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Libraries & Culture 37.3 (2002) 304-305



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Communications


More American Circulating Libraries

In my monograph on rental libraries in America between 1762 and 1890, I appended a preliminary checklist of the 439 such institutions that had come to my attention in the course of my research for the book (A Book for a Sixpence: The Circulating Library in America [Pittsburgh: Beta Phi Mu, 1980], 127-63). In the headnote to that appendix, I expressed the hope that "other investigators will add to this list as a step toward the ultimate development of a complete census of such institutions." I also invited researchers to inform me of candidate rental libraries to be added to the list and indicated my willingness to publish an addendum in due course.

Surprisingly, to me at least, only twenty-nine additional institutions fitting these parameters have been brought to my attention. Moreover, by far the majority of these twenty-nine have been submitted and documented by a single intrepid bibliographer: Michael Zinman of the Haydn Foundation for the Cultural Arts in Ardsley, N.Y. I list the twenty-nine libraries below and express my appreciation to those who have aided me in this work.

Additional American Rental Libraries, 1762-1890

John Adams Library, "The Balance Office," Hudson, N.Y., n.d.[bookplate]
Carter's Select Circulating Library, 3 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass., ca. 1890 [library stamp]
Stephen Clark Circulating Library, Church Street, Annapolis, Md., n.d. [bookplate]
Henry Colburn's Circulating Library, 23 Thames Street, Baltimore, Md., n.d. [Joseph Lawrence Yeatman, "Literary Culture and the Role of Libraries in Democratic America: Baltimore, 1815-1840," JLH 20 (fall 1985): 352]
P. A. Crocker Circulating Library, Fitchburg, Mass., ca. 1825 [bookplate]
Dover Circulating Library, Boston, Mass., 1792 [book label]
I. Fellows Library, n.p., 1804 [bookplate]
John W. Folsom Circulating Library, 30 Union Street, Boston, Mass., n.d. [bookplate]
James Hunter Circulating Library, n.p., n.d. [owner's inscription]
Juvenile Circulating Library, 15 Calvert Street, Baltimore, Md., n.d. [Yeatman, JLH 20: 352] [End Page 304]
Ladies' Circulating Library, 45 Newbury Street, Boston, Mass., n.d. [endpaper]
B. Levy and Co., Circulating Library, New Orleans, La., n.d. [bookplate]
Samuel Mason Circulating Library, n.p., n.d. [advertisement]
H. G. McClelland Circulating Library, n.p., n.d. [library stamp]
Parson's Circulating Library, 53 Newbury Street, York, Maine, n.d. [owner's inscription]
Pelican Circulating Library, 35 St. Ann Street, New Orleans, La., 1882 [advertisement]
J. S. Penn's Circulating Library, Austin, Tex., 1872-79 [Philip A. Metzger, "A Circulating Library in the Southwest: J. S. Penn in Austin, Texas," JLH 21 (winter 1986): 228]
Mrs. L. K. Power Circulating Library, n.p. n.d. [advertisement]
Prichard's Circulating Library, Market Street, Baltimore, Md., 1780s? [book label]
Rainbow & Hannah's Circulating Library, Norfolk, Va.., 1796 [book label]
[John] Shaw Circulating Library, n.p., n.d. [owners' inscription]
Joshua Thomas Circulating Library, "Opposite the Treasurer's Office," Boston, Mass., 1793 [bookplate]
Joseph J. Todd Circulating Library, "At the Sign of the Bible and Anchor," Providence, R.I., n.d. [bookplate]
W. & D. Treadwell Circulating Library, Portsmouth, N.H., n.d. [library stamp]
Verona Mission Circulating Library, n.p. [N.J.?], n.d. [endpaper]
Washington Circulating Library, corner of Wall and William Streets, New York, N.Y., n.d. [bookplate]
George E. Watson Circulating Library, Sewing Machines, and Fashion Rooms, 51 Montgomery Street, Jersey City, N.J., ca. 1878 [advertisement]
George E. Watson Circulating Library, Sewing Machines, and Fashion Rooms, 242 Washington Street, Hoboken, N.J., ca. 1878 [advertisement]
John A. Weed Circulating Library, "West Side of the Bridge," Norwalk, Conn., 1848 [advertisement]

 



David Kaser, Indiana University, Bloomington

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