Editing London Library (section)

{{Short description|Independent library in London, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Distinguish|text=[[British Library|The British Library]]}}{{Infobox organization
| image               = London Library 2020.jpg
| alt                 = <!-- alt text; see [[WP:ALT]] -->
| caption             = Entrance to the London Library in St James's Square
| map                 = <!-- optional -->
| formation           = 1841
| founder             = [[Thomas Carlyle]]
| extinction          = <!-- date of extinction, optional -->
| type                = Subscription library
| coords              = <!-- Coordinates of location using a coordinates template -->
| leader_title        = Patron
| leader_name         = [[Queen Camilla]]
| leader_title2       = President
| leader_name2        = [[Helena Bonham Carter]]
| leader_name3        = Simon Godwin
| leader_title3       = Chairman of Trustees
| leader_title4       = Director
| leader_name4        = Philip Marshall
| name                = The London Library
| image_border        = 
| size                = <!-- default 200px -->
| msize               = <!-- map size, optional, default 250px -->
| malt                = <!-- map alt text -->
| mcaption            = <!-- optional -->
| map2                = 
| location            = 14 St James's Square, London SW1
| membership          = c7,500 (2023)
| website             = {{URL|www.londonlibrary.co.uk/}}
}}

The '''London Library''' is an [[Subscription library|independent lending library]] in London, established in 1841. Membership is open to all, on payment of an annual subscription, with life and corporate memberships also available. As of December 2023 the Library had around 7,500 members.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.londonlibrary.co.uk/images/PDFs/AGMminutesNovember2023FINAL.pdf |title=182nd Annual General Meeting |publisher=The London Library |date=14 November 2023 |access-date=16 September 2024}}</ref>

The Library was founded on the initiative of [[Thomas Carlyle]], who was dissatisfied with some of the policies at the [[British Library|British Museum Library]]. It is located at 14 [[St James's Square]], in the [[St James's]] area of the [[City of Westminster]], which has been its home since 1845.<ref name="Map">"[http://www.westminster.gov.uk/fmn/index3.cfm?LayerID=24&LGSL=42,437,438,439,440,441,442,444,445,446,447,449,456,9999 Libraries] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090508051629/http://www.westminster.gov.uk/fmn/index3.cfm?LayerID=24&LGSL=42%2C437%2C438%2C439%2C440%2C441%2C442%2C444%2C445%2C446%2C447%2C449%2C456%2C9999 |date=2009-05-08 }}." ''[[City of Westminster]]''. Retrieved on 21 January 2009.</ref>

[[T. S. Eliot]], a long-serving President of the Library, argued in July 1952 in an address to members that, "whatever social changes come about, the disappearance of the London Library would be a disaster to civilisation".<ref>T. S. Eliot, ''A Presidential Address to the Members of the London Library'', July 1952: reproduced in McIntyre 2006, p. 33.</ref>