To buy or to borrow? Circulating libraries and novel reading in Britain, 1778‐1828

1Skelton‐Foord, C.J., “Circulating fiction 1780‐1830: the novel in British circulating libraries of the Romantic era: with a check‐list of 200 mainstream novels of the period”, unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Wales, Cardiff, 1997.

2Lackington, J., Memoirs of the Forty‐Five First Years of the Life of James Lackington, 7th ed., printed for the author, London, 1794, pp. 247‐8.

3Lovell, T., Consuming Fiction, Verso, London, 1987, pp. 50‐1.

4Spiller, D., ″The provision of fiction for public libraries″, Journal of Librarianship, Vol. 12 No. 4, 1980, p. 255.

5Le Faye, D. (Ed.), Jane Austen’s Letters, 3rd ed., Letter to Cassandra Austen, 25 November 1798, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1995, p. 22.

6Lovell, T., Consuming Fiction, Verso, London,, Ch. 3 1987.

7Lane, W. (1795, A Tale Addressed to the Novel Readers of the Present Times, William Lane, London, p. 7. British Library copy, C.184.f.25.(1.).

8Lane, W. (1795?, An Address to the Public, on Circulating Libraries, &c., William Lane, London, pp. 2, 3. British Library copy, C.84.f.25.(2.).

9Lane, W. (1795?, An Address to the Public, on Circulating Libraries, &c., William Lane, London, p. 4.

10Varma, D.P., The Evergreen Tree of Diabolical Knowledge, Consortium Press, Washington, DC, 1972, p. 58.

11Robertson, E.F. (1804?, Destiny: or, Family Occurrences: An Interesting Narrative, William Burton, London, Vol. 1, title‐page.

12See Griest, G.L., Mudie's Circulating Library and the Victorian Novel, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, especially chapter eight. The impact of the libraries' decision upon the novels trade was swift and dramatic. In her opening chapter Griest writes: ″In 1894, 184 three‐volume novels were issued

that year the libraries banned the form. By 1897, only four appeared″, 1970, pp. 6‐7.

13Bell, J. (1778?, ″The Enlarged Plan″, inA New Catalogue of Bell’s Circulating Library ... By John Bell, Bookseller, Near Exeter Exchange, in the Strand, John Bell, London, recto page following title‐page.

14Le Faye, D. (Ed.), Jane Austen’s Letters, 3rd ed., Letter to Cassandra Austen, 7 January 1807, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1995, pp. 115‐6.

15See Oldfield, J., ″Circulating libraries in Southampton, 1773‐1894″, Hampshire, Vol. 28 No. 3, 1988, pp. 37‐8.

16The Quarterly Review, Vol. 9, 1806, p. 248.

17Erickson, L., ″The economy of novel reading: Jane Austen and the circulating library″, SEL: Studies in English Literature, 1500‐1900, Vol. 30 No. 4, 1990, p. 573.

18Griffith, R., A Series of Genuine Letters, Between Henry and Francesi.e. Richard and Elizabeth Griffith, W. Richardson and L. Urquhart,London, Vol. 5, (1766‐1770), p. 15.

19The Blackwood Papers in the National Library of Scotland, MS 4021, f. 275. Letter from James Hogg to William Blackwood, 12 February 1828.

20Trelawney, A., Characters at Brighton. A Novel, J.F. Hughes, London, Vol. 4, 1808, p. 332.

21This separately‐numbered, seven‐page advertisement survives at the end of Vol. 2 of the University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign Library copy of the first edition, 823.Sco82s, and of the British Library copy of the second edition, x12613.cc.7.

22The price given inThe Quarterly Review, Vol. 11, 1814, p. 255.

23Lovell, T., Consuming Fiction, Verso, London, 1987, p. 76. Terry Lovell argues that ″[t]he three‐decker edition in which literary fiction first appeared [in the age of Mudie’s was bought almost exclusively by the libraries, although not at the cover price of one and a half guineas. iscounts varied, but the average price paid seems to have been a little less than half of this″.

24>″I Can't Afford It″ is listed in February as 15s. in The Edinburgh Review (1813), Vol. 21, p. 258

in July as 10s. in The Edinburgh Review (1813), Vol. 21, p. 481

and in October as 10s. 6d. in The Edinburgh Review (1813), Vol. 22, p. 245.

25Varma, D.P., The Evergreen Tree of Diabolical Knowledge, Consortium Press, Washington, DC, 1972, p. 61.

26The Gentleman’s Magazine , Vol. 56, 1786, p. 1023.

27Bettison, S. (1817, ″Regulations″, inA Catalogue of Bettison’s Library, High‐Street: Consisting of a Valuable Selection of Books, both Ancient and Modern, English, French, Italian, &c., p. 7.

28Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee on the Copyright Acts of 8 Anne, c. 19; 15 Geo. III, c. 53; 41 Geo. III, c. 107; and 54 Geo. III, c. 116. Ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed, 8 May 1818(1818), p. 67.

29Southey, R. (1814, ″Letter LVI″, inLetters from England: By Don Manuel Alvarez Espriella. Translated from the Spanish, 3rd ed., Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London, Vol. 3, p. 42, quoted also in Erickson, L., ″The economy of novel reading: Jane Austen and the circulating library″, SEL: Studies in English Literature, 1500‐1900, Vol. 30 No. 4, 1990, p. 578. It was first published in 1807.

30Marshall, C.H. (1808, ″Conditions″, inA New and Enlarged Catalogue of the Circulating‐Library, Upper Corner of Milsom‐Street, Bath, Consisting of Upwards of Twenty‐Five Thousand Volumes: Which are Lent to Read, by C.H. Marshall, Richard Cruttwell, Bath, p. iv.

31The Oracle (1795, for 30 April; quoted in Hamlyn, H.M. (1946‐1947), ″Eighteenth‐century circulating libraries in England″, The Library, 5th Series, Vol. 1 Nos. 3 and 4, 1795, p. 216.

32Jones, G., ″Preliminary epistle from the author″, toSupreme Bon Ton: And Bon Ton by Profession. A Novel, John C. Spence, London, Vol. 1, 1820, pp. vi‐vii.

33Ward, C.G., ″Advertisement″, toThe Mysterious Marriage; or, The Will of My Father, George Virtue, London, Vol. 1, 1824, recto page following title‐page.

34Harrod, W., A Catalogue of Harrod’s Circulating Library Comprising 700 Novels, &c. and 300 Plays, Stamford, 1790, p. 12.