Editing Public library (section)

===Enlightenment-era libraries===
[[Claude Sallier]], the French philologist and churchman, operated an early form of a public library in the town of [[Saulieu]] from 1737 to 1750. He wished to make culture and learning accessible to all people.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tastet |first=Tyrtée (1809-1865) Auteur du texte |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k31495f |title=Histoire des quarante fauteuils de l'Académie française depuis la fondation jusqu'à nos jours, 1635-1855. Tome 2, VI. Le fauteuil de Montesquieu - XV. Le fauteuil de Lally / par M. Tyrtée Tastet |date=1855 |language=EN}}</ref>

The [[Załuski Library]] ({{langx|pl|Biblioteka Załuskich}}, {{langx|la|Bibliotheca Zalusciana}}) was built in [[Warsaw]] 1747–1795 by [[Józef Andrzej Załuski]] and his brother, [[Andrzej Stanisław Załuski]], both Roman Catholic bishops. The library was open to the public and was the first Polish public library, the biggest in Poland, and one of the earliest public libraries in Europe.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fyifrance.com/f102005c.htm |title=The Strange Life of One of the Greatest European Libraries of the Eighteenth Century: the Zaluski Collection in Warsaw |publisher=Fyifrance.com |access-date=27 March 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080208031623/http://www.fyifrance.com/f102005c.htm |archive-date=8 February 2008 }}</ref>

At the start of the 18th century, libraries were becoming increasingly public and were more frequently [[Lending library|lending libraries]]. The 18th century saw the switch from closed parochial libraries to lending libraries. Before this time, public libraries were parochial in nature, and libraries frequently chained their books to desks.<ref>Kelly, Thomas (1966) ''Early Public Libraries: a history of public libraries in Great Britain before 1850'' London: Library Association; p. 94</ref> Libraries also were not uniformly open to the public. In 1790, The Public Library Act would not be passed for another sixty-seven years.<ref>Predeek, Albert (1947) ''A History of Libraries in Great Britain and North America''. Chicago: American Library Association; p. 58</ref>

[[File:The North Prospect of Mountague House JamesSimonc1715.jpg|thumb|The [[British Museum]] was established in 1751 and had a library containing over 50,000 books.]]
Even though the [[British Museum]] existed at this time and contained over 50,000 books, the national library was not open to the public or even to most of the population. Access to the museum depended on passes, for which there was sometimes a waiting period of three to four weeks. Moreover, the library was not open for browsing. Once a pass to the library had been issued, the reader was taken on a tour of the library. Many readers complained that the tour was much too short.<ref>Battles, Matthew (2003) ''Library: an unquiet history''; p. 121</ref> Similarly, the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|Bibliothèque du Roi]] in Paris required a potential visitor to be "carefully screened" and, even after this stipulation was met, the library was open only two days per week and only to view medallions and engravings, not books.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The rise of the public in Enlightenment Europe|last=Melton|first=James Van Horn|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2001|isbn=9780511019074|location=Cambridge|pages=104–109|chapter=Reading publics: transformations of the literary public sphere}}</ref>

However, up until the mid-19th century, there were virtually no public libraries in the sense in which we now understand the term, i.e., libraries provided with public funds and freely accessible to all.<ref name="Kelly, Thomas 1966; p. 185">Kelly, Thomas (1966); p. 185</ref> Only one important library in Britain, namely [[Chetham's Library]] in Manchester, was fully and freely accessible to the public.<ref name="Kelly, Thomas 1966; p. 185"/> The [[Chesshyre Library]] in [[Halton, Runcorn|Halton]], [[Cheshire]] was founded as a free public library in 1733 for all "divines of the Church of England or other gentlemen or persons of letters", but it was limited to just 422 volumes of mostly [[ecclesiastical]] and legal works.<ref name="starkey">{{Citation | last =Starkey | first = H. F| year = 1990| title = Old Runcorn| pages = 77–81 | publisher = Halton Borough Council }}</ref> In Germany, there was another occurrence of an accessible public library. [[Herzog August Library|The Ducal Library at Wolfenbüttel]] was open "every weekday morning and afternoon" and loaned its books to the public. Between 1714 and 1799, the library loaned 31,485 books to 1,648 different users.<ref name=":0" /> These types of public libraries, much closer to the present-day concept of the public library, were extremely rare as most libraries remained difficult to access.

The increase in secular literature at this time encouraged the spread of lending libraries, especially commercial [[subscription libraries]]. Commercial [[subscription libraries]] began when booksellers began renting out extra copies of books in the mid-18th century. Steven Fischer estimates that in 1790, there were "about six hundred rental and lending libraries, with a clientele of some fifty thousand."<ref>Allan, David (2008) ''A Nation of Readers: the lending library in Georgian England''. London: British Library; p. 121</ref> The mid-to-late 18th century saw a wave of feminine reading as [[novel]]s became more and more popular.<ref>Irwin, Raymond (1964) ''The Heritage of the English Library''. London: George Allen & Unwin; p. 275</ref> Novels, while frowned upon in society, were extremely popular. In England, there were many who lamented at the "villainous profane and obscene books", and the opposition to the circulating library, on moral grounds, persisted well into the 19th century.<ref>Kelly, Thomas (1966); p. 147</ref> Still, many establishments must have circulated many times the number of novels as of any other genre.<ref>Kaufman, Paul (1969); p. 197</ref>

In 1797, Thomas Wilson wrote in ''The Use of Circulating Libraries'': "Consider that for a successful circulating library, the collection must contain 70% fiction". However, the overall percentage of novels mainly depended on the proprietor of the [[circulating library]]. While some circulating libraries were almost completely novels, others had less than 10% of their overall collection in the form of novels.<ref>Allan, David (2008); p. 138</ref> The national average start of the 20th century hovered around novels comprising about 20% of the total collection.<ref>Allan, David (2008); p. 135</ref> Novels varied from other types of books in many ways. They were read primarily for enjoyment instead of for study. They did not provide academic knowledge or spiritual guidance; thus, they were read quickly and far fewer times than other books. These were the perfect books for commercial subscription libraries to lend. Since books were read for pure enjoyment rather than for scholarly work, books needed to become both cheaper and smaller. Small duodecimo editions of books were preferred to the large [[Folio (printing)|folio]] editions. Folio editions were read at a desk, while the small [[duodecimo]] editions could be easily read like the paperbacks of today. The French journalist [[Louis-Sébastien Mercier]] wrote that the books were also separated into parts so that readers could rent a section of the book for some hours instead of a full day.<ref name=":0" /> This allowed more readers could have access to the same work at the same time, making it more profitable for the circulating libraries.

Much like paperbacks of today, many of the novels in circulating libraries were unbound. At this period of time, many people chose to bind their books in leather. Many circulating libraries skipped this process. Circulating libraries were not in the business of preserving books; their owners wanted to lend books as many times as they possibly could. Circulating libraries have ushered in a completely new way of reading. Reading was no longer simply an [[academia|academic pursuit]] or an attempt to gain [[spirituality|spiritual guidance]]. Reading became a social activity. Many circulating libraries were attached to the shops of milliners or drapers. They served as much for social gossip and the meeting of friends as [[Coffeehouse|coffee shops]] do today.<ref>Irwin, Raymond (1964) pp. 275-76</ref>

[[File:Vogel Załuski Library.jpg|thumb|[[Załuski Library|Biblioteka Załuskich]], built in [[Warsaw]] in the mid-18th century]]
Another factor in the growth of subscription libraries was the increasing cost of books. In the last two decades of the century, especially, prices were practically doubled, so that a quarto work cost a [[Guinea (British coin)|guinea]], an [[octavo]] 10 shillings or 12 shillings, and a duodecimo cost 4 [[shilling]]s per volume. Price apart, moreover, books were difficult to procure outside London since local booksellers could not afford to carry large stocks.<ref>Kelly, Thomas (1966); p. 121</ref> Commercial libraries, since they were usually associated with booksellers and also since they had a greater number of patrons, were able to accumulate greater numbers of books. The United Public Library was said to have a collection of some 52,000 volumes – twice as many as any private-subscription library in the country at that period.<ref>Kelly, Thomas (1966); p. 188</ref> These libraries, since they functioned as a business, also lent books to non-subscribers on a per-book system.<ref>Allan, David (2008); p. 132</ref>

Despite the existence of these subscription libraries, they were only accessible to those who could afford the fees and to those with time to read during the daylight. As stated by James Van Horn Melton, "one should not overstate the extent to which lending libraries 'democratized' reading" since "they were probably less important for creating new readers than for enabling those who already read to read more." For many people, these libraries, though more accessible than libraries such as the British Library, were still largely an institution for the middle and upper classes.<ref name=":0" />