218, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 May 2010

580 pages, 11 b/w illus. 4 colour illus.
22.9 x 3 x 15.2 cm, 0.77 kg

This monumental work, first published in 1859, covers the history of libraries from classical times to the mid-nineteenth century, in Britain, Europe and America. The author was influential in founding municipal libraries in nineteenth-century Britain and regarded access to good libraries as crucial to education and civilisation. Volume 1, divided by the author into five 'books', is reissued here in two parts. The first two books deal with classical and medieval libraries, examining English and European monastic libraries in depth. Book 3 describes the core collections of the British Museum and other major university, ecclesiastical and public libraries of Britain and Ireland. Book 4 discusses the principal libraries of America and Book 5 those of continental Europe, from France to Hungary and Russia. This final volume (in four 'books') sets out Edwards' views on all aspects of library management, from physical layout and classification to rules and regulations.

Part II. Economy of Libraries
Book I. Book Collecting: 1. Rudiments of book-collecting, with especial reference to public libraries
2. Copy-tax
3. Gifts
4. Public historiography and public printing
5. International exchanges
6. Purchases
Book II. Buildings: 1. Libraries built
2. Libraries projected
3. Hints and deductions
4. Fittings and furniture
Book III. Classification and Catalogues: 1. Catalogues in general
2. Classificatory schemes
3. Difficulties, rules, and details
4. To print, or not to print?
5. Examples and estimates
6. Local arrangement, and its appliances
Book IV. Internal Administration and Public Service: 1. Librarianship
2. Boards of management, town councils, and central inspection
3. Internal administration
4. Bookbinding
5. Public access
6. The regulation of reading rooms, with especial reference to town libraries, supported under Ewart's Act
7. The regulation of lending libraries
8. Recapitulation
Index.

Subject Areas: Publishing industry & book trade [KNTP]