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June 30, 2015 3:09 PM Subscribe
Well before Netflix, there was the circulating library. Although circulating libraries large and small were well-established in Britain by the middle of the eighteenth century--some of them, perhaps most (in)famously the Minerva Press, becoming publishing houses themselves--the most powerful circulating libraries came into being during the Victorian era.
Of all the circulating libraries, the most famous was Mudie's Circulating Library (or Mudie's Select Library), founded by Charles Edward Mudie. A devout Christian (he also wrote hymns), Mudie refused to stock anything he found offensive, with disastrous results for novelists like George Meredith. Just as importantly, or even more so, Mudie's was one of the key players responsible for the omnipresence of the Victorian three-volume novel, or triple-decker: circulating libraries (which found the multivolume format highly advantageous for their business approach) were the primary markets for triple-deckers, not individuals. (See Troy Bassett [pdf] for more detail.) Eventually, the circulating libraries also tanked the format on which they once relied.
Troy Bassett's At the Circulating Library catalogs the kinds of fiction that, well, circulated (some titles are annotated). A number of Mudie's catalogs have been digitized. And to get a sense of just how many libraries were out there, see the late Robin Alston's list, covering England to 1850.
Of all the circulating libraries, the most famous was Mudie's Circulating Library (or Mudie's Select Library), founded by Charles Edward Mudie. A devout Christian (he also wrote hymns), Mudie refused to stock anything he found offensive, with disastrous results for novelists like George Meredith. Just as importantly, or even more so, Mudie's was one of the key players responsible for the omnipresence of the Victorian three-volume novel, or triple-decker: circulating libraries (which found the multivolume format highly advantageous for their business approach) were the primary markets for triple-deckers, not individuals. (See Troy Bassett [pdf] for more detail.) Eventually, the circulating libraries also tanked the format on which they once relied.
Troy Bassett's At the Circulating Library catalogs the kinds of fiction that, well, circulated (some titles are annotated). A number of Mudie's catalogs have been digitized. And to get a sense of just how many libraries were out there, see the late Robin Alston's list, covering England to 1850.
I joined the Sydney Mechanical School of the Arts library a couple of months ago.
$15 p.a. with 8 week borrowing plus e-books/e-audio books.
It has a magnificent crime fiction collection including a massive catalogue of 40s/50s/60s/70s pulp that was weeded long ago out of any public library I have been a member of.
Visit and support it, Sydney Me-Fites, it is like your own private nerd club in the heart of the city. http://smsa.org.au/library/
posted by bystander at 3:59 PM on June 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
$15 p.a. with 8 week borrowing plus e-books/e-audio books.
It has a magnificent crime fiction collection including a massive catalogue of 40s/50s/60s/70s pulp that was weeded long ago out of any public library I have been a member of.
Visit and support it, Sydney Me-Fites, it is like your own private nerd club in the heart of the city. http://smsa.org.au/library/
posted by bystander at 3:59 PM on June 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
Thanks for all these links tjw: I found Richard Menke’s article particularly interesting.
On occasion, grappling with oversized present-day volumes, I’ve wished that their publishers might have considered double- or triple-decking them. Novels, we hear, are getting longer: surely there must come a point at which subdividing a text into wieldier volumes is just as cost-effective as stuffing it into a single very stout one.
posted by misteraitch at 4:56 AM on July 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
On occasion, grappling with oversized present-day volumes, I’ve wished that their publishers might have considered double- or triple-decking them. Novels, we hear, are getting longer: surely there must come a point at which subdividing a text into wieldier volumes is just as cost-effective as stuffing it into a single very stout one.
posted by misteraitch at 4:56 AM on July 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
See also:
The Dime Novel Bibliography project
http://dimenovels.org/
The project aims to index all reprint libraries, story papers, penny dreads, and dime novels. Volunteers are welcome to assist!
posted by mfoight at 5:58 AM on July 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Dime Novel Bibliography project
http://dimenovels.org/
The project aims to index all reprint libraries, story papers, penny dreads, and dime novels. Volunteers are welcome to assist!
posted by mfoight at 5:58 AM on July 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
Great heavens, what a cornucopia! I had, of course, heard of the three-volume novel, but I had no idea how it tied into the circulating library system, or of the fact that books were priced so that most individuals couldn't afford them (like scholarly books now, grr), or of Mudie's and its primness, or... well, any of it. Thanks, tjw!
> I found Richard Menke’s article particularly interesting.
Me too, and had I posted this I would have made it the primary link. I hope people find their way to it, because it's richly informative.
posted by languagehat at 12:00 PM on July 1, 2015
> I found Richard Menke’s article particularly interesting.
Me too, and had I posted this I would have made it the primary link. I hope people find their way to it, because it's richly informative.
posted by languagehat at 12:00 PM on July 1, 2015
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