The Libraries of London

Horowhenua Chronicle, 15 September 1910, Page 4

The Libraries of London

SOME XOTAI3LE DETAILS

The number of volumes in the libraries of London is approximately 8,500.000; and as ailiout" a mil ion of these are in libraries with restricted conditions of admission, and should not, therefore, be taken into account, London provides a little over one volume pei head. Hut Berlin provides two Uresden three, and Paris four volJiiiies per head; so that London, in vims as in many other respects, bv no means leads the way. But this is not all. The British Museum is the only pn.blic or semi-public library which we .possess with more than 1,y,000 volumes, while Berlin can boast three and Paris eleven with a greater number. Among the great libraries of the •Metropolis the London Library occupies an honoured position. ' CarlyJe, Gladstone, Hallam, and others were among its founders. It ■was opened in 1841. It fe cspeoi . ally strong m foreign works, and numbers altogether about 240 ()()(, volumes The library of the iW I'lstitntion in Finsbury Circus has 150,000 volumes. This library is well in historical and topographical works, and has an extensive n n d. v . nllla|)low>llti of ™i . Phleta as : well as other treasm-S. lon on Guil , tl,lal, rants- second in London. As m ay be supposed it con ams many books .relating' to the lastly nnd antiquities of the ■Mefcropol,*. ValnaWo gifts have & ma t &i 4 *">" time to fame. At Sion College, on the Embankment, there are 110 0(0 volumes, among whk* are six ,Z Actions of Caxton's pross inc <T ca in JLnglish, besides ea,ri v Bibles p"hce o Jibr? ,an f Cn^ S - ImnAeS tions of f ry aR - a,so finc coll <*- mmm