Editing Public library (section)

===Private-subscription libraries===
[[File:Linen Hall Library, 1888.jpg|thumb|The [[Linen Hall Library]] was an 18th-century [[subscription library]]. Pictured in 1888, shortly before its demolition.]]
Private-subscription libraries functioned in much the same manner as commercial subscription libraries, though they varied in many important ways. One of the most popular versions of the private-subscription library was the "gentlemen only" library. The gentlemen's subscription libraries, sometimes known as proprietary libraries, were nearly all organized on a common pattern. Membership was restricted to the proprietors or shareholders, and ranged from a dozen or two to between four and five hundred. The entrance fee, i.e. the purchase price of a share, was in early days usually a guinea, but rose sharply as the century advanced, often reaching four or five guineas during the French wars; the annual subscription, during the same period, rose from about six shillings to ten shillings or more. The book-stock was, by modern standards, small (Liverpool, with over 8,000 volumes in 1801, seems to have been the largest), and was accommodated, at the outset, in makeshift premises—very often over a bookshop, with the bookseller acting as librarian and receiving an honorarium for his pains.<ref name="Kelly, Thomas 1966; p. 128">Kelly, Thomas (1966); p. 128</ref>

The Liverpool [[subscription library]] was a gentlemen-only library. In 1798, it was renamed the Athenaeum when it was rebuilt with a newsroom and coffeehouse. It had an entrance fee of one guinea and annual subscription of five shillings.<ref>Kelly, Thomas (1966); p. 126</ref> An analysis of the registers for the first twelve years provides glimpses of middle-class reading habits in a mercantile community at this period. The largest and most popular sections of the library were History, Antiquities, and Geography, with 283 titles and 6,121 borrowings, and Belles Lettres, with 238 titles and 3,313 borrowings.<ref>Kelly, Thomas (1966); p. 133</ref> The most popular single work was John Hawkesworth's ''Account of Voyages ... in the Southern Hemisphere'' (3 vols) which was borrowed on 201 occasions. The records also show that in 1796, membership had risen by 1/3 to 198 subscribers (of whom 5 were women) and the titles increased five-fold to 4,987. This mirrors the increase in reading interests. A patron list from the Bath Municipal Library shows that from 1793 to 1799, the library held a stable 30% of their patrons as female.<ref>Kaufman, Paul. Libraries and Their Users. Page 29. The Library Association. 1969. Print.</ref>

It was also uncommon for these libraries to have buildings designated solely as the library building during the 1790s, though in the 19th century, many libraries would begin building elaborate permanent residences. Bristol, Birmingham, and Liverpool were the few libraries with their own building.<ref>Kelly, Thomas (1966); p. 129</ref> The accommodations varied from the shelf for a few dozen volumes in the country stationer's or draper's shop, to the expansion to a back room, to the spacious elegant areas of [[Hookham's Circulating Library|Hookham's]] or those at the resorts like Scarborough, and four in a row at Margate.<ref>Kaufman, Paul (1969); p. 193</ref>

Private-subscription libraries held a greater amount of control over both membership and the types of books in the library. There was almost a complete elimination of cheap fiction in the private societies.<ref>Kaufman, Paul (1969); p. 209</ref> Subscription libraries prided themselves on respectability. The highest percentage of subscribers were often landed proprietors, gentry, and old professions.<ref>Allan, David (2008); p. 68</ref>

Towards the end of the 18th century and in the first decades of the 19th century, the demand for books and general education made itself felt among social classes generated by the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution.<ref>Irwin, Raymond (1964); p. 53</ref> The late-18th century saw a rise in subscription libraries intended for the use of tradesmen. In 1797, there was established at Kendal what was known as the Economical Library, "designed principally for the use and instruction of the working classes."<ref>Kelly, Thomas (1966); p. 127</ref> There was also the Artizans' library established at Birmingham in 1799. The entrance fee was 3 shillings, and the subscription was 1 shilling 6 pence per quarter. This was a library of general literature. Novels, at first excluded, were afterwards admitted on condition that they did not account for more than one-tenth of the annual income.<ref name="Kelly, Thomas 1966; p. 128"/>