Three Centuries of a City Library Part 1

Three Centuries of a City Library.

by George A. Stephen.

PREFACE.

This book was prepared by instruction of the Norwich Public Library Committee, and it is now published as a souvenir of the sixtieth anniversary of the opening of the present Public Library, which will take place on March 16th, 1917. Norwich occupies a unique place in the history of libraries: it has the distinction of having established in 1608 one of the earliest provincial public libraries, if not the first in England, and it was the first munic.i.p.ality to adopt the Public Library Act, 1850. It is hoped, therefore, that the following sketch, besides giving local readers and archaeologists a detailed account of an important Norwich inst.i.tution, will form an interesting chapter in the history of British Libraries.

The compilation has been made from the recently discovered Minute Book of the old Public Library, covering the period 1656-1733, from annual reports and other official records, and from notes acc.u.mulated since 1911. The work has been done under difficulties due to the abnormal conditions caused by the Great War, and I am conscious that imperfections have resulted; for these I crave the reader's indulgence.

I am grateful to the Dean of Norwich (the Very Rev. H. C. Beeching, D.D., D.Litt.) for his kind help in several matters, for many suggestions, and for reading the galley proofs. To Mr. Walter Rye I am indebted for reading the proofs, and for a.s.sistance. Thanks are also due to Mr. F.

Johnson, the a.s.sistant City Archivist, for consulting the City Records and providing me with some extracts; and to Mr. F. R. Beecheno, the historian of the parish of St. Andrew's, for a.s.sistance and information.

My obligations to Dr. Montague Rhodes James, the Provost of King's College, Cambridge, and Mr. A. W. Pollard, M.A., of the British Museum, are acknowledged in the text. For any errors in the book I am solely responsible.

_January_, 1917.

GEO. A. STEPHEN.

INTRODUCTION.

In mediaeval times the making, collecting, and preserving of books, as well as the maintenance of learning, were almost exclusively confined to monastic inst.i.tutions, 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 G.o.dlye. 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 munic.i.p.alities--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 munic.i.p.al 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 a.s.sociation 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 munic.i.p.ality, 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.

PART I. THE CITY LIBRARY.

FOUNDATION AND HISTORY.

According to the judicious Norfolk antiquary John Kirkpatrick, who acc.u.mulated vast collections of material relating to Norwich, "There was a design of erecting a Public Library in this City, in the reign of Edward the Fourth, as appears by this legacy, in the will of John Leystofte, vicar of St. Stephen's church, here, A.D. 1461, namely,--"Item. I will that, if a library be begun in Norwich, within two years after my decease, I bequeath to the same, my book called Repyngton." {4} Kirkpatrick was unable to say whether the legacy was effected, and no record remains.

The first City Library of which there is any record was founded on the 3rd May, 1608, and by the following order of a.s.sembly which was then recorded, it will be observed that it had an ecclesiastical basis, like so many libraries of previous centuries: "Ordered, with the consent of Jerrom Goodwyne, sword-bearer, that iij chambers, parcel of his dwelling-howse, which he hath by lease of the cyttie, shal be converted to a lybrary for the use of the preachers, and for a lodging chamber for such preachers as shall come to this cittie, to preach on the sabboth-dayes, and at other tymes, in the common place, and elsewhere, within this cittie; where the said Jerrom Goodwyn shall fynd beddyng, lynnynge, and other necessaries for lodging, for the preachers that so shall come, during their abode in the cittie for the intent aforesaid: which said romes for the lybrary shal be made fytt at the charge of this cittie; and the said Goodwyn to allowe one of his servants to attende the preachers. In consideration whereof, the said Goodwyne shal be allowed yearly the rent which he now payeth, and his lease, notwithstanding, to stand good for the terme therein expressed." {4}

The Library, however, was not intended solely for ministers. The wording of the t.i.tle-page of the first donation book, commenced in 1659, states that it was founded for students: "Bibliotheca publica Norvicensis communi studiosorum bono inst.i.tuta incoepta et inchoata fuit Ano Domini MDCVIII." (See reproduction, facing page 46). Moreover, the list of the early members of the Library includes the names of people who were not ministers. Facing pages 4 and 6 are facsimiles of the two pages in the Minute Book bearing signatures of early members who subscribed to the rules of the Library. Perhaps the most notable autographs are those of Charles Trimnell, Bishop of Norwich, William Whiston, translator of Josephus, and chaplain to John Moore, Bishop of Norwich, Thomas Tanner, Bishop of St. Asaph, and Benjamin Mackerell, a Norfolk antiquary and Librarian of the Norwich Public Library.

[Picture: Autographs of early members of the City Library 1]

To Judge by the existing records, the City had then received no books for placing in the rooms. Mr. J. C. Tingey, {5a} however, considers it "rather strange that when, in 1608, three rooms were fitted up for the reception of the library at the New Hall there should be no existing books to be placed in the presses, though promises of donations may have been given. As a matter of fact the compilers of the old catalogues mention several works without being able to say by whom they were presented, and as many of these were printed in the 16th century it is not impossible that some of them const.i.tuted a primary stock. On the other hand many books whose donors are unknown were issued after the library was inaugurated, so of these it is certain that they were presented later." The number of works whose donors are not stated in the first printed catalogue of 1706 is 51, but in the second printed catalogue of 1732 the donors of 36 of these are stated, so there remain only 15 works in the first printed catalogue of which the donors are unknown. Of these fifteen one was printed after the establishment of the Library, and so the primary stock suggested by Mr. Tingey could not have consisted of more than 14 works.

There is a hiatus in the records of the Library proceedings from its establishment to 1656. Possibly the books presented to the Library from 1608 to 1656 were simply allowed to acc.u.mulate in the Library rooms, without any regulations in regard to their use and safe-keeping. That the books were sadly neglected is very evident from a codicil to the will dated September 18th, 1655, of John Carter, Rector of St. Laurence's Church, Norwich, giving to the Library "divers books, etc." He revoked his bequest by the following codicil, and "instead thereof gave 5 pounds to each of the three united parishes of St. Laurence, St. Swithin, and St. Margaret, for a stock of coals for ever": "nowe seeinge (to my no small grief) that that library is locked up, ministers shut out of it, and that it is never like to be of publique use againe, but that the books are devoted to the wormes, dust, and rotteness, to the dishonour of G.o.d, the damage of the ministry, and the wrong of the benefactors, the dead, and the living, &c." {5b}

[Picture: Autographs of early members of the City Library 2]

By 1656, the year of Carter's death, the a.s.sembly had evidently realised the necessity for making regulations for the use of the Library, and had drawn them up before the 16th January in that year, when it was "ordered that the Articles moved touching the ordering of the Library be continued."

On the ninth day of the following month eight ministers met at the Library, when they received the "Orders" of the Council for the regulation of the Library, and having subscribed to them, they were admitted to the use of the Library. At this meeting they ordered two frames for the "Orders"; that Mr. John Collinges should be Library Keeper until January, 1657; that each minister admitted to the use of the Library should pay 12d. quarterly; and that "a book should be bought for registring the acts of the mins at their severall meetings in the Library, and sheets of parchment fit for the engrossing of the orders, and that the library keeper be desired to provide these against the next meeting." This minute book is still in the City Library, but it has been overlooked by all previous writers of notices of the Library. It commences with the proceedings of the meeting on the 9th February, 1656, and records the meetings until April 3rd, 1733. As the a.s.sembly Minute Books for the years 1632 to 1682 are missing the actual "orders"

previously mentioned cannot be quoted, but fortunately the other end of the Minute Book was used to write in the declaration of admission and the rules for the conduct of the Library. They are as follows:--

"We whose names are hereunto annexed upon our admission to ye use of ye Publick Library in ye City of Norwch, in Complyance wth an Act of ye Common Council of ye said City dated ye 16th January 1656, do faithfully engage and promise,

"Imprimis That we will not at any time Carry out of ye said Library any booke belonging to it.

"2 ly That we will not Leave any booke belonging to ye said Library (after our using it) out of its due place, nor write any thing in any of ye bookes, nor Leave them wth any Leaves turned downe.

"3 ly That we will not prejudice any other pson by our use of ye said Library, to which purpose we shall not at any time delay our going to ye Library after ye receipt of ye Keyes from ye Keeper, nor ye restoring them when we Come out of ye said Library.

"4 ly That we shall as to all these Articles be Responsabl for our friends who shall goe wth us to ye said Library, as for our selves.

"5 ly We shall (being duly Chosen thereto) not above once in seaven yeares, discharge ye office of Library-Keeper.

"6 ly We shall faithfully pay our proportions to ye under-Keeper of ye said Library quarterly, and also our equall share wth ye rest of our brethren in all Charges they shall be at for ye better preserving of ye said Library.

"All these things we shall endeavour faithfully to observe & keep, if through our negligence we shall fail in any of them, we Agree to subject our selves to ye Penalties mentioned in ye orders Confirmed by the Court of Common Councill in ye said City."

The Library at this time was clearly a Reference Library, and its maintenance partly depended on the members who agreed to pay their "proportions" of 12d. quarterly, and also their equal share in any charges made for the "better preserving of the Library." The earlier entries in the Minute Book give a fair record of the proceedings at the meetings: they record the names of the members present, the names of new members admitted to the use of the Library, the quarterly payments of the members, the donations of books, books purchased with money given to the Library, duplicate books exchanged for other books, the appointments of the Library Keepers and Under Library Keepers, and other matters connected with the administration of the Library; but the fulness of the entries gradually diminishes until the records are little more than lists of members present, and notes of quarterly payments.

The meetings were held monthly, and on February 6th, 1656, it was resolved that the meetings should be held on the second Monday in each month between 2 and 3 o'clock. At that meeting a levy on the members was recorded: "All the mins present at this meeting deposed Sixpence a piece in Mr. Collinges hand towards the providing of frames and parchment for the orders for the regulation of the library, in all 5/-: and ordered such as were not present if admitted already, or such as hereafter should be admitted, should at their admission or next appearing at meeting lay down so much towards the frames and parchment aforesaid, and the buying of a book to register the Acts of the mins in."

That the members were permitted to enjoy the fragrant weed on the library premises is evident from an entry under date October 12th, 1657: "Threepence was laid out for tobacco pipes," and on April 1st, 1690 it was recorded, "That Mr. Pitts is this day discharged from ye office of Library Keeper, and is endebted to ye under=Library=Keeper for his 2 years for fire, candle, pipes, pens, ink and paper, nine shillings."

From many records it is obvious that the City Authorities closely controlled the administration of the Library. According to the Minute Book on January 12th, 1673, the members "consented yt Mr Riveley and Mr Morley should attend yppon the Court to craue their Order for appoynting the time for ye Ministers Meeting at the Library for future to be uppon the first Tuesday in every moneth." The request was granted. On 29th March, 1673, the Court ordered "36s. to be paid for six Russia leather chairs for City Library." {8}

The library receipts from fees and charges are not regularly entered, but throughout the Minute Book there are occasional records of receipts and payments, and under date March 3, 1684, is the following: "This day ye account of ye Last year was stated. The Library keeper had received 4ll 3s & 4d and had expended 4l 11s 10d--due to Him 8s 6d."

Either as a means of raising additional money for the Library or of securing a better attendance of members at the meetings it was ordered on Jan. 15th, 1677 "that all persons that will continue the use & benefitte of the librarie shall pay for every omission of meeting upon the day appointed the forfeiture of 2 pence, no excuse to be admitted for absence; & the said forfeitures are to be dispos'd of every halfe year according as the major part of psons at yt meeting shall determine." The Minute Book does not show that the fines for absence were usually disposed of half-yearly, but the following memorandum was made therein on April 1st, 1690: "That this day we present cast up ye forfeitures of ye two last years, viz. 1688, 1689 And the several persons are indebted in all two pounds, ten shillings & four pence as appears by ye particulars in ye Book of forfeitures."

For the first 108 years of the Library's existence it remained a reference library, and books were not lent, but surrept.i.tious borrowing probably took place occasionally. At any rate on December 2nd, 1684, the following memorandum was made: "That BP J. Ushers treatise de Macedonum et a.s.syriorum [Asianorum] anno solari was missing this meeting yt was, by ye under-library-keepers attestation here the last meeting and has bin missing this three weeks, 'tis desired that he that has it would be pleased to restore it, and not to do any such thing as is contrary to wt he hath subscribed." By 1716 the members had considered it desirable to allow the borrowing of books for home reading, and on May 7th, 1716, occurs the following record of the pet.i.tion of the members to the City Court:

"This Society having requested ye Court to give leave yt an order might be made to render ye Library more usefull it was accordingly ordered by ye Court

"Norwich. At an a.s.sembly held the third day of May Anno Dnj 1716

"The Pet.i.tion of ye Clergy about ye Books in ye Library is now agreed to, so as such care be taken by ye Library-keeper yt there be no loss of ye Books.

P Cur: Chappell.

"The Articles or Conditions of borrowing any book out of ye Library are order'd to be written in ye first leave of a Register to be provided for ye use of ye Society."