The London Library is an independent lending library in London, established in 1841. It was founded on the initiative of

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, ...

, who was dissatisfied with some of the policies at the British Museum Library. It is located at 14

St James's Square St James's Square is the only square in the St James's district of the City of Westminster and is a garden square. It has predominantly Georgian and Neo-Georgian architecture. For its first two hundred or so years it was one of the three or f ...

, in the

St James's St James's is a central district in the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the West End. In the 17th century the area developed as a residential location for the British aristocracy, and around the 19th century was the focus of the de ...

area of the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a city and borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of central Greater London, including most of the West En ...

, which has been its home since 1845.Libraries
." ''

''. Retrieved on 21 January 2009. Membership is open to all, on payment of an annual subscription, and life and corporate memberships are also available. As of December 2021 the Library had over 7000 members.

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...

, a long-serving President of the Library, argued in 1952 in an address to members that, "whatever social changes come about, the disappearance of the London Library would be a disaster to civilisation".

Trustees and governance

The London Library is a self-supporting, independent institution. It is a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

whose sole aim is the advancement of education, learning, and knowledge. It was incorporated by Royal Charter on 13 June 1933, with a supplemental Royal Charter granted on 21 October 1988. On 6 July 2004, the Queen granted the Library a new Royal Charter, which revoked both the 1933 and 1968 charters. It has its own byelaws and the power to make or amend its rules. It has a royal patron, an elected president and vice presidents, and is administered by an elected board of a maximum of 15 trustees, including the Chairman and the Treasurer.

History

Thomas Carlyle by Robert Scott Tait 31 July 1854

The chief instigator in the Library's foundation was

. He had become frustrated by the facilities available at the British Museum Library, where he was often unable to find a seat (obliging him to perch on ladders), where he complained that the enforced close confinement with his fellow readers gave him a "museum headache", where the books were unavailable for loan, and where he found the library's collections of pamphlets and other material relating to the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

and

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of Kingdom of England, England's governanc ...

s inadequately catalogued. In particular, he developed an antipathy for the Keeper of Printed Books, Anthony Panizzi (despite the fact that Panizzi had allowed him many privileges not granted to other readers), and criticised him, as the "respectable Sub-Librarian", in a footnote to an article published in the ''

Westminster Review The ''Westminster Review'' was a quarterly British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the liberal journal u ...

''. Carlyle's eventual solution, with the support of a number of influential friends, was to call for the establishment of a private subscription library from which books could be borrowed. Narrow London Library label

The Earl of Clarendon was the Library's first President,

William Makepeace Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his Satire, satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel ''Vanity Fair (novel), Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portra ...

its first auditor, and

William Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

and Sir Edward Bunbury sat on the first committee. The Belgian freedom fighter and former Louvain librarian Sylvain Van de Weyer was a vice-president from 1848 to 1874. (Van de Weyer's father-in-law Joshua Bates was a founder of the

Boston Public Library The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Common ...

in 1852.) A vigorous and long-serving presence in later Victorian times was Richard Monckton-Milnes, later Lord Houghton, a friend of

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, i ...

. Dickens was among the founder members. In more recent times, Kenneth Clark and

have been among the Library's presidents, and Sir

Harold Nicolson Sir Harold George Nicolson (21 November 1886 – 1 May 1968) was a British politician, diplomat, historian, biographer, diarist, novelist, lecturer, journalist, broadcaster, and gardener. His wife was the writer Vita Sackville-West. Early li ...

, Sir Rupert Hart-Davis and the Hon Michael Astor have been Chairmen. (Sir) Charles Hagberg Wright, who served as Secretary and Librarian from 1893 to 1940, is remembered as "the real architect of the London Library as it is today". He oversaw the rebuilding of its premises in the 1890s, the re-cataloguing and rearrangement of its collections under its own unique classification system, and the publication of its catalogue in 1903, with a second edition in 1913–14 and later supplements. In 1957 the Library received an unanticipated demand from

Westminster City Council Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors. The council is currently composed of 31 Labour Party members and 23 Con ...

for business rates (despite being registered as a tax-free charity), and the

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ...

also became involved. At that time, most publishers donated free copies of their books to the library. A final appeal was turned down by the Court of Appeal in 1959, and a letter in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

'' of 5 November from the President and Chairman (

and Rupert Hart-Davis) appealed for funds. A subsequent letter from Winston Churchill commented that "The closing of this most worthy institution would be a tragedy". Financial donations reached £17,000, and an auction of books, manuscripts and artworks on 22 June 1960 raised over £25,000 – enough to clear debts and legal expenses of £20,000. At the sale some T. E. Lawrence items donated by his brother fetched £3,800, Eliot's ''

The Waste Land ''The Waste Land'' is a poem by T. S. Eliot, widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a central work of Modernist poetry in English, modernist poetry. Published in 1922, the 434-line poem first appeared in the ...

'' fetched £2,800, and Lytton Strachey's ''Queen Victoria'' £1,800, though 170 inscribed books and pamphlets from

John Masefield John Edward Masefield (; 1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate from 1930 until 1967. Among his best known works are the children's novels '' The Midnight Folk'' and '' The Box of Delights'', and the p ...

fetched only £200, which Hart-Davis thought "shamefully little". The Queen donated a book from

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

's library, and the Queen Mother a

Sheffield plate Sheffield plate is a layered combination of silver and copper that was used for many years to produce a wide range of household articles. Almost every article made in sterling silver was also crafted by Sheffield makers, who used this manufactur ...

wine cooler. In the 1990s, the Library was one of a number of academic and specialist libraries targeted by serial book thief

William Jacques William Simon Jacques (born March 1969), nicknamed the "Tome Raider" by the media, is a serial book thief who has been twice convicted after stealing hundreds of rare books worth over £1 million from libraries in the UK. He was jailed in May 20 ...

. The identification of several rare books put up for auction as having been stolen from the Library led the police to investigate Jacques and to his eventual prosecution and conviction. Security measures at the Library have since been improved.

Collections

The Library's collections, which range from the 16th century to the present day, are strong within the fields of literature, fiction, fine and applied art, architecture, history, biography, philosophy, religion, topography, and travel. The social sciences are more lightly covered. Pure and natural sciences, technology, medicine and law are not within the library's purview, although it has some books in all of those fields; books on their histories are normally acquired.

Periodicals A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a journal are also example ...

and annuals on a wide range of subjects are also held in the collections. Special collections include subjects of hunting, field sports, Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, and of Jewish interest. The Library now holds more than one million items, and each year, it acquires approximately 8,000 new books and periodicals. 97% of the collection is available for loan, either on-site or through the post. It is the largest lending library in Europe. Members play a central role in the selection and development of the collections, bequeathing their personal libraries, donating copies of their own books, serving on the Books Selection Committee, making suggestions for acquisition and more. The Library also subscribes to many ejournals and other

online databases An online database is a database accessible from a local network or the Internet, as opposed to one that is stored locally on an individual computer or its attached storage (such as a CD). Online databases are hosted on websites, made available as ...

. All post-1950 acquisitions are searchable on the on-line catalogue, and pre-1950 volumes are progressively being added as part of the Retrospective Cataloguing Project. 95% of the collection is housed on open shelves (the remaining 5% includes rare books held in secure storage). This open access policy – which contrasts with that in many other large libraries, including the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

– is greatly valued by members.

Colin Wilson Colin Henry Wilson (26 June 1931 – 5 December 2013) was an English writer, philosopher and novelist. He also wrote widely on true crime, mysticism and the paranormal, eventually writing more than a hundred books. Wilson called his p ...

remembered his first visit to the library in the mid 1960s: "I have always had an obsession about books, and in this place I felt like a sex maniac in the middle of a

harem Harem ( Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A har ...

". Arthur Koestler recorded how in 1972, commissioned to report on the Spassky–Fischer chess championship in

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a pop ...

, he visited the Library to carry out some background research: Peter Parker wrote in 2008: And Roger Kneebone wrote in 2015: In 1944, the Library lost some 16,000 volumes to bomb damage, and in 1970 its few incunabula were sold. With those exceptions, it was formerly library policy to retain virtually all items acquired since its foundation, on the grounds that, as books are never entirely superseded, and therefore never redundant, the collections should not be weeded of material merely because it was old, idiosyncratic or unfashionable. In 2019, under pressure for space, the decision was taken to reverse this policy, and to introduce a new strategy of withdrawing from the collections some journal and government publication material now available online, some foreign language journals, duplicate copies of books, and other material considered obsolete; and also to move some low-use material to off-site storage. London Library stack 5

Buildings

Following its foundation in 1841, the Library spent four years occupying rooms on the first floor of 49 Pall Mall. In 1845 it moved to 14

, and this site has been its home ever since. However, its premises have undergone a considerable number of changes and extensions over the years as the collections have grown. The property in St James's Square first occupied by the Library was a house, Beauchamp House, built in 1676 and renovated at later dates. A proposal in the 1770s (when it was owned by Lord Newhaven) to rebuild it to a design by

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his ...

was abandoned, but it was refronted shortly afterwards. It was located in the north-west corner of the square, and had a much smaller frontage than its neighbours, being described by A. I. Dasent in 1895 as "admittedly the worst house in the Square". The Library rented the house from 1845, but in 1879 bought the freehold. In the early years, to defray costs, some of the rooms were let to the Statistical Society of London, the Philological Society, and the Institute of Actuaries. In 1896–98 the premises were completely rebuilt to the designs of James Osborne Smith, and this building survives as the front part of the present library complex. The facade, overlooking St James's Square, is constructed in Portland stone in a broadly

Jacobethan The Jacobethan or Jacobean Revival architectural style is the mixed national Renaissance revival style that was made popular in England from the late 1820s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the English Renaissance (1 ...

style, described by the

Survey of London The Survey of London is a research project to produce a comprehensive architectural survey of central London and its suburbs, or the area formerly administered by the London County Council. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Robert Ashbee, an A ...

as "curiously eclectic". The main reading room is on the first floor; and above this three tall windows light three floors of bookstack. Another four floors of bookstacks were built to the rear. In 1920–22, an additional seven-storey bookstack was built further back still, again designed by Osborne Smith. (This new stack was notable for its opaque glass floors: an unforeseen drawback of the combination of glass floors and structural metal shelving was that browsers in the stacks were liable to receive periodic jolts of

static electricity Static electricity is an imbalance of electric charges within or on the surface of a material or between materials. The charge remains until it is able to move away by means of an electric current or electrical discharge. Static electricity is n ...

, a problem which continues to catch new members unawares, and for which no solution has ever been found.) In 1932–34 another extension was carried out to the north, incorporating a committee room (named the Prevost Room, after a major benefactor; now converted to use as a reading room), an Art Room, and five more floors of bookstacks: the architects on this occasion were the firm of Mewès & Davis. In February 1944, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the northern bookstacks suffered considerable damage when the Library suffered a direct hit from a bomb: 16,000 volumes were destroyed, including most of the Biography section. Although the library reopened in July, repairs to the buildings were not completed until the early 1950s. Following the war, the Library continued to experience a need for increased space, although the practical possibilities for expansion were limited. A

mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped ...

was inserted within the Art Room in the early 1970s; four floors of bookstack were constructed above the north bay of the reading room in 1992; and in 1995 the Anstruther Wing (named after its benefactor, Ian Anstruther) was erected at the extreme rear of the site, a nine-storey building on a small footprint designed principally to house rare books storage. London Library back 4

In 2004, the Library acquired Duchess House, a four-storey 1970s office building adjoining the north side of the existing site, which increased overall capacity by 30%. The building was renamed T. S. Eliot House in 2008. The opportunity was taken for a major rationalisation and overhaul of the greater part of the library's premises. Staff activities were concentrated in T. S. Eliot House (freeing up space in the older buildings for book storage and members' facilities); a new reading room was inserted in a

lightwell In architecture, a lightwell,light well, light-well sky-well,skywell, sky well or air shaft is an unroofed or roofed external space provided within the volume of a large building to allow light and air to reach what would otherwise be a dark or ...

; the Art Room was completely restructured and redesigned; the main Issue Hall remodelled; new circulation routes created; and other alterations made elsewhere. The first phase of work, the modification and refurbishment of T. S. Eliot House, was completed in 2007; and the second phase in 2010. The architects for the redevelopment were Haworth Tompkins wit
Price & Myers
acting as consulting structural engineers; while the toilets were designed in collaboration with

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award). ...

-winning artist Martin Creed. The building has been

listed Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

on the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

since February 1958. LondonLibraryBookonLocationMani2007

Subscription

In 1903 the annual membership subscription was £3. Around the time of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

it was £3 3s, with an entrance (joining) fee of £1 1s. During the 1930s it was £4 4s with an entrance fee of £3 3s, and fees remained at this level into the 1950s. (In fact, by 1946 the joining fee had fallen to £2 2s, although by 1951 it had returned to £3 3s.) In November 1981 the annual subscription was £60. In the wake of the acquisition of T. S. Eliot House, it was raised dramatically in January 2008 from £210 to £375 (with no initial fee, and certain concessionary rates). As of January 2022 the annual fee for Individual membership is from £525. Half price concessionary rates include Young Person's membership, Spouse/Partner membership and Supported membership (a reduced fee for those unable to afford the full rate). Remote Access and Associate (evening and weekend) rates are also available from £265. Life membership is available, on a scale depending on age; and schools, corporate bodies and other institutions may also join.

Support

The Library has
Corporate Patron
scheme offering benefits including exclusive hire of the Library for private events. Th

is a group dedicated to supporting the running of the Library, named in honour of the first 500 members who set the Library on its feet in 1841, the members of the Founders' Circle meet at a variety of exclusive events through the year.

Awards and competitions

In 2011 the Library launched its Student Prize, a writing competition open to final-year undergraduates at higher education institutions in the UK. The theme was "The future of Britain lies with the right-hand side of the brain", and the winner was announced in March 2012 as Ben Mason, a student at

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

. The prize was awarded for a second time in 2013 to Kathryn Nave, a student at King's College London, but has now been discontinued.

175th anniversary

In May 2016 the Library marked the 175th anniversary of its foundation with a three-day

literary festival A literary festival, also known as a book festival or writers' festival, is a regular gathering of writers and readers, typically on an annual basis in a particular city. A literary festival usually features a variety of presentations and reading ...

,
Words In The Square
, held in St James's Square. It was organised by James Runcie and David Kynaston, and speakers included the novelists

Sebastian Faulks Sebastian Charles Faulks (born 20 April 1953) is a British novelist, journalist and broadcaster. He is best known for his historical novels set in France – ''The Girl at the Lion d'Or'', '' Birdsong'' and '' Charlotte Gray''. He has also pub ...

, Victoria Hislop, Nick Hornby, Philippa Gregory and Elif Safak; historians

Antony Beevor Sir Antony James Beevor, (born 14 December 1946) is a British military historian. He has published several popular historical works on the Second World War and the Spanish Civil War. Early life Born in Kensington, Beevor was educated at two ...

, Simon Schama and Jerry White; actors

Simon Russell Beale Sir Simon Russell Beale (born 12 January 1961) is an English actor. He is known for his appearances in film, television and theatre, and work on radio, on audiobooks and as a narrator. For his services to drama, he was knighted by Queen Elizab ...

, Eleanor Bron and

Simon Callow Simon Phillip Hugh Callow (born 15 June 1949) is an English film, television and voice actor, director, narrator and writer. He was twice nominated for BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his roles in '' A Room with a View'' (1 ...

; and former England cricket captains

Michael Atherton Michael Andrew Atherton (born 23 March 1968) is a broadcaster, journalist and a former England international first-class cricketer. A right-handed opening batsman for Lancashire and England, and occasional leg-break bowler, he achieved the ca ...

and Mike Brearley.

Opening hours

The Library is open at the following times: Mondays: 10.00am-9.00pm; Tuesdays: 10.00am-9.00pm; Wednesdays: 10.00am-5.30pm (9pm closure on many Wednesday evenings when events programme permits it); Thursdays: 10.00am-5.30pm; Fridays: 10.00am-5.30pm; Saturdays: 9.30am-5.30pm; Sundays: Closed

Cultural references

The Library has featured in a number of works of literature and fiction.

Literature

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxle ...

's comic novel ''

Antic Hay ''Antic Hay'' is a comic novel by Aldous Huxley, published in 1923. The story takes place in London, and depicts the aimless or self-absorbed cultural elite in the sad and turbulent times following the end of World War I. The book follows the ...

'' (1923) includes scenes set in and around the library. * In " The Adventure of the Illustrious Client", a Sherlock Holmes short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (published in 1924 but set in 1902), Dr. Watson visits the Library in order to gain sufficient expertise to pose as an authority on Chinese pottery. * In

Roy Fuller Roy Broadbent Fuller CBE (11 February 1912 – 27 September 1991) was an English writer, known mostly as a poet. He was born at Failsworth, Lancashire to lower-middle-class parents Leopold Charles Fuller and his wife Nellie (1888–1949; née B ...

's ''The Second Curtain'' (1953), part of the plot turns on the Library's system of recording loans, and the bookstacks are the setting for a chase scene. * In Ian Fleming's ''

On Her Majesty's Secret Service On Her Majesty's Secret Service may refer to: * ''On Her Majesty's Secret Service'' (novel), a 1963 novel by Ian Fleming * ''On Her Majesty's Secret Service'' (film), a 1969 film adaptation of the novel ** ''On Her Majesty's Secret Service'' (sou ...

'' (1963),

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 19 ...

borrows a copy of Burke's ''General Armory'' from the Library in order to pose as a representative of the

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the British Sover ...

. *

A. S. Byatt Dame Antonia Susan Duffy ( Drabble; born 24 August 1936), known professionally by her former marriage name as A. S. Byatt ( ), is an English critic, novelist, poet and short story writer. Her books have been widely translated, into more than t ...

's novel '' Possession'' (1990) opens with the discovery of a Victorian letter hidden within the pages of a rare book in the Library. * In

Michael Frayn Michael Frayn, FRSL (; born 8 September 1933) is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce '' Noises Off'' and the dramas ''Copenhagen'' and ''Democracy''. His novels, such as ''Towards the End of the Mo ...

's novel '' Headlong'' (1999), the protagonist carries out research at the Library in order to establish whether or not the painting at the centre of the plot is truly by Brueghel. * In the continuation of the detective stories of Dorothy L. Sayers by Jill Paton Walsh, Lady Peter Wimsey (the writer

Harriet Vane Harriet Deborah Vane, later Lady Peter Wimsey, is a fictional character in the works of British writer Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957). Vane, a mystery writer, initially meets Lord Peter Wimsey while she is on trial for poisoning her lover (' ...

) uses the Library to research her study of Sheridan Le Fanu. * In

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two ...

's novella ''

The Uncommon Reader ''The Uncommon Reader'' is a novella by Alan Bennett. After appearing first in the ''London Review of Books'', Vol. 29, No. 5 (8 March 2007), it was published later the same year in book form by Faber & Faber and Profile Books. An audiobook vers ...

'' (2007), the Library supplies books on loan to Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

. * In

's novel ''Where My Heart Used to Beat'' (2015), the protagonist, Dr Hendricks, obtains key information about his host from a book posted to him in Paris by the Library.

Film and television

* In David Hare's TV film ''Heading Home'' (1991), one of the central characters, played by Joely Richardson, works in the Library, and scenes were filmed there. * In the BBC series '' New Tricks'', Series 7, Episode 2 (2010), "It smells of books", there is a murder in the Library.

Patrons

Shortly after the Library's foundation,

Prince Albert Prince Albert most commonly refers to: *Albert, Prince Consort (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria *Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco Prince Albert may also refer to: Royalty * Albert I of Belgium ...

agreed to serve as its patron. Subsequent royal patrons have been King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

; King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Q ...

; King

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of I ...

;

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was th ...

; and Queen

.McIntyre 2006, p. 43.

Presidents

The office of President of the Library has been held by the following: * 4th Earl of Clarendon, 1841–1870 *

, 1870–1881 * Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton, 1881–1885 * Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1885–1892 *Sir Leslie Stephen, 1892–1904 * 1st Earl of Balfour, 1904–1930 * H. A. L. Fisher, 1930–1940 * 6th Earl of Ilchester, 1940–1952 *

, 1952–1965 * Lord Clark, 1965–1980 *

Lord Annan Noel Gilroy Annan, Baron Annan OBE (25 December 1916 – 21 February 2000) was a British military intelligence officer, author, and academic. During his military career, he rose to the rank of colonel and was appointed to the Order of the Briti ...

, 1980–1996 *

John Grigg John Edward Poynder Grigg (15 April 1924 – 31 December 2001) was a British writer, historian and politician. He was the 2nd Baron Altrincham from 1955 until he disclaimed that title under the Peerage Act on the day it received Royal Assent ...

, 1996–2001 *Sir

Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...

, 2002–2017 *Sir Tim Rice, 2017–2022 *

Helena Bonham Carter Helena Bonham Carter (born 26 May 1966) is an English actress. Known for her roles in blockbusters and independent films, particularly period dramas, she has received various awards and nominations, including a British Academy Film Award ...

, 2022– Vice-presidents have included Lord Lyttelton, Sir Isaiah Berlin, Sir Rupert Hart-Davis, Lord Kenyon, Lord Rayne, Hon. Sir

Steven Runciman Sir James Cochran Stevenson Runciman ( – ), known as Steven Runciman, was an English historian best known for his three-volume '' A History of the Crusades'' (1951–54). He was a strong admirer of the Byzantine Empire. His history's negativ ...

, Dame Veronica Wedgwood, Dame

Rebecca West Dame Cicily Isabel Fairfield (21 December 1892 – 15 March 1983), known as Rebecca West, or Dame Rebecca West, was a British author, journalist, literary critic and travel writer. An author who wrote in many genres, West reviewed book ...

, Paul Boateng, Lady

Antonia Fraser Lady Antonia Margaret Caroline Fraser, (' Pakenham; born 27 August 1932) is a British author of history, novels, biographies and detective fiction. She is the widow of the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Harold Pinter (1930–2008), and ...

, Caroline Michel, Jeremy Paxman, Alexandra Shulman and Josie Rourke. Trustees have included

Philip Ziegler Philip Sandeman Ziegler (born 24 December 1929) is a British biographer and historian. Background Born in Ringwood, Hampshire, Ziegler was educated at St Cyprian's School, Eastbourne, and went with the school when it merged with Summer Fie ...

, Correlli Barnett, Bamber Gascoigne,

Lewis Golden Lewis Lawrence Golden OBE (6 December 1922 – 27 October 2017) was a British accountant, war veteran, and a founder of Everest Home Improvement. He was present at the Battle of Arnhem in 1944. Born in Ealing, London, in December 1922, Golden ...

, John Gross,

Duff Hart-Davis Peter Duff Hart-Davis (born 3 June 1936), generally known as Duff Hart-Davis is a British biographer, naturalist and journalist, who writes for '' The Independent'' newspaper. He is married to Phyllida Barstow and has one son and one daughter, t ...

, Sir Charles Johnston, Sir Oliver Millar, Anthony Quinton,

Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson Sinclair-Stevenson Ltd is a British publisher founded in 1989 by Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson. Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson became an editor at Hamish Hamilton Hamish Hamilton Limited was a British book publishing house, founded in 1931 ...

, and Claire Tomalin.

Librarians and Directors

The senior manager or chief executive of the Library was historically known as the Librarian and Secretary, and later simply as Librarian. With the appointment of Philip Marshall in 2017, the title was changed to Director. The post has been held by the following: * John George Cochrane, 1841–1852 *William Bodham Donne, 1852–1857 *Robert Harrison, 1857–1893 * Charles Theodore Hagberg Wright, 1893–1940 *Christopher Purnell, 1940–1950 *Simon Nowell-Smith, 1950–1956 *Stanley Gillam, 1956–1980 *Douglas Matthews, 1980–1993 *Alan Bell, 1993–2001 *Inez Lynn, 2002–2017 *Philip Marshall, 2017–

References

Bibliography

* (describes the London Library) * ::This book includes contributions from

Edmund Gosse Sir Edmund William Gosse (; 21 September 184916 May 1928) was an English poet, author and critic. He was strictly brought up in a small Protestant sect, the Plymouth Brethren, but broke away sharply from that faith. His account of his childhoo ...

; J. M. Barrie;

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was th ...

; George Moore; T. E. Lawrence; and

(all letters); and short essays by Raymond Mortimer; David Cecil; Anthony Powell; Edna O'Brien; Angus Wilson;

; David Wright; Seán Ó Faoláin;

Michael Burn Captain Michael Clive Burn, MC (11 December 1912 – 3 September 2010) was an English journalist, commando, writer and poet. Early life Michael Clive "Micky" Burn, born 11 December 1912 in London, was the eldest of four children. The son of C ...

;

Enoch Powell John Enoch Powell, (16 June 1912 – 8 February 1998) was a British politician, classical scholar, author, linguist, soldier, philologist, and poet. He served as a Conservative Member of Parliament (1950–1974) and was Minister of Health (1 ...

; Noel Annan; George Mikes; George D. Painter;

D. J. Enright Dennis Joseph Enright Order of the British Empire, OBE FRSL (11 March 1920 – 31 December 2002) was a British academic, poet, novelist and critic. He authored ''Academic Year'' (1955), ''Memoirs of a Mendicant Professor'' (1969) and a wide ran ...

;

John Julius Norwich John Julius Cooper, 2nd Viscount Norwich, (15 September 1929 – 1 June 2018), known as John Julius Norwich, was an English popular historian, travel writer, and television personality. Background Norwich was born at the Alfred House Nursin ...

; Miles Kington;

J. W. Lambert John William Lambert (January 29, 1860 May 20, 1952) was an American automobile manufacturer pioneer and inventor. He is the inventor of the first practical American gasoline automobile. He operated large manufacturing companies that made ...

; John Weightman; A. E. Ellis; Bruce Berlind; Dorothy M. Partington; Stanley Gillam; Douglas Matthews; Michael Higgins; Oliver Stallybrass; Charles Theodore Hagberg Wright; Antony Farrell; Marcel Troulay; and

. The cover was by Nicolas Bentley, and other illustrations include drawings by Edward Ardizzone and Michael Lasserson. * *

Catalogues

* * * (10 vols.) Includes: Supplement: 1913–20. 1920. Supplement: 1920–28. 1929. Supplement: 1928–53. 1953 (in 2 vols). Subject index: (Vol. 1). 1909. Vol. 2: Additions, 1909–22. Vol. 3: Additions, 1923–38. 1938. Vol. 4: (Additions), 1938–53. 1955.

External links

* * * {{Authority control 1841 establishments in England Charities based in London Grade II listed buildings in the City of Westminster Houses completed in 1676 Libraries in the City of Westminster Organisations based in the United Kingdom with royal patronage Private libraries in the United Kingdom St James's Subscription libraries in England Research libraries in the United Kingdom