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Jordan, Alexander
Notes and queries, 06/2023, Letnik: 70, Številka: 2Journal Article
Jordan discusses three unpublished letters by Thomas Carlyle and his role in the establishment of the London Library. "A decidedly good Library of good books", Carlyle (1795-1881) told a packed meeting at the Freemasons' Tavern on June 24, 1840, "is a crying want in this great London". As Carlyle explained elsewhere in his speech, the problems with the British Museum were that it was open only during business hours, it was overcrowded, and it did not allow readers to borrow books, whereas the problem with "Circulating Libraries" was that they pandered merely to "the prurient appetite of the great million". As such, there was a pressing need for a high-quality lending library.
