Tuesday, February 22, 2011

What People Were Reading - Vancouver Public Library - 1903

From time to time, as I troll through historical newspapers looking for births, marriages, obituaries, and other important notes, I see articles about libraries, both private and public.

An issue I looked at the other day had both an ad for a private library and an article about Vancouver's Public Library, since the Annual Report was being presented to the Vancouver City Council.

The private lending library was at the Thomson Stationery Co., on Hastings Street.

Reading a Book
is not the only way to secure pleasure any [and?] enjoyment during the long winter evenings, but it is a most delightful and a most profitable way, and it's a very inexpensive way, too, if you'll join our
LENDING LIBRARY.
Members read the new books at a cost of 20c each only.


New books listed:
Fuel of Fire by Ellen T. Fowler, The Aristocrats by Gertrude Atherton, Scarlet and Hyssop by E. F. Henson, Key Notes by George Egerton, The Dissemblers by Thomas Cobb, Unofficial by the Hon. Mrs. Walter Forbes, The Terror by Felix Gray, A Year of Life by W.S. Lilly, Galloping Dick by H.B.M. Wilson, The Blazed Trail by White, Sport in the Navy and Naval Yarns [no author shown] and Sir Hector by Robert Machray. Each was listed for sale at 75 cents.

How many of these have stood the test of time, I wonder. Gertrude Atherton [Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton] was, I know, a popular USian author in her time. Occasionally her works were controversial. What did Vancouverites think of those? Did the libraries offer them?

I just checked Vancouver Public Library's current catalogue and three of her books are listed - two are 'electronic resources' - Resanov and The Sacrificial Altar, but VPL does have a copy of her California, An Intimate History (1914). Not to worry, many of her books, including those mentioned just above are available for free on the 'Net. [Someone should tell VPL that, eh?] There's even a Facebook page for Gertrude Atherton. Give her a 'like'.

Private lending libraries could be much different than public libraries though. Much of the time, as now, the articles about public libraries concern funding, but sometimes even a civic report gives us an idea about what people were reading, as does this published piece about the Vancouver City's Annual Public Library Report for 1903.

The Library's collection is said to total over 8,000 books, and 130 daily, weekly or monthly papers and magazines are available in the reading rooms.

On average, 275 books were taken out every day, with Saturday being the biggest day for circulation. The article reported that on the previous Saturday, 400 books were returned and taken out - the staff handling thus 800 books. [And there were no computers then, remember, no self check-out machines or on-line renewals. A hand for those librarians, please!]

Of the newspapers and magazines, these were:

Dailies - Canadian, 11; American, 5; total, 16.
Weeklies - Canadian, 11; English, 30; Australian and South African, 6; American, 25; total, 54.
Monthlies - Canadian, 4; English, 30; American 25; total, 59.

Being of a pedantic mind, I think it's interesting to look at the general topics covered in the collection, given as of January 1902.

Theology - 223
Social and Political Economy - 385
History and Allied Subjects - 680
Biography - 526
Geography - 21
Voyages and Travels - 304
Astronomy, Geology, etc. - 117
Mettallurgy and Mineralogy - 121
Natural History, etc. - 301
Poetry and Drama - 198
Miscellaneous - 383 [!?]
Fiction - 3324
Fiction in paper covers - 17
Magazines - 278
Being repaired, etc. - 208
In reference library - 210

And lest you think all these materials would be in English, the article mentions books purchased since January 1902:

French misc. works - 168
French magazines - 100
German misc. works - 118
Miscellanous - 400

History and biography, I am happy to see, were a significant proportion of the collection.

And metallurgy and mineralogy - what was in that section? I remember when my father and his friend decided to start panning for gold in the 1940s, the first place Dad went was to the library. Maybe it was so in 1903 too.

From The Province, Vancouver, BC, Wednesday, 7 January 1903, page 2.

Friday, February 4, 2011

My Library Reads - January 2011 (mysteries)

What did I read from a library last month?

Only two books - both from Vancouver Public Library (VPL) and both historical mysteries. First was The Harper's Quine by Pat McIntosh, from her Gil Cunningham series and set around medieval Glasgow, Scotland in 1492, and second, On The Head of A Pin by Janet Kellough, featuring Thaddeus Lewis, a Methodist Episcopal preacher in Prince Edward County, Upper Canada, 1838 to 1842.


The Harper's Quine was a good read, but I found Pat McIntosh's use of historical dialect awkward and sometimes intrusive. (And there's no glossary.)

I thoroughly enjoyed On The Head of A Pin, however, and want to read more. As a genealogist, I did keeping hoping to read that Preacher Lewis was keeping careful track of the baptisms and marriages he took care of. Not so!

I searched the Vancouver Public Library catalogue at VPL.ca but none of Kellough's other books are in the collection. However, on-line, I see that she has a new book, Sowing Poison, due out this fall (Dundurn Press). I'm hoping that's another Thaddeus Lewis mystery and I'll be watching for that.

I also have Witches' Rings by Kerstin Ekman at home, taken out from the Vancouver Public Library, but I haven't had time to open it yet. This is the first volume in a series about a small Swedish community from the 1870s on. The four books, all available in English, are Witches' Rings (Häxringarna, 1974), translated by Linda Schenck, 1997, The Spring (Springkällan, 1976), translated by Linda Schenck, 1999, Angel House (Änglahuset, 1979), translated by Sarah G. Death, 2002, and A City of Light (En stad av ljus, 1983), translated by Linda Schenck, 2003.

I have already read one of Kerstin Ekman's mysteries, Blackwater (Händelser vid vatten, 1993, translated by Joan Tate, 1996), so I am looking forward to reading this series.

It seems VPL doesn't have all of Ekman's books, although the catalogue entries for this author and her books seem to be particularly untidy, so perhaps I will ask someone there to check again. Otherwise, I will hope that a book seller at Abebooks.com will come to my rescue.