The Warrington Perambulating Library has been described by historian Ian Orton as "one of the most revolutionary library advances of the nineteenth century". Among the earliest mobile libraries in the UK, it was set up by the

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The populati ...

Mechanics' Institute in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's coun ...

, England in 1858. Keen to increase borrowing from its library, the institute determined in the summer of that year to raise money for the purchase of a one-horse van, which it planned to fill with books and send each week "to every door in Warrington and the vicinity". The idea was taken up enthusiastically by local residents, who organised a flower show and bazaar to raise funds. An October 1858 account in the '' Warrington Guardian'' reported that: The event raised £250 (equivalent to £ in ), allowing the perambulating library to begin touring the streets of Warrington on 15 November 1858. It was an immediate success, and resulted in the number of books borrowed from the institute's library increasing from 3000 a year to 12,000. The service continued until 1872.

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* * {{Authority control History of Warrington Mobile libraries 1858 establishments in England 1872 disestablishments in England Libraries in Cheshire Horse transportation Libraries established in the 1850s