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WARD EDW,
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THE LIBRARY
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THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
EDWARD EDWARDS
EDWARD EDWARDS
THE CHIEF PIONEER OF
MUNICIPAL PUBLIC LIBRARIES
THOMAS GREENWOOD
SCOTT, GREENWOOD AND CO.
19 LUDGATE HILL, E.C.
IQ02
TO TUB
FORGOTTEN BENEFACTORS
OF HUMANITY
643106
PREFACE.
THE preparation of this Appreciation of the work of
Edward Edwards, and the Digest of his evidence before
the several Parliamentary Committees, has been a
labour of love. It has entailed a great deal of work and
much unproductive research, and has left behind a feeling
of having hewn away a small mountain to make a
hillock, but the hillock was well worth making. Such
biographical details as it has been possible to glean
have been included, but these are of a scanty character.
I have endeavoured to keep the volume within a reason-
able limit. Edwards' life was of a simple and ordinary
nature, and its interest with the reading public rests
on his being the chief pioneer of the public library
movement, and with such of his writings as are likely
to have a permanent character. No history of the
second half of the nineteenth century would be com-
plete without due notice being taken of public libraries,
the people's universities, and these are the outcome to
an important degree of Edwards' earnest work and
abiding enthusiasm on behalf of these institutions. The
principal materials for this record have been found in
his private diaries, which extend, so far as they have
been discovered, throughout the following years : 1844
to 1852, 1854 to 1858, 1860 to 1868, 1870, 1881, 1882
and 1884, making twenty-seven in all. In the Man-
chester Public Reference Library there are batches of
viii PREFACE.
correspondence addressed to Edwards ranging mainly
from 1838 to 1869. So far as was practicable I have
endeavoured to come into touch with those living who
knew him, but these sources have not yielded much
information. I have been enabled to acquire the re-
mainder of his books, a number of them containing
notes; a considerable amount of correspondence up to
the time of his death ; a number of note-books ; the
existing manuscript of the second edition of Memoirs of
Libraries ; guard-books full of memoranda and some
other miscellaneous matters. The correspondence in-
cludes over ninety letters addressed to Edwards by his
sisters. What is in my hands will, I hope, find an
ultimate resting-place in the Manchester Public Refer-
ence Library. There are missing diaries and note-books,
but the appearance of the present volume may lead to
these being placed with the other material indicated.
The public library movement has many earnest
friends, and this suggests two appropriate ways of per-
petuating Edwards' name. An " Edward Edwards "
Librarians' Home of Rest, at Niton, and an " Edward
Edwards" Library School, which should be the head-
quarters of the Library Association and all other library
organisations, as well as a centre for the municipal
library world. If any generous friend of the cause,
with the necessary means, will make either of these
suggestions possible, all who have this movement at
heart will be grateful. The Library Association will,
I do not doubt, gladly take charge of any endowment
for these purposes.
Librarians all over the country, in the Colonies of
the Empire and in the United States, have shown the
PREFACE. ix
warmest satisfaction with the efforts made to arouse a
renewed interest in the work and writings of this man.
The letters received by me, in acknowledgment of the
receipt of the first volume of the second edition of
the Memoirs of Libraries issued for presentation, were
cheering and helpful.
To Dr. Richard Garnett, C.B., I am indebted for
the active and sympathetic interest with which he has
followed this undertaking throughout. He has also
been good enough to read the proof sheets. To Mr.
James Duff Brown, Librarian of the Finsbury Public
Libraries, my thanks are given for the compilation of
the index. I am grateful to those who have sent me
letters received from Edwards.
Should this little volume serve in any measure to aid
in securing for Edward Edwards the recognition due
to his splendid services in the cause of education and
librarianship, its sole purpose will be accomplished.
His memory deserves to be held in everlasting remem-
brance among the great mass of users of municipal
public libraries.
To Edwards I owe much of the stimulus which led
to an increased activity in the public library movement.
The year of his death saw the issue of my first writing
upon the subject, and what then became to me an
interesting hobby remains the same after the lapse of
years. Edwards is to me as a library father, and if I
can cultivate but a fraction of his enthusiasm and able
advocacy of municipal libraries, I shall be content.
T. G.
FRITH KNOWL, ELSTREE,
HERTS, April, 1902.
LIST OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
INTRODUCTORY . i
CHAPTER II.
SOME BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS AND HIS PLACE IN THE PUBLIC
LIBRARY MOVEMENT 7
CHAPTER III.
EARLY PAMPHLETS ON LIBRARY AND EDUCATIONAL QUESTIONS,
AND HIS EVIDENCE BEFORE THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE
ON THE BRITISH MUSEUM, 1836 27
CHAPTER IV.
WORK AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM 1839-1850, AND HIS ADVOCACY
OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN 1847 AND 1848 .... 50
CHAPTER V.
DIGEST OF THE EVIDENCE OF EDWARDS BEFORE THE PARLIAMEN-
TARY COMMITTEES OF 1849 AND 1850 65
CHAPTER VI.
WORK AT MANCHESTER, 1851-1858 107
CHAPTER VII.
EDWARDS AND PRESENT-DAY LIBRARIANSHIP .... 126
CHAPTER VIII.
His LITERARY AND OTHER WORK 142
xii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IX.
PAGE
THE HOMELY SIDE AND LIFE AMONG HIS BOOKS . . . 180
CHAPTER X.
His MOTHER AND SISTERS AT MANNINGTREE .... 196
CHAPTER XI.
LAST YEARS AND DEATH . 210
APPENDICES 223
INDEX 241
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
The mere tradition of a great ancestry has sometimes helped,
visibly, to mould the characters of men who were intrinsically strong
enough to stand alone. Reveries about historic birth and the doings
of historic foregoers have frequently given colour to a lifetime, even
when the man who has indulged in them bore Nature's own stamp
that he was one of the chosen few who are to hand down greatness-
rather than to derive it.
EDWARDS, Life of Ralegh.
EDWARD EDWARDS had in him the essentials of a strong
mind, and an individuality which impressed itself upon
everything he undertook : yet less could scarcely be known
of any one who had filled an important place in a great
public movement. For this, the modest, retiring nature
of the man was no doubt partly responsible, though it is
doubtful if there is a parallel instance on record of the
chief pioneer of a large and widespread public improve-
ment being so generally unrecognised, even within the
circle of his own profession. Reasons for this lack ot
appreciation will emerge in the course of this narrative.
The idea of a public library in its modern conception,
as a democratic institution freely accessible to all, had
not even emerged from the cloud of speculation with
which the question was surrounded, when Edwards first
gave his attention to the subject. It is somewhat per-
plexing to find many of the most eminent men of the
period, extending from 1830 to 1850, debating with all
seriousness, not such a matter as what is best in literature
to put before the people, but whether it would be safe,
wise and politic to admit the general public to libraries
at all. In these later times, it appears strange to read
I
2 EDWARD EDWARDS.
some of the arguments for, and against, making libraries
accessible to readers, when it is remembered that, at
present, the principal subject of discussion is the desir-
ability of permitting the public to make use of libraries,
without barriers or restrictions of any sort. When
Edwards was a comparatively young man, the controversy
raged round the question of admitting the public to library
buildings as a privilege, and all thought of libraries being
centres of light and leading, to which students and readers
could resort as a matter of absolute right, was still in a
vague, unformed condition. So far from readers being
considered entitled to handle and examine books, it was
a moot point, in the thirties and forties of the last century,
whether or not the rough, uncultured democracy should
be permitted, even with the most stringent precautions
and regulations, to invade the sacred precincts of a library
building. The Education Acts, and the work of men like
Edwards, have changed all this, and as the library
movement grows, so does every method of extending
and popularising work among the people meet with more
and more acceptance.
Edward Edwards had the spirit of one of the old monks,
and lived a good part of his life as a recluse. In some of
the circumstances connected with the pathetic incident of
his passing away, he may be said to have died like the
solitary tenant of a hermit's cell. There is about his life
much that reminds one of Francis of Assisi. He is not
compared to the founder of the Franciscan Order, because
there was about Edwards no voluntary espousal of poverty
as a leading principle of life. But poverty he certainly
endured, on account of his devotion to the cause of public
libraries, and the same spirit which made a St. Francis
dwelt in Edwards. It may be doubted whether any man
ever displayed a more overwhelming passion for libraries
and everything appertaining to them than did Edwards.
For fifty years he worked in one way or another for
these institutions. His enthusiasm for libraries and the
accessibility of books was the one abiding interest of his
INTRODUCTORY. 3
life. His books on libraries, and the one on the British
Museum, will ever be the quarry, to which all interested
in libraries and the institution named will turn for in-
formation.
He was a many-sided man, and the deeper it has been
possible to enter into the spirit of his life, and the main
avenues of his activities, the more complex do they pre-
sent themselves. He cherished high ideals ; but he had
not sufficient faith in himself, or discipline of mind, to carry
them into full operation. Could he have found some
generous soul to lift him above the cankering cares of
life, it is likely that he would have given to his day and
generation, and the generations to follow, works of erudi-
tion which would have been valuable contributions to
literature, and assured him a more commanding place
among writers of high merit. He had a gift for patient
research, and possessed a keen insight into the forms and
moods of literary endeavour. His acquaintance with
seventeenth-century literature was extensive. Of libraries
and the history of libraries his knowledge was unique.
His political predilections would have prevented him from
handling some subjects with the careful discrimination
required by a historian, but where he was on neutral
ground he was perfectly safe, and on purely literary
questions he would, doubtless, have been able to produce
works of mark and reputation, outside his writings on
libraries. His versatile mind would have enabled him to
write upon almost any literary subject. It is lamentable
that a mind such as he had should have been distracted
with the constant recurrence of the financial difficulties
incident to a limited income. But poverty has ever been
the lot of those who wield the pen, and will not bow the
knee to Baal, and some of the best work in literature has
"been done by men and women who felt acutely the dearth
of this world's goods. The predominant note in the
career of Edwards is one of sadness. In everything this
shows itself; but he was too proud to make the prevailing
despondency a topic for complaint.
4 EDWARD EDWARDS.
He seemed to lack a vein of humour. During the
years of intercourse with like minds to his own in his
early manhood, he must have had a disposition possess-
ing a certain amount of magnetism. But in his diaries
and letters he appears throughout to be cast in a very
serious mould. There is no record of laughter ever having
filled his soul. Some psychological moments can only be
effectively met by an outward assumption of gaiety. In-
wardly the human heart may be far enough from a good,
wholesome laugh. But the man or the woman who can,
in the midst of cankering care, which no power on earth
can remove, indulge in a little laughter, has a resource
which is denied to their less favoured brethren. There
are many husbands, and many wives, who have to spend
their lives in an association that presents no aspects of
companionship. To such, the faculty of mirthfulness is
a heaven-given boon, which helps many a saddened life
over the obstacles that strew the pathway of years.
Edwards, so far as can be gleaned, had little either of
humour or mirthfulness in his composition.
Another element which he gravely lacked was ambition.
He had this quality as it applied to his writings, but he
does not seem to have cherished this spirit, so far as it
affected his general environment. Reasonable ambition
gives a new interest to life. It may even throw a radiance
over what would be a dull and commonplace existence.
Wisely cultivated, it helps to subdue that species of mental
robustness which may become mischievous if not kept
within due restraint. What would have happened, had
Edwards determined to fill the highest place that the
British library world has to award, it is impossible to say.
To have discovered that he had steadily set before him
such a task would have probably altered the whole of this
record. Temperaments exist to which rational ambition
becomes a positive safety-valve. The mere discipline
exacted, in travelling along the path which leads to the
possible realisation of a wholesome ambition, forms an
excellent school in which, for a time, to dwell. It cannot
INTRODUCTORY. 5
be discovered that, outside his library writings, and his
enthusiasm for libraries, he had any ambition, and in this
aspect his nature was greatly the poorer.
He was, in the end, a forgotten old man, wrapped up
in his books and writings, keenly sensitive to his surroun-
dings, and afflicted with occasional bursts of vehemence
and irritability. But there was a softer and a gentler side.
It may be doubted whether he ever showed his whole self
to any living soul, or if he did, it was to the sister who
out-lived him, and there was much dissimilarity between
them. His extreme reserve and his great deafness pre-
vented much conversation with him, and he very rarely
ever talked about himself. His mother and sisters, and
especially the younger sister, were of the same tempera-
ment. They were not unsociable, and loved human
sympathy, and were deeply touched by the kindly aid of
friends, extended to them as the days darkened and the
lamp of life grew dim. The letters of his sisters, covering
the period from 1854 to 1885, breathe a spirit of family
tenderness and solicitude for each other's welfare, very
beautiful to see. The last four years of his life brought
some little comfort to him, and much disappointment and
sorrow. Disappointment, that the cherished work of his
later years, a second and revised edition of the Memoirs of
Libraries, could not be issued ; and sorrow and distress of
mind, caused by limited means and increasing debts. He
struggled with the fever of an over-active soul, battling
against the limitations of its environment. He died in
loneliness, and with despair in his heart. The kindness
of neighbours, whom he barely knew, provided him with
decent burial, and he was laid to rest in an unmarked grave.
It is not an unfair claim that Edwards deserves to be
recognised as an educationist of like importance to Froebel
and others in Germany, Horace Mann in the United States,
and William Edward Forster and Joseph Lancaster in
England.
Among the millions of readers who now use public
libraries a large number of whom are in ignorance of
6 EDWARD EDWARDS.
the true history of the origin of the library movement
there should be many to whom the story of the cradle-
days of this great educational scheme, and its close
connection with Edward Edwards, will appeal with
interest.
CHAPTER II.
SOME BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS AND HIS PLACE IN
THE PUBLIC LIBRARY MOVEMENT.
But, just as in a campaign there must be generals to command
the whole army, officers to head regiments, soldiers to win battles,
and also pioneers to open the trenches, sappers to work the mines,
engineers to make the escarpments, and fatigue-parties to carry
the earth-bags and fascines ; so in the agitation of public questions,
there must be not only men qualified to be leaders when those
questions become ripe for final decision, but also the humble
pioneers, working in obscurity, yet helping to create that array of
public opinion which gathers force by degrees until it comes to be
irresistible.
EDWARDS, Manchester Worthies.
EDWARD EDWARDS was born in London on i4th Decem-
ber, 1812, l and was in all probability the eldest of the
family. Anthony Turner Edwards, his father, was a
builder, and the family lived at 12 Idol Lane, Great
Tower Street, up to the time of his father's death. His
mother was a native of Hull. Charlotte, the elder
of the two sisters, was born in 1814 at Writtle near Chelms-
ford, Essex. The mother, two sisters and Edward were
brought up as Nonconformists, and attended the ministry
of the late Dr. Thomas Binney at the old King's Weigh
House Chapel. The mother and sisters remained Dissen-
ters until their death. Edwards lamented in later life his
Nonconformist training, and became a most ardent Church-
man. It is a pleasing trait in the family character, that
this difference in religious views never came between the
1 The date is in Edwards' writing in his Bible on the page where
John xxi. occurs. He has written, " Niton 14 Dec. 1884 (my yand
birthday) ". In his autograph copy of Martin's Handbook of Con-
temporary Biography there is the following entry : " Edwards,
Edward, English writer, b. in London, 1812 ; " etc. This entry
Edwards has left unaltered, although he has made alterations in
several other entries in the book.
(7)
8 EDWARD EDWARDS.
mother and sisters, nor son and brother. It is difficult,
in the absence of personal or other records, to trace the
moulding forces which exercised the most potent influence
upon the intellectual development of Edwards. Only by
studying his early associates and taking into account what
is known of his youthful predilections and pursuits, is it
possible to arrive at any conclusion as to his gradual
gravitation to a particular line of interests. The most
remarkable feature of his career is the fact that, when but
twenty-three years of age, he was called before a Parlia-
mentary Committee to give evidence as to improvements
in the administration of the British Museum. That a
young man, practically unknown, should have been con-
sidered sufficiently expert in technical knowledge to advise
with grave legislators and librarians of standing, touching
improvements in the conduct of a literary, scientific and
artistic institution like the British Museum, is a tribute
alike to the impression which was made by his pamphlet,
and to the wisdom of those who had charge of the inquiry.
No doubt the committee were appalled when this com-
paratively youthful witness appeared, but of this there is
no evidence. It is quite certain that Edwards must, from
early boyhood, have been a student of the most diligent
and earnest kind. He tells us himself that he used the
British Museum during 1833-1834 almost daily, and thus
it is evident that, shortly after leaving school, he must
have embarked upon a course of study calculated to fit
him for the splendid work of his more mature years, on
behalf of public libraries. At this period he must also
have been a prominent member of the Literary and Scien-
tific Institution, whose magazine he helped to conduct,
and thus, as hereafter shown, other elements in his mental
training were introduced, In another direction his studies
also conducted him into the field of historical collaterals.
There had been occasion for him to refer to coins and
medals for the purpose of looking up some matters of
French history. The compilation of a catalogue of French
medals in 1837 was one f ms earliest attempts in this
SOME BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS. g
direction, as will be seen from the chronological table in
the appendix. That a young man of his age should at
that date have been able to do this is significant. Numis-
matic studies represent a close acquaintance with peoples,
countries and history. This cannot be quickly acquired.
Whether his father had a collection of coins, and this had
given him a taste for these studies, is not clear, but it is
more than probable that such was the case. At all events
it equipped him, when but twenty-five, with a comprehen-
sive groundwork of knowledge, which gave promise of the
future attainments afterwards displayed. Even at this
age he seems to have had a wide acquaintance with Ger-
man andiFrench literature, for he was able to indicate the
deficiencies in the English collections of books in these
languages, with a minuteness which apparently surprised
the authorities of the British Museum, as well as the
members of the Commission.
It is an old adage that a man is best known by his com-
panions. By-and-by, as conditions alter, it will be the
way in which leisure is spent that will stamp the man.
Edwards had several intimate friends who later occupied
prominent positions like himself. Edwin Abbott (1808-
1882) was head master of the Philological School in
Marylebone, London, and an educational writer of distinct
merit. His son, the Rev. Edwin A. Abbott, D.D., has
become even more distinguished than his celebrated father.
He was head master of the City of London School, and
has stated that he often heard, in his boyhood, his father
speak of Edwards as a man of remarkable ability. Edwin
Abbott was a bosom friend of Edwards. His letters ad-
dressed to him, which are still in existence, would fill a
volume. They afford extremely interesting reading, and
give a chatty survey of men, books and events as they
presented themselves to the writer. They visited each
other to and fro, and the correspondence dating from 1835
has a glow of warmth which is quite refreshing. 1 Un-
1 Edwards was godfather to one at least of Abbott's children.
io EDWARD EDWARDS.
fortunately the letters of Edwards for this period have
been destroyed. In one of the earliest letters Abbott says,.
" I hope to see you at five that we may have a little
German together ". Abbott was a kindly and helpful
critic, and his good judgment must often have been of
immense service to Edwards. " Believe me," says Abbott
on 4th July, 1836, after going minutely into some points-
in Greek history, " I am not insensible ... of all your
acts of kindness. The world is made up of small things,
and a true friendship shows itself in ministering to the
peculiar wants of its object." At a later date in the same
year Abbott says, " What will Parry say to the time spirit
ofWhiggism? . . . Do you mean to plead Radicalism?"
On aoth November, 1837, Abbott writes:
... I have no news to tell you except that I am going to be very
industrious ; the only difficulty being the exact time when I shall
begin. If you are in civilised society I shall hope to see you forth-
with ; if not, for our sakes return without delay lest you should
contract a taste for wigwams and cannibalism. . . .
The Parry in question was John Humffreys Parry
(1816-1880), at one time engaged at the British Museum,
but who became later a serjeant-at-law, and the repre-
sentative of a distinct school of forensic lore and special
pleading. He belonged to the group of Edwards' early
friends, and was for some years at Abbott's Philological
School. On iyth March, 1837, Parry wrote, "You may
be sure that I sympathise cordially in your feelings 01
regret at the cessation of our delightful meetings in
Gloucester Place, and to their renewal I look forward
with eagerness. For your own kind notification of open
house every Wednesday and Thursday I thank you, and
will try to avail myself of the invite." Eight quarto-
pages represent one letter from Parry, chiefly on the
question of copyright in pictures, sculpture and literary
productions. Edwards had suggested a new tribunal for
copyright cases, and Parry did not quite see eye to eye
with him upon the question. On another occasion they
had gone together to see Macready, and Parry writes a
SOME BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS. n
warmly eulogistic letter about the acting of that artist.
Parry's lectures on the novels of Bulwer Lytton and other
subjects figure largely in the letters. On i8th September,
1840, Parry wrote :
. . . I read the concluding notice of your book in the Times. 1 Depend
upon it the writer was prevented from saying all he would have wished
to say by the fear of offending the orthodox journal. . . . There was
surely covert satire in the note enjoining you to open your eyes and
see the unwillingness of the public in London to visit exhibitions of
art on the Sabbath. That which would be blasphemous in the metro-
polis is allowable at Hampton Court. There the portraits of Charles
II. 's mistresses may be gazed upon without disturbance of the Christian
feeling. . . . We may gaze upon a parson but not upon a picture, we
may walk in the parks but not in the galleries of the British Museum.
We may attend the teaching of Home but must not profit by those of
Correggio. . . . The second fact which more especially concerns you
as an art reformer, is that the officers at the barracks of Canterbury
are not allowed to hang pictures in any of their apartments for fear
of spoiling the walls, which said walls are painted of the dullest colour
which the commanding officer could select by the aid of his peculiarly
dull and stolid faculties.
A third associate was George Godwin (1815-1888), the
successful architect who laboured zealously to improve
the sanitary condition of the dwellings of the poor in
town and country. He was a man of lofty ideals, who
left his mark upon the architectural work of his time,
and his ephemeral writings and numerous lectures
contributed largely to educate the public taste in matters
of art. He and Edwards were chiefly responsible for the
Literary Union, described as " a monthly magazine con-
ducted by members of the City of London and Western
Literary and Scientific Institutions," which appeared
during the year 1835. Edwards had apparently much to
do with the general working of this publication, for on 2nd
August, 1835, addressed to 47 Leicester Square, Godwin
reminds him that his " first step will be ... to get in as
much money as possible from our vagabond subscrip-
tions". One article in this periodical on "Thoughts on
the Management of Popular and Scientific Institutions "
1 The Fine Arts in England, etc., mentioned in chapter viii.
iz EDWARD EDWARDS.
bears the stamp of Edwards' work. It was intended to be a
magazine for Popular Literary Scientific Institutions and
to chronicle their proceedings. The magazine came to grief
after the first year, but it did not spoil the friendship between
Godwin and Edwards, and the others who had a share in the
venture. Godwin's letters are cheery to a marked degree.
The playful banter about men and things in general is
delightful. These four and others formed a group of
young men full of earnest purpose and zeal for the
widening of educational facilities in every direction.
They had a literary society of their own, known by the
name of the Society of Wranglers, in which a fine was
exacted as a penalty for non-attendance, so earnest were
they all for mutual improvement. Edwards was a leading
member of this society. One of the earliest subjects for
discussion noted was " Is the French Revolution attri-
butable more to the writings of the French Encyclopaedists
than to the privileged classes ". A common designation
among themselves for the members of this society was
that of " Soul-Squeezers ". Godwin distributes the phrase
freely throughout his letters to Edwards, but never in any
sarcastic way. They were a band of young men terribly
in earnest, and held definite views about most things.
No subject was too dry or cosmopolitan for them to
consider. They roamed over the whole range of art,
literature and politics, and expressed themselves with a
freedom which never seems to have alienated them from
each other. Devoted friends, enthusiastic over the
respective work that each was trying to do, the circle must
have had a material influence in forming the character
of each of the members. They met constantly, and
their correspondence was voluminous. It was not so
much a question with them that the world was out of
joint and required putting to rights, as it was one of
their individual readiness to help in adjusting things
that in their eyes needed readjustment ready at all times
to take part in any helpful movement, and contribute an
honest share of work. Every age has had its young men
SOME BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS. 13
who dream dreams, and it is well for the generations that
such men have been willing to render an unpaid service
in the solution of pressing problems. The " Soul-
Squeezers " belonged unmistakably to this class, and
so far as can be gleaned, Edwards ranked among the
most active and alert of the number. The three others
named achieved positions of financial success. It is to
be regretted that Edwards did not meet with a like fortune.
Friend sharpened friend in that group, and Edwards all
through hi-s career must have carried mentally and morally
the benefits of his intercourse with them.
Other friends or close acquaintances were E. William
Wyon, one of the family of engravers at the Royal
Mint; John Pye, landscape engraver; John Imray, a
near neighbour for some years*, and an architect who
aided him with the maps of libraries printed in the
Parliamentary Report of 1849. In his diary summary for
October, 1847, Edwards records that he " began a course
of historical reading twice a week and viva voce, with my
friend Imray " ; James Macarthur, a New South Wales
colonist, with whom Edwards collaborated in a book on
that colony, which will be named later ; F. Espinasse, 1
a colleague at one time in the British Museum, and after-
wards on the staff of a Manchester newspaper ; Thomas
S. Gowing, who refers in his letters to the circle as " Soul-
Squeezers ". From all these there are letters existing
addressed to Edwards.
Most of these friends shared his desire to see libraries
established everywhere, and made as accessible as it was
possible to make them. One direct outcome of these regular
gatherings was the formation of the Art Union of London
in 1837. Mr. Henry Hayward, a brother-in-law of Ed-
wards, was the prime mover, and of this association
Edwards acted for a time as honorary secretary.
With Joseph Hume, M.P. (1777-1855), Edwards was
on terms of more than passing acquaintanceship. The
1 In his Literary Recollections and Sketches he gives a warm tribute
to Edwards, pp. 17-18.
i 4 EDWARD EDWARDS.
first letter available from Hume was in the autumn of
1838 asking Edwards to call and see him. With Hume,
Edwards evidently conversed and corresponded often,
upon public questions, and especially such questions as
affected art and literature. It may be remarked that
Hume rendered good service as a member of Parliament
when the question came before the House.
In 1844 Edwards was married to Miss Margaretta
Frances Hayward, a Hampstead lady, whose acquaintance
he probably made about 1834. She was his senior by
nine years, and was about forty-one when the marriage
took place. They had no family : a misfortune which
Edwards lamented on various occasions, as was but
natural in the case of a man who took keen interest in
children, and no doubt fully appreciated their value in
cementing family ties.
It is not often that a man's life-work so quickly yields
results as in the case of Edwards. Within a generation,
municipal public libraries have spread themselves on all
sides. They all owe their existence mainly to the pioneer
labours of this man, and to William Ewart and Joseph
Brotherton. The three men presented a strong combina-
tion. Whatever public question they might have taken
in hand, it is probable that it would have been brought
to a satisfactory conclusion. Edwards had the active
enthusiasm which enabled him to work patiently, in sup-
plying the energy, for the other workers. Notwithstanding
his subsequent conservatism, and his possession of all the
prejudices of the scholar, he had an absorbing passion to
see libraries made everywhere accessible to the people.
There was not an atom of exclusiveness in his disposition
so far as books were concerned. Politically, his anti-
democratic spirit gave him later a spirit of exclusiveness.
But this had no place when public libraries were in
question. When the politicians, Ewart and Brotherton,
were doing their part of the work, he it was who kept the
arsenal furnished with ammunition. His critics fixed
upon some weak parts in his statistics, and found fault
SOME BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS. 15
Avith them, but with the larger bearing of the whole
subject they did not attempt to deal. Edwards had a
clear grasp of the possibilities held out by the establish-
ment of fully equipped public libraries, made available
for the use of everybody, with none but the simplest of
restrictions. Public libraries were to be the people's
universities, to a far larger degree than was ever known
in this country, or on the continent. It is very possible
that Edwards realised this more fully than the two men
who fought the question in the legislature of the nation.
There is nothing invidious in stating that in scholarship
lie was in advance of the two members of the House of
Commons especially interested. He represented in him-
self the double qualification of constant user of the British
Museum Library, up to 1839, and afterwards of an experi-
enced assistant in that library. In both capacities he
had amassed a wide and intimate knowledge, and each
had aided in intensifying his enthusiasm. Ewart and
Brotherton were naturally dependent on some such help,
for facts and information with which to combat the
undercurrent of distrust and ignorance that prevailed in
the country and in St. Stephen's, and were pleased to
enlist the powerful aid of Edwards, even though he was
much younger than either of themselves.
William Ewart (1798-1869) was a typical legislator.
He was the only one of the three men who had received
a university education. He had travelled extensively
and had seen the library facilities of the continent, and
longed for his own country to possess equal advantages.
He was a well-educated and well-to-do representative of
the yeoman class, who have done so much for the
consolidation and natural development of our national
institutions, and for British liberty. The spirit of true
and cautious progress governed his soul. He was no
iconoclast, but a patient plodder through the meshes of
Parliamentary procedure, and all who have the most
casual acquaintance with the promotion of a bill in the
House of Commons know well what this means. He
16 EDWARD EDWARDS.
was the friend at Court of the proposed measure, and
nothing was more vital to the welfare of the several Acts
than the intimate knowledge of what to do, and how to
do it, which was possessed by the member for the
Dumfries Burghs. It seems to be the case that Ewart's
idea of what was possible to be done in the way of
providing libraries did not extend to lending departments.
Edwards supplied the suggestions which made this
element such a wonderful factor in later developments.
A multiplication of small British Museums in various
parts of the country was, it may be judged, what the
political promoters had chiefly in mind. The reformer
must be content with progress in easy stages, and it is
well that it should be so. None knew this better than
Ewart, and his painstaking care in each step of the
progress of library legislation was of the greatest moment
to the welfare of the measure, as it was to other subjects
in which he had taken an active interest. It was from the
House of Commons that help was to come for the exten-
sion of public libraries. Private benevolence had done
much and would do much, but to unify and strengthen the
work done it was necessary to have a permissive measure
passed by the Houses of Parliament, in order to make
the whole scheme possible. The House of Commons
has had many such men as William Ewart, but none
with a keener instinct, and a more earnest desire to give
his support and active help to measures for benefiting
the community. His concentration was commendable.
Instead of trying to excite an interest in a long series of
wearisome questions, he gave his attention to a carefully
selected few. More imitators of this course, in the House
of Commons, would earn the gratitude of members, and,
in some cases, gain converts. The House of Commons
has all through its history been misjudged by outsiders.
In Ewart's time, as now, it was made up of many varying
and opposing elements. In the thirties and on to the
sixties a rich member, with a safe and comfortable seat,
could afford to take things easy. Ewart resisted this
SOME BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS. 17
temptation. The nation owes a vast debt to the Ewart
type of legislator. He was practical, attentive, experi-
enced, conciliatory, with an attractive personality, such as
could not fail to win supporters. These are the qualities
which he brought to bear upon his share of the great
task of securing the passing into law of the first of the
Libraries Acts, which, whatever the enemies of public
libraries may say, have played a great, and are destined
to play a still greater, part in national education and
wholesome recreation for the people.
Joseph Brotherton (1783-1857) was essentially a man
of the people, and he was proud of being the son
of a Lancashire manufacturer. Class distinctions ruled
supreme in those days. But his simplicity of disposition,
enabled the representative of Salford to make a very definite
position for himself in the nation's legislature. He be-
longed to the type to which Cobden and Bright belonged,,
and he was a useful adherent of this school. He was the
typical lay preacher and citizen-representative combined!
in one person. A quiet force, untiring energy and sus-
tained zeal were his by natural bent of character. His
Nonconformist training and sympathies added lustre to
his homely qualities. He belonged to a strict sect, but
the narrowness of a religious coterie did not affect his
broader outlook upon things as they concerned the nation
as a whole. He carried conviction when he spoke, and in,
what is termed for the want of a better phrase, "lobby-
ing " he must have rendered a special and material service.
His scrupulous honesty, and his unflagging interest in
whatever subject he took in hand, were so transparent that
he commanded respect, and this was at a time when men
and boroughs were bought openly without anybody ap-
pearing to suffer. There were few men in the House of
Commons, of his time, who were in touch with the masses
of the workers in manual occupations, but out of these few
Brotherton was one. He knew the Lancashire operative
from a long experience. Nowhere in the country were there
more readers, more hard-headed men with an honest desire
2
18 EDWARD EDWARDS.
for knowledge, than in the thickly populated districts around
Manchester. The place of Salford in the history of the
museum and public library movement is important, and
Salford gave Brotherton to the House of Commons,
and backed up his enthusiasm for libraries for the people
with liberal gifts. The Lancashire freeholder of the time
could appreciate simple-minded earnestness when he
discovered it, and in Brotherton he realised this gift,
for he was returned for twenty-four successive years
from 1832 to 1857 as Salford's representative. " My
riches consist not in the extent of my possessions, but
in the fewness of my wants," was a saying of Joseph
Brotherton, which has been engraved upon his statue at
Salford. Among Edwards' correspondence there is not a
single letter from Brotherton, and the references to him
in the diaries are few and scant, but there is no doubt
about his help having been of material importance. There
is an interesting link, in name at least, in the fact that the
pamphlet entitled " Public Spirit illustrated in the Life
and Designs of Dr. Bray," the founder of parochial
libraries, was printed in 1746 for one J. Brotherton. The
nation has never realised what it owes to spontaneous
and unsparing labour, undertaken with the expectation of
no other reward than the consciousness of good service
rendered to some noble cause. Love of a cause counts
for much, and this dear old Empire of ours is fortunate
beyond estimation in the number of men and women who
have given of their best unstintingly, for the welfare of the
community.
Each of the three men described as associates was able
to take a different part in originating a great movement,
without asking or interfering with the part played by his
colleagues. Each possessed his own special equipment
for the work. Less has been heard in the past of Edwards
than has been heard of Ewart and Brotherton. This may
be owing to Edwards having been a paid public servant
at the time of the passing of the Museums Act of 1845
and the Libraries Act of 1850, and it was very possibly
SOME BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS. ig
thought unnecessary to bracket such an official defin-
itely with Ewart and Brotherton, as disinterested workers
in a public movement. This was not an unreasonable
view to take. Members of Parliament are habitually dis-
inclined to give full prominence to the source from whence
their information is derived. Everything which is likely
to be of use to them is gathered up, with a net having a
small mesh, from the painful researches of some intelli-
gent official, and only reappears as original matter, the
coinage of the member's own brain. Only a limited experi-
ence of the average representative is required to illustrate
this tendency on the part of members of Parliament, and
indeed of all kinds of public speakers who base their remarks
on the hard work of some invisible helper. A brilliant
speech in the House and telling work in committee are
often made a possibility by the labours of the man who
drew up and studied the brief, but the actual author of the
brief is rarely ever heard of and much less known. There
was nothing in Edwards' life and station which could give
him, even for a day, the commanding public position of
his two friends. They had from the first a more influen-
tial and a larger public. The man who wields the pen
works, if there is worth in his work, for the generations
who follow. The glamour of the platform is not for him,
and he does not covet the possession. More often than
not he is poor. Outside the successful manufacturers of
fiction, the man of letters in the concrete produces books
which are not likely to pay author and publisher in any
profuse way. Edwards' work was essentially of this
nature. It is more than probable that his early pamphlets
of 1836 and later dates were issued solely at his own cost.
His lot was not an uncommon one, and has presented
itself at every period of the history of all great movements
which have struck deep into the well-being of the people.
The race of unrewarded student-authors is not yet at an
end, and it will be a sorry day for the nation if it ever
becomes extinct, even at the sacrifice of a small ransom to
ensure its longevity.
20 EDWARD EDWARDS.
Edwards' own claim as to his position as chief pioneer
of the movement is made in the preface of the incompleted
second edition of the Memoirs of Libraries. Those in the
library world who received copies of the first volume of
this work, printed in 1885, and issued for presentation by
the present writer in the autumn of 1901, will notice the
following :
. . . An enormous amount of new information concerning even the
oldest Libraries of Europe, and . . . of America, is now available. And,
in addition, more than one hundred new Libraries have, in our own
countryalone Colonial as well as Metropolitan, been founded. Four-
fifths at least of these . . . are the results of those " Public Libraries
Acts " of 1850, and subsequent years, down to the year of present pub-
lication . . . which had their first inception, origin, and real authorship,
in the labours (of 1847, 1848, and 1849) of the present Writer and in
his evidence before Parliamentary Committees. . . - 1
Then a little farther on in the same preface :
The substance of that " Statistical View " was again given, verbally,
to a Select Committee Of the House of Commons Upon Public Lib-
raries, during the writer's five or six several examinations before it in the
Sessions of 1849 and 1850. That Committee was appointed, in the
first-named Session, on the motion ... of Mr. William Ewart, and at the
solicitation of the present writer, who drew up in English, French, and
German (at Mr. E wart's request) those " Questions on Public Libraries "
which, through the medium of the Foreign Office, were presented at
every Court throughout the world, to which any British Envoy was
accredited. The results were published in several " Appendices " to the
various Reports of the Committee from 1849 to 1852 inclusive. 1
Then once again in the preface :
The "Library Returns" of 1849-52 . . . contain, that is, in the
year 1885 the latest official and general accounts of the progress,
and condition, of many Foreign Libraries, which have been anywhere
published (in any language) or in any form whatsoever. They were
obtained, after some difficulty, by Mr. William Ewart, M.P. (at the
instance, and solicitation, of the present writer), through our Ambas-
sadors and Consuls abroad, and were transmitted to the Foreign Office. 1
Never once does Edwards in his diaries make a strong
claim for his share in securing the passing of the Act of
1 The preface was printed twice, and in the second instance varied
slightly from the first, but the general purport is the same.
SOME BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS. 21
1850. The entries are simple and matter-of-fact. He
was modest and self-forgetful. No man ever yet accom-
plished any real work for the public good who did not sink
self in the task which he had at heart. The true patriot
is ever content to remain in seclusion if the end for which
he has laboured is gained or furthered even but a little.
It is appropriate, therefore, that his claim to be the chief
pioneer of the modern public library movement should be
preferred on his behalf, even at this distant date, and when
the movement has spread with such encouraging rapidity
in all parts of the country.
There are twenty-seven diaries existing which cover
the years ranging from 1844 to 1884. The gaps are
considerable, and there is only one for the seventies,
and this for 1870. The entries throughout are full and
interesting, but unfortunately there is not much of a
really biographical nature available for use. All diaries
which are not written in the first instance for publication
contain items of a purely personal nature. These are
useful as an index to character and in giving a full in-
sight into a man's true self; but they do not carry the
searcher far in his linking together, of a long chain, of bio-
graphical facts. Several things are conclusively proved
by the diaries. First, the man's intensely religious spirit,
which he carried throughout his life. He began life as a
Nonconformist, as already mentioned, and ended it as an
earnest Episcopalian, with bitter regrets that his early
training had been in the folds of dissent. To this early
training in dissent, however, he owed whatever of true
spirituality there was in his inner religious life. It is not
said that he did not add to this in later years, but the
groundwork and basis of his faith were laid by the minis-
tration of Dr. Thomas Binney (1798-1874) of the old King's
Weigh House Chapel in the heart of the city of London.
There was a depth and an earnestness in Dr. Binney's
teaching which struck a chord in Edwards' soul that was
resonant to the very end of his life. It was a case of mind
answering unto mind, and heart unto heart. One of the
22 EDWARD EDWARDS.
earliest entries in the diary for 1844 is f a " solemn and
impressive" sermon of the divine named, and amongst
the entries in the latest diaries are those where he records
the reading of sermons from the same source. Dr. Binney
was a born preacher, and had an especial influence in his
day upon the minds of young and thoughtful men. His
discourses breathed the spirit of the true teacher. His
influence was of the nature that grew the more he was
known and heard. Wise in his choice of language,
earnest in tone, intense in his loyalty to the realities which
constituted the inner life, with a firm belief in the character-
forming influences of things spiritual, he could not fail to
impress deeply a young man of Edwards' mould and lean-
ings. Why Edwards lamented his early religious train-
ing is not made very clear. He could have passed
through his change in religious views without reproach-
ing the faith and order to which he at one time belonged,
and to which he undoubtedly owed the foundations of the
intensely religious fervour that was part of his nature.
He was so scrupulously honest with himself in other
directions, that it i* a pity that he did not realise the fact
indicated. Among the correspondence are many letters
from Dr. Binney, covering a long stretch of years.
Throughout them there is a kindly, sympathetic tone. " I
shall deem myself happy," said this teacher, in the middle
of 1838, " if I ever have an opportunity of doing you any
service." The same spirit animates every letter of Dr.
Binney to Edwards. Says Edwards on i6th May, 1847,
" Heard a most magnificent sermon from Mr. Binney. . . .
Without being able to subscribe to all his theology, I carry
away impressions from Binney's discourses such as I
never experience elsewhere."
Another mind which had a far-reaching influence on
Edwards was that of William Johnson Fox (1786-1864),
the preacher and radical. The work of this earnest reformer
is almost forgotten except by the older politicians of to-day.
He was in his full vigour in the forties and preached and
lectured regularly at South Place Chapel and Institute,
SOME BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS. 23
Finsbury. His work is another example of the transient
nature of the spoken word. Art and literature are the two
things in life which have permanence. The impassioned
utterances of the orator pass away with his age. Fox
was one of the soul-inspiring group of the Anti-corn Law
agitation, and ranked next to Cobden and Bright. Edwards
rarely missed a Sunday morning at South Place, and re-
cords with a fine glow the subject of Fox's discourse.
Fox was a reformer of the purest brand. He combined
with a striking personality, a warmth and an enthusiasm
of disposition. He was a leader of men and used his
power rightly and with discretion. As a member of
Parliament he was distinctly useful in bringing about
those early reform bills so vital in their influence upon
all that has since followed in their train. If Fox was
announced to speak, and Edwards could be present to
hear him, he was sure to be there. The strong democratic
sympathy in Edwards' mind, which prevailed in his early
manhood, was of Fox's cultivation, if not of his actual
planting. It is somewhat inconsistent that Edwards
should have so completely hurled out of his mind all
respect for what he looked upon as extreme politics,
though as regards libraries his ideas were not only
democratic, but, for the period in which he lived, almost
socialistic. Changes in religious and political opinions
come to most men. The lapse of years scarcely leaves
any one untouched in this respect. But it is possible
to make a change and still carry with it a respect for
whatever is good and true in the party or the views thus
discarded. Edwards need not have spoken and written
so strongly against the political and religious bodies with
which in his early years he had sympathy. He owed
more to these sections than he would perhaps have been
willing to acknowledge. That both Binney and Fox
should have had considerable influence on Edwards'
mind seems perhaps a contradiction. One may have
been a corrective of the other. The spiritual in the
teaching of Binney may have served to modify the ethical
24 EDWARD EDWARDS.
and political in Fox's discourses. The mind that cannot
sift from the written or spoken thought what the judgment
and mature reflection can accept, is a mind which has
only partially progressed on the road to a trustworthy
formation of opinions.
Another thing made clear in his diaries is the minute
way in which he recorded his income and expenditure.
With the exception of the last, every diary contains a full
statement of each year's cash account. This is all the
more commendable in him, as he had some small extra-
vagances which must now and again have been a sore
trial to him. He liked to be well dressed, and had a
weakness for frilled shirts long after they had ceased to
be fashionable. He loved a good dinner and never
hesitated to stay at the best hotel : and notes his gifts
to the attendants. A few pence spent in postage is duly
entered, and be the outlay small or considerable, all is
recorded. This habit must, in itself, have saved him
from foolishly running into debt, and there is an indica-
tion that he had a weakness in this direction, but one
which was kept manifestly under restraint. When-
ever he had money he paid it away with a free hand.
Another habit clearly shown is that of his voracious
appetite for reading. He read all and everything pretty
nearly which came in his way. It is books, books, from
the first page of the diaries to the end. He was a veri-
table Macaulay on a smaller scale in this respect. His
retentiveness for what he read never forsook him. His
laborious industry in whatever he undertook was marvel-
lous. No matter what was the subject upon which he
had to write he searched every possible source for facts
and information, and stored these in note-books, or on
slips of paper for reference. Piles of these still exist,
and heaps must have been destroyed during the lapse of
years.
He was of a forgiving disposition, loved children, and
was grateful to those who helped him and ministered
to him. He lived his life, chequered as it was, like an
SOME BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS. 25
anchorite of bygone days. His mother, sisters and
himself all through their lives transformed reticence into
a fine art. His loneliness saddened his life, drove him
within himself, and caused him to draw the fullest comfort
from his Bible and books of devotion. These he perused
and marked with a devoutness that displayed his religious
spirit, although it must be acknowledged that formalism
played an important part in this feeling.
He was a man of strong contrasts, and this makes his
life well worth careful study. Breadth in religious and
political views in early life was followed by narrowness in
later years. Arrogance and dictatorial tendencies gave
place afterwards to a bearing which was almost servile.
Pride and haughtiness of spirit in youth became humbled
and chastened at the last. Quarrelsome with his best
friends, he was tenderness itself to his mother and sisters.
Loving children and Mother Nature with a beautiful
intensity ; yet raspy and dogmatical. Utterly fearless in
the expression of his opinion, but not always willing to
.listen to the opinions of others. Honest to a high degree
.in purpose and motive himself, and yet sometimes declin-
ing to see these qualities in others. Sweet and tender in
the references to his wife after her death : and possibly
not altogether happy during her lifetime. Longing for
human sympathy : yet living his life alone. Shadowed
and saddened by limited means ; but too proud to make
his needs known. A strong man with great ideas ; but
with some of the best in him strangled by a giant which
,he could not subdue until it was too late for the subjuga-
tion to be of service to him. One aspiration, one thought,
one longing remains unclouded and unchanged to the end,
and that was his love for libraries, and for their universal
extension in every direction. In that and what he did
for these institutions, his work will live long in the years
to come.
On the 2ist November, 1847, he lost his father after a
very brief illness. The entry in his diary reads :
26 EDWARD EDWARDS.
To I(dol) L(ane) about 12. Found dear F(ather) quite sensible he
recognised me and pressed my hand, but was too ill to speak more
than a word or two at a time, and these only in reply to a question
as to his feeling pains or thirst, etc. I remained in his room
except for an hour or two from noon till 25 minutes before 12 at
night, when he, very peacefully, expired : and most truly in his case
it may be said, in the sure and certain hope of a joyful resurrection
exchanging his last Sabbath on earth for an eternal Sabbath in
Heaven. May my own departure, and the departure of all I love, in
God's good time, be as happy as was his. My dearest mother bore up
with great fortitude and resignation, which nothing could have given
her but the firm faith in the blessed realities of the world to come.
Dear Charlotte too was, happily, sustained. Dear Elizabeth is con-
fined to her bed with severe illness. . . .
All that a son could do was done by him. He at once
took upon himself the funeral arrangements, and did his
best to unravel the somewhat tangled condition in which
his father's affairs were left. The estate was valued for
probate at something under "300. His mother and
sisters, Charlotte and Elizabeth Margaret, became his
tender care. Whatever roughness there was in his bear-
ing towards others, to his mother and sisters there was
always tenderness and kindly solicitude. And this he
retained to the end of his life, as will be seen. The brightest
beam in this man's personal character is his love for the
near and dear relatives named. It shines clear all through
his life, and never became dimmed.
CHAPTER III.
EARLY PAMPHLETS ON LIBRARY AND EDUCATIONAL
QUESTIONS, AND HIS EVIDENCE BEFORE THE
PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE ON THE BRITISH
MUSEUM, 1836.
In two particulars, more especially, our great National Museum
stands distinguished among institutions of its kind. The collections
which compose it extend over a wider range than that covered by
any other public establishment having a like purpose. And . . .
those collections are also far more conspicuously indebted to the
liberality of individual benefactors.
Lives of the Founders of the British Museum.
IT was ordered by Parliament on 27th March, 1835, that a
Select Committee be appointed to inquire into the condi-
tion, management and affairs of the British Museum. On
this committee were Mr. Hawes, Mr. Ewart, Lord Stanley,
Lord John Russell, Lord Dalmeny and others. The blue
book containing the report of the committee extends to
over six hundred pages, and this, with the report of the
following year, must ever be an important link in the
development and general history of this great national
institution. Edwards was not called before the committee
of 1835, but he embodied his views of the evidence given
before it in a pamphlet of remarkable ability, addressed to
Mr. Benjamin (afterwards Sir Benjamin) Hawes (1797-
1862), M.P. for Lambeth, and Under-Secretary for War.
The appointment of the committee was mainly due to the
efforts of Mr. Hawes, but what chiefly led up to it were
some complaints respecting the administration which
were made by a discharged servant. 1 This, however,
occupied but a small part of the inquiry.
On i4th December, 1835, Mr. B. Hawes wrote to
Edwards :
1 Pagan's Life of Sir A. Panizzi, vol. i., p. 151.
(27)
28 EDWARD EDWARDS.
I have only just finished reading your very valuable paper on the
Museum. I hope you will be able to give evidence on the subject if the
committee is revived, which I do not doubt will be the case. It will
afford me great pleasure to see you some morning if you can favour me
with a call. When I get the evidence out I hope you will be able to read
it and give me your opinion on it. Your MS. I presume I may keep
for the present, and I must say you are only the third person who has
rendered me any essential service. Indeed I fear when the evidence
comes out it will shew how much I stood in need of assistance. . . .
On a8th December, 1835, Mr. Hawes wrote to Edwards
to ask, " Does the evening suit you when we could discuss
the question over a cup of tea ? " It is clear from this that
they must have gone minutely over the ground traversed
in the pamphlet, before it was issued to the public.
This pamphlet, entitled " Remarks on the ' Minutes of
Evidence ' taken before the Select Committee on the British
Museum," is dated i5th February, 1836, and must have
come as a surprise to the British Museum authorities.
Its author was, so far as can be traced to-day, unknown,
and seems to have burst suddenly into some prominence.
To the members of the committee the criticisms of the
evidence given before them in 1835 must have been some-
what startling. Even on the part of a practised hand it
would have been a bold step, but to come from an unknown
stripling it must have been doubly so. The letter fills
seventy-six pages of an octavo pamphlet. He leads off
by saying that " an enquiry into the condition, manage-
ment and affairs of the British Museum has been long
called for. Loud and frequent have been the complaints
of its narrow accessibility, of the extremely imperfect
state of its collections of its want of adaptation to the
progressive changes of science in various departments ;
and in [general of an inaction which is alleged to have
characterised its management of late years, notwith-
standing a very observable increase of the just demands
of the public upon it." This is a courageous beginning,
and he supports his views with a long extract from the
Memoir of Sir Humphry Davy by his brother Dr. John
Davy, which had then recently been published. This
EARLY PAMPHLETS, ETC. 29
extract is decidedly adverse to the then management ot
the Museum.
" Our national establishment, the British Museum,"
said Sir Humphry, " is unworthy of a great people. . . .
In every part of the metropolis people are crying out for
knowledge ; they are searching for her even in corners
and bye ways : and such is their desire for her, that
they are disposed to seize her by illegitimate means,
if they cannot obtain her by fair and just ones." Sir
Humphry was in his day one of the official trustees, and
he pressed upon the notice of his colleagues certain
necessary changes.
" It is so much easier to complain than to point out
means of improvement," remarks Edwards; and hence
the reason for the committee continuing their inquiry
during another year. The evidence given in 1835 "taken
altogether prove incontestably that whatever may be our
other claims to the distinction we have not the shadow
of pretension to be considered the first nation of Europe
in respect to the condition, organisation or management
of our literary and scientific establishments". With the
evidence of Sir Henry Ellis (1777-1869), then the chief
of the Museum, he is merciless, and indeed no public
official ever laid himself open to criticism to a greater
extent than did the one just named. His answers were
lame, incomplete land in some instances foolish. With
the public who might visit the Museum he was unsym-
pathetic. " The vulgar class would crowd into the
Museum," if that institution were open during the public
holidays of Christmas, Easter and Whitsuntide. Other
answers are quoted where references were made to
sailors from the dockyards who might bring undesirable
companions with them, and when pressed, he said he
had not traced whether they came from the dockyards,
but people coming at such (holiday) times "would be
of a very low description ".
Some of the under-officials gave replies of a directly
opposite nature to similar questions, and Edwards remarks
30 EDWARD EDWARDS.
that " it is worthy of observation that in this instance
precisely as we descend the scale of official authority, we
seem to find a more catholic perception of the objects of
the Museum. A dread of the inroad of the vulgar class
(meaning apparently the manual labour classes in general)
does not seem to dwell in any breast of less dignity than
that of a principal librarian."
Here is the germ of the first principle enunciated by
Edwards unrestricted access of the public to their own
literary, artistic and scientific collections, in the institutions
supported out of public monies.
" The chief object of the Museum," said the Keeper of
the Department of Natural History, " was to stimulate
the exertions of the unlearned." Edwards enlarged upon
this and urges that the same end would be most " effectu-
ally attained by interesting the many in the pursuits of the
few ".
All through the pamphlet Edwards is warm in his
praise of the urbanity and readiness on the part of the
general officials to afford all the information in their power,
compatible with existing regulations and circumstances.
He says that as a frequent visitor of the Museum he
had always found that the attendants sought to make the
Museum useful.
The Museum Library, urged the Rev. J. Forshall (Q.
1288), was a library of research and not a library of educa-
tion. Edwards said that he differed from this view, but
impeached his theory rather than the effects of that theory.
"However extensively it may become the means of
diffusing knowledge, it can never be the less able to help
those who aim at extending knowledge."
He then proceeds to review the leading features of the
condition and management of each of the existing four
departments of the Museum, and begins with the library.
This he divides under four heads : (i) Accessibility ; (2)
Supply of books ; (3) State of catalogues ; and (4) De-
partment of organisation. He attacks the 10 A.M. to 4 P.M.
time then in vogue throughout the year. The evidence
EARLY PAMPHLETS, ETC. 31
given upon this point is surveyed at length. He advocated
the opening of the library during the evening, and pressed
this with a vigour characteristic of him. It required
more than fifty years to achieve this end even in a modi-
fied form, but it is satisfactory to note that Edwards was
among the first to suggest the evening opening during
the winter months. That it was not a great success when
tried is not to the point, for it must not be forgotten that,
in the interval, good reference libraries in various parts of
the metropolis, which were open in the evening, had been
established. Sir Henry Ellis had a good deal to say about
the convenience of " men of research ". " The main pur-
pose of a national library is to assist research and to aid
those who were more professionally devoted to knowledge."
Edwards deals sarcastically with Ellis' sneer, which comes
in this section, that circulating libraries would provide
most of the books which merchants' clerks would want :
It is not merely to open the library to persons who, from the en-
grossing nature of their engagements of business, are at present utterly
excluded from it, but it is also that the library may be made ... a
direct agent in some degree in the work of national education. Let
not any one be alarmed lest something very theoretical or very revolu-
tionary should be proposed. I merely suggest that the library should
be opened to a class of men quite shut out from it by its present
regulations I mean schoolmasters.
The reader will remember that it is the year 1836 which
is under review. He urged the construction of a separate
room to be open daily from 6 until n P.M., throughout
the year, during which hours readers could be furnished
with such books as they may have previously requisi-
tioned by notice in writing.
He then deals with the supply of books and begins by
calling attention to the then " exceedingly defective state "
of the library in this department, and suggests remedies
for supplying these defects. " That it is of national impor-
tance," he urges, " there should be public libraries, wherein
a copy of every published book may be found, will hardly
be denied." The copyright law of that time, which con-
32 EDWARD EDWARDS.
ferred upon eleven libraries the right of receiving copies
of new books, is dealt with by him, and he carefully
surveys the working of that part of the Act. The whole
history of British copyright law is of so complex a nature
that it is not possible to enter upon it here. But it is
obvious that Edwards had familiarised himself with the
various Acts and had formed definite, and, for the time,,
advanced opinions upon the question.
The question of catalogues is, he says, the most impor-
tant topic as far as the library of the Museum is concerned.
He quotes the maxim that " as are the catalogues of a
library, so will be its utility".
The story of the catalogues of the British Museum
Library is a long one. Its full history has yet to be
written, and now that the catalogue is completed, possibly
the details of its conception and compilation will be
written. When this is done, and if justice is rendered,
Edwards will be entitled to recognition, if only for his
invaluable practical suggestions. Many pages in this
pamphlet are devoted to the catalogue question. The
criticisms were clear and definite, and, if on no other
ground, Edwards earned the gratitude of all users and
lovers of the British Museum Library for the persistency
with which he pressed this matter forward. The battle
of the catalogues is not, however, for present discussion.
Departmental Organisation is next treated. Edwards'
attack on the miserable salaries paid at the Museum at
that time must have cheered not a few hearts among the
officials. The principal librarian had then 500 a year.
As joint secretary to the Society of Antiquaries he re-
ceived 150 guineas a year, and Sir Henry Ellis added
that this outside position and emoluments enabled him
to be principal librarian of the British Museum. The
Rev. Mr. Baber, who criticised Edwards' pamphlet, had
440 a year. He was a very able man, and probably in
his heart did not greatly differ from Edwards respecting
the deficiencies of the collection. He had himself been
to Germany to buy the Moll Library. At that time he
EARLY PAMPHLETS, ETC. 33
held a living in Cambridgeshire of the gross value of
"900 a year. These particulars are given to show the
nature of the abuses that Edwards felt it his duty to
attack. He asks, " Ought not the salary of the keeper of
a department in the British Museum to be made sufficient
in itself? " without supplementing it by outside appoint-
ments. Edwards pressed this home with a fulness which
can scarcely have failed to help on the betterment in
stipends which followed not very long afterwards. It
should be kept in mind that the apparently inadequate
salaries of the Museum officers were largely supplemented
by the apartments which they enjoyed rent free in Montague
House. He sums up his pamphlet by reiterating that he
has tried to show :
i. That as respects accessibility, a large number of persons highly
fit to make good use of a great public library are by the present
regulations entirely excluded from it, and that it is quite possible so
to alter those regulations, as to remove this evil without creating any
other. 2. That as respects supply of books, there are very serious
deficiencies, which certainly ought to be, and may be, lessened : and
that there is a law which, because it imposes a partial tax, and does
not attain its avowed object ought immediately to be reconsidered.
3. That as regards state of catalogues, there are at present, such
serious defects, as greatly to impair the usefulness of the library:
defects which indicate neglect on the part of the governing body, and
call loudly for immediate and efficient reformation; and 4. That as
regards Departmental Organisation, there is need for more efficient
responsibility, of better division of labour, and of increase in the
salaries of the officers and assistants.
He then goes on to discuss the two departments ot
Antiquities and Natural History, and the general consti-
tution of the Museum government. In the first he said
" were huddled together zoology, botany and mineralogy,
with their immediate subdivisions, all in a single depart-
ment, with a single head, yet presenting the while many
of the evils of utter isolation. In the second, the exten-
sive collections of ancient marbles, of coins and medals,
and of prints, have again but one responsible keeper."
Everywhere, he argued, there was great want of effective
3
34 EDWARD EDWARDS.
assistants and of division of labour ; very imperfect and
unequal collections ; extremely defective classification
and description ; and a general absence of anything like
harmony of purpose in the whole. And all this notwith-
standing the expenditure of nearly a million and a quarter
of the public money in addition to the bequests and
benefactions. " Surely this need not last for ever ? " he
passionately asks, and refers to his " Heads of Inquiry"
which forms a long appendix to his letter. Before reaching
this appendix, he turns to the question whether it was
desirable to open the Museum collections on Sundays.
He does not argue the subject with any personal relish.
But he was compelled to look at it, as so many people
have been compelled to look at it, on the ground of public
utility and from the standpoint of those having little
leisure. Idleness, listlessness, drunkenness and other
vices were more apparent then than now, and called
imperatively for some antidote. " How may that day,
which when made the especial day of man's better part,
of his mind and soul ... be rescued from the stain of
ministering to vice and crime ? " The day ministered
to these evils, he argued, because it is a day without
employment. He proceeds to look at the question in a
dispassionate and reasonable way.
The whole of the appendix is about two-thirds as long
as the main letter. His suggestions for improvements are
put forward clearly and logically. " The utmost possible
realisation of the great national purposes for which the
British Museum was originally founded " is what he
promises to keep strictly in view. He takes under survey
the following :
The Departments respectively of i. Manuscripts; 2. Printed Books ;
3. Antiquities ; 4. Natural History ; 5. Of the Reading Room ; 6.
Museum publications; 7. Buildings; 8. General Accommodation of
the public ; 9. Of the Government of the Museum in its I. Depart-
mental Organisation ; II. Managing or Directing Board ; III. Ultimate
Control ; 10. Of the Means by which Government both legislative
and executive may best promote the objects of the Museum ; n. Of
suggested improvements in general.
EARLY PAMPHLETS, ETC. 35
His discussion of these points is very pertinent and
minute. All through he displays a grasp of the question
in all its bearings which is marvellous, and his sugges-
tions have a practical bearing. It should not be overlooked
that this appeal for our great national institution was
written sixty-six years ago. Further, that most of the
improvements which he then suggested have been effected.
It is not claimed that his pamphlet led to the changes
being made, but it is reasonable to suppose that his
suggestions in that direction, put forward in the way they
came before the public, were influential forces among those
which led to the alterations being ultimately made. The
pamphlet was certainly the precursor of Panizzi's memor-
able report of 1845, which caused the grant for purchases
to be raised to "10,000.
" Is it expedient that the officers be interdicted from
forming private collections of objects similar to those
under their respective charge ? " he asks. This was a
minor point, but one of importance. In a postscript to the
Appendix, which Edwards apparently added in 1839, he
quotes the report of the Select Committee reappointed in
July, 1836, which embodied much that he had put forward.
The division of departments he presses home with per-
sistency. Now that this has been done, the public have
little conception of the confusion and incompleteness that
existed before this was effected.
Only a limited portion of the entire pamphlet has been
reviewed, but it will serve to illustrate the scope and
character of Edwards' appeal on behalf of this great
national institution. As being his first-known written
effort on behalf of public libraries, it is interesting. It
represents some of the foundation of his later work. He
strikes out with all the vigour of youth, and it was a
bold step on his part to criticise so vigorously the adminis-
tration of the British Museum. The present generation
live in the midst of library and museum advantages. It
should not be forgotten how these facilities have been
won, nor who have helped to secure them. This is why
36 EDWARD EDWARDS.
so much space has been devoted to this letter of 1836,
and the appendix dated from Niton, Isle of Wight, in
1839.
Even at this early date Edwards was an industrious
pamphleteer. His next pamphlet is a sixteen-page octavo,
entitled " Remarks on the Ministerial Plan of a Central
University Examining Board," dated zgth February, 1836.
The agitation for a Central University for London is of
old standing, and it was many years before it became
an accomplished object. The treatment by the British
Government of educational questions and all matters
affecting them, through a long period of years, is not by
any means exhilarating reading. An early sentence in
this pamphlet refers to this difficulty in obtaining atten-
tion to educational questions. " The Government had,"
he says, " for the time being indeed, occasionally rendered
a reluctant assistance, when it had been, as it were,
compelled to do so : but the question with it was never,
' how may the interests of science be most promoted,'
but ' with how small a concession to public opinion, can
we escape for the present,' never, ' in what way can we
best advance the education of the people,' but ' with how
little can we satisfy this or that other body of men '." The
Government in power in 1836 had after nearly five years
of petitioning come forward with a larger scheme than
had been suggested by the petitioners. But in the midst
of much expectation that had been raised, the Government
was accused of tergiversation and direct breach of engage-
ment in substituting the general charter for the particular
one. The governing body of the London University
were up in arms. If the granting of degrees to all and
sundry who satisfied the examiners became an established
practice, the very props of the State would surely fall.
Dissenters would be among the first to secure these
degrees, and anything then might happen to imperil the
best interests of the State. The struggle was intense.
Feeling among educationists ran high ; and Edwards'
pamphlet was a temperate and powerful appeal for the
EARLY PAMPHLETS, ETC. 37
general charter. Brought up in a liberal, religious faith,
his sympathies were on those grounds for the larger
charter. Not a word, however, of bitterness appears at
the exclusiveness then existing. He argues from the
standpoint of public utility, and the general good of the
entire community. The charge against the Government
of breach of faith was paltry. In the spring of 1836 Lord
John Russell, in the course of his speech in support of
the motion, stated that the late Government and Lord
Brougham were earnestly occupied in considering first,
whether it was possible to obtain the consent of the
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge that Protestant
Dissenters might study and take their degrees in them ;
secondly, whether a charter given to the University of
London should enable Protestant Dissenters to take their
degrees there ; and thirdly, whether any other and larger
plan might be devised to meet the difficulties which
presented themselves on this question, and to facilitate
the entrance of Dissenters for the obtaining of degrees,
either into the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, or
other places.
The whole question at issue is here in a nutshell. It
may be ancient history now, but the state of educational
affairs in 1836, and Edwards' part in them, is being
discussed. The governors of the London University had
stated that they desired no exclusive privileges, but all
the same an influential section fought vigorously for the
particular charter. Edwards probes this fact in the
pamphlet. " To talk," he says, " of an unfair and in-
discriminate and unlimited issue of degrees because the
Examining Board would have had to receive candidates
from all parts of the Kingdom without limitation, was
an absurdity." He looks at this statement that the
tendency would be in the direction of the granting of
indiscriminate and unlimited degrees, and then says the
real question was " whether the proposed central uni-
versity board, open to all," (the italics are his) "would
or would not have been a greater public benefit, than
38 EDWARD EDWARDS.
the grant of a degree-conferring charter to the London
University or College in particular, or to that and a
certain number of other colleges in particular, and to
them only ". Was the door to the earning of degrees
to be kept narrow as it then was, or was it to be made
wider, was the question. The supposed dangers of the
Examining Board being too easily satisfied were puerile.
What ail true friends of education desired with regard
to diplomas was that degrees should truly represent
certain positive acquirements, or general ability, and
should be obtainable by all, without exception, possessed
of those requirements or that ability in what way soever
attained. "To require more than this," said Edwards,
" is quite as absurd as it is tyrannical. It is as injurious
to the persons and places favoured, as to those excluded.
For so long as a factitious advantage ... is allowed to
form part of a qualification for a degree, that factitious
advantage is ... a deduction from the real knowledge
represented or intended to be represented by that degree."
" May not this too be asserted solely on the ground,
that every man ought to have within his reach the means
of obtaining a degree, if he have acquired the knowledge
a degree professes to represent, whether the place wherein
he acquired that knowledge shall have been a cloistered
college, a populous city, or a secluded village ? "
This is the keynote which rings through all Edwards'
work. A vigorous Conservative in later life, never once
does he falter in his grasp of the principle that education
and library facilities are not the exclusive prerogative of
the rich, but the birthright of the many.
"The great curse," says Edwards, "of this country is
bit-by-bit legislation an everlasting attempt to mutilate
every great principle or public interest, in order to adapt
it to what are supposed to be the particular interests of
this or that body, this or that little party of men an
attempt not infrequently made in so clumsy a manner as
really to satisfy nobody : the public at large, however,
always paying the expense." How many workers in
EARLY PAMPHLETS, ETC. 39
movements for the public good have said this ? And yet,
much could be put forward in favour of this slow and
piecemeal legislation. There are many interests repre-
sented in the nation, and it is only fair that these varied
and conflicting interests should be taken into account.
But in its treatment of questions affecting national educa-
tion, Parliament has always been more or less indifferent.
The supposed interests or privileges of the few have in
far too many instances been placed against the welfare
of the whole nation. In the closing sentence -of the
pamphlet proper, Edwards says that this narrow view of
education, taken by the country's representatives, has
" struck at the very root of the energies which require
the freest and the fullest culture, in order to fit them to
conflict with the evil results of that very influence as
discovered in the concerns of everyday life ".
A change took place in 1836 when the London Uni-
versity received a charter as University College, and at
the same time by another charter London University
was established not a building for teaching, but a body
of persons empowered to examine candidates and confer
degrees. Edwards' part in the struggle may not have
been a large one, but at all events his pamphlet, as
the work of an earnest young man, with unbounded
enthusiasm for the widening and improving of educa-
tional facilities in every direction, cannot have failed in
proving more influential than it is possible at the present
time to gauge.
On nth February, 1836, Parliament ordered that a
second Select Committee on the affairs of the British
Museum be appointed. On 2nd June, 1836, Edward
Edwards was examined. Before him there had been some
forty-eight witnesses. The present occasion is not for the
purpose of surveying the history of this great national
institution, though the whole evidence given before the
committee is of a deeply interesting nature.
In the interim between the committee of 1835 and that
of the following year, Edwards had printed and issued
4 o EDWARD EDWARDS.
his letter addressed to Mr. Hawes which has already
been described.
As a direct result of this pamphlet he was on 2nd June,
1836, called before the committee, and on the 2oth of the
same month there is a letter from Hawes asking Edwards
to call upon him. Edwards gave in his pamphlet, as has
been already seen, a statement of the deficiencies of the
library. The previous witness at the inquiry, the Rev.
H. H. Baber, had referred to the pamphlet, and questioned
some of the statements made. Edwards stated that there
were none of Goethe's works in the Museum Library
later than 1819, except the Correspondence with Zelter,
and this was admitted. Other works of German litera-
ture had been purchased for the library, but were not
catalogued. Wieland's works were referred to, and the
witness gave a list of the books of this writer which were
in the library. Edwards in the pamphlet further stated
that there was no edition of Crevier's Histoire des
Empereurs except Mill's translation. In the King's
catalogue, said the witness, he would have found an entry
of the splendid edition of that work, printed in 1756.
" These errors," it was suggested to the witness, " natu-
rally arise from the imperfect state of the catalogue ?"
" No," was the answer, " from the haste with which Mr.
Edwards probably wrote his book. The King's catalogue
is perfect. It was printed before 1820 and these works
existed in it before that time." The witness admitted that
the catalogues were in a confused and imperfect state.
Mr. Edwards said, with regard to Mr. Baber's evidence,
that he instanced in his pamphlet about sixteen German
authors of considerable note whose works were not in the
British Museum Library, and of these sixteen, two only
were referred to by Mr. Baber. He stated that he had
prepared four lists as examples of deficiencies in the
Museum Library, and these lists he then handed to the
committee. The first is a list of German books, and deals
with the works of twenty-one German authors, and included
Goethe, Kant, Fichte, Niebuhr, Heine and others. The
EARLY PAMPHLETS, ETC. 41
second list dealt with French literature. Of the works of
Guizot and Comte all were wanting. The third list dealt
with books published on the continent dealing with history,
and embraces a number of important books. Of fifty-
three books in this category, published in three months,
four only were in the Museum. List IV. was of books on
architecture. Some are indicated as being in the King's
Library. Questioned (Q. 4739) as to how he obtained his
dates on the third list, he said that he compiled lists from
Quarterly Reviews of all the principal books published on
the continent, and then compared these with the alpha-
betical catalogues : first those of the general series of
books, and secondly, those of the royal library. Question
4742 was, " Assuming Mr. Baber's statement to be a cor-
rect statement, can you account for your error in any
way ? " His answer was : " The errors which have been
stated are two. The first relates to the works of Goethe.
I think Mr. Baber's correction will only apply to a series
of twenty volumes, published at Tubingen in 1819, and that
all the works of that author since that date are really not
in the Museum at present, or, at least, not in the cata-
logues. The second example, that of Wieland, would
appear to be an error, arising from the circumstance of
having several catalogues to look at under the same
alphabetical arrangement."
The next answer is a rather important one, and turns
so materially on the question of cataloguing, according to
the methods then adopted at the Museum, and the delay in
obtaining books, that it had better be given as it stands
in the blue book :
There is a great uncertainty as to that point, which increases the
trouble of searching the catalogues. As mention has been made . . .
by Mr. Baber of an intention to place in the reading-room a transcript
of the alphabetical catalogues, I wish to make a general remark or two
upon them. I doubt not those catalogues will be revised, but it is
important that some easily intelligible plan should be followed in that
revision. It seems to me that the great difficulties of research in the
reading-room of the British Museum are two-fold, and arise, first, from
the want of classed catalogues : and secondly, from the defects of the
42 EDWARD EDWARDS.
present alphabetical catalogues, both in plan and actual condition. As.
to the first, the difficulties occasioned by the want of a general classed
catalogue, they have, I think, been already so fully and convincingly
stated to the Committee by former witnesses, that it would be wasting
its time to go over them again : but having myself experienced the
extreme want of such a catalogue during the last two years, I would
make one remark in further illustration of the subject, and in reference
to a work which has been already alluded to this morning, Watt's
Bibliotheca Britannica. I think a statement of the nature of the alter-
native to which a reader resorts in the absence of a classed catalogue,,
will show the necessity of some immediate improvement. Suppose a
person should want to know what books there are in the British Museum
on the subject of " Tithes," the only course he can at present pursue, is
to take Watt's fourth volume, and turning to " Tithes," thence extract all
the titles of books given. Suppose there be 20 titles, he must then,,
by the help of certain numerals affixed to those titles, have recourse to
Vols. I. and II. to find, one by one, the names of the authors of those
20 works : having made a list of them, he may then refer to the alpha-
betical catalogues of the general series of books in the Museum, having
probably to consult a separate volume for every book, and then make a
second and similar reference to the catalogue of the Royal Library.
With respect to such books as are not found in either, there will be no
certainty whether or not they are in the Museum, without reference
to the yearly addenda lists, of which there are seven or eight, because
some works given in those lists, are not to be found in the general cata-
logues. I have myself written for books which had been two or three
years in the Museum at the time of application without obtaining them :
because their titles were not in the general catalogues, although I have
afterwards, in searching the yearly lists for other purposes, casually
found such titles in them ; this was, I remember, the case among others,,
with' Sir F. Palgrave's Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth,
received in the library in 1832, but which I could not get in 1835.
With one general classed catalogue, such accidents as these would not
be likely to occur. The difficulty of reference is further increased by
the want of a clear arrangement of those works in the library of the
British Museum which are anonymous.
The methods of entering anonymous works were next
inquired into, and he pointed out defects. Mr. Baber
had said that two French books stated by Edwards as not
being in the library, were there. Said Edwards, " I can
only account for that in the same way. I used the best
research that I could, and I had no doubt till this morning
of the correctness of all those statements. But there is
very great difficulty. I devoted several mornings to it, and
EARLY PAMPHLETS, ETC. 43
I think I must have consulted from 45 to 50 volumes of
catalogue." " You are a German scholar ? " he was asked.
" I am a reader of German," he answered, and a question
turned on that branch of literature. Then there was a
question as to how long he had frequented the reading-
room : and he said for above two years he had visited it
almost daily. In 1836, at the time of this evidence, he was
twenty-three years of age. This gives a full half-century of
the closest touch and liveliest activity in connection with
public libraries, from then till the time of his death.
He was then asked, " Have you generally found facili-
ties in obtaining what you wanted ? " He replied, " As
far as the present regulations permit of facilities being
afforded, and as far as the officers and attendants are con-
cerned, I have met with every facility : but I certainly do
think, that in respect of the regulations, much greater
facilities might be afforded to readers ".
Question 4752 is important as showing what was then
forming itself in Edwards' mind as to accessibility in
libraries.
He was asked to state some of his views on this point
and said :
It appears to me, that chiefly in three respects the facilities for
readers might be increased without any difficulty. In the first place,
the present hours are very inconvenient, they are very confined, and
necessarily have the effect of shutting out many persons altogether.
I have been enabled for some time to frequent the Museum, in the
present hours, but I cannot expect to do so constantly for a much
longer period, and unless the hours are extended, I shall be precluded
from continuing to consult the Museum. It seems to me, that it would
not be difficult to increase the time, both in the morning and in the
evening, by opening the Museum at eight o'clock instead often, and
by extending the time in the evening, probably till eight o'clock, pro-
vided an increased number of attendants were furnished. I would
also say that I cordially concur in the recommendation of Sir Harris
Nicolas, for the establishment of an evening reading-room. I think
that would open the Museum to many persons who are quite precluded
from it at present, persons who would make a very good use of it, not
only for themselves, but for the public ; and that view has been sup-
ported by some petitions, especially a petition from schoolmasters,
already presented to the House, praying for extension of hours. The
44 EDWARD EDWARDS.
second respect in which it appears to me that the facilities might be
increased, would be by a better provision for furnishing to the Museum,
foreign literature regularly, and a better provision for collecting all the
works of English authors. With respect to foreign books, it should not
be done merely on the casual mention of a particular work, but it
should be done, I conceive, as a matter of course. The third respect,
in which I would suggest that the facilities might be increased, is with
reference to catalogues. I think it would be a great convenience, if a
classed catalogue were immediately furnished to the reading-room, to
such an extent as the progress already made in the work which was
described to the Committee by the last witness, will permit of, together
with an alphabetical index of the authors' names.
This would be more useful, he argued, than the bare
alphabetical catalogue : and he added that he had lost many
days in useless searches for want of such a catalogue.
He urged also that the yearly addenda lists should be
published for sale. The answers following referred to the
limited space for readers available in the reading-room
then existing, and he suggested the attendance of a
librarian in the reading-room to give assistance to readers
when desired. " Would it not be considered rather below
the situation of a gentleman of sufficient eminence to fill
the situation of librarian, if he were compelled to give
attendance in the reading-room ? " And he replied that he
did not think it should be so considered, and that it was a
frequent practice on the continent, and it was so in the
Museum itself formerly. A question applying to the cata-
loguing of manuscripts followed. He then put in a list
of books, published during seven months, whose authors'
names came under the first three letters of the alphabet,
and within those limitations he found forty-eight works
wanting in the Museum, and two questions were based
on this defect. He then put in a list of books giving the
deficiencies in the library of German books of history,
and referred to in Thirlwall's History of Greece, the
first volume of which had just then been issued. The
last of his answers displays the man's literary spirit,
and it is important as showing the wide grasp and alert
intelligence which he displayed at this early date. The
EARLY PAMPHLETS, ETC. 45
chairman asked him if he had any further observations to
offer.
With reference to the printed books, I believe the three points
already enumerated, viz., extension of hours and provision of evening
reading-room ; publication in faculties of a general classed catalogue
of the whole collection ; and better supply of foreign literature ; to-
gether with a revision of the clause in the copyright act, will embrace
the chief improvements to be desired. I think it would contribute to the
security of the books, if, in the new buildings, provision were made of a
distinct room in which to deposit books retained in use by the readers,
instead of allowing them to remain in the reading-rooms as at present.
I would add that I think the establishment of one or more additional
libraries in the metropolis a subject highly deserving the consideration
of the Committee. There exist more than one endowed foundation,
such as that of Archbishop Tenison's library, in St. Martin's-in-the-
Fields, which might be made the basis of such branch libraries ; and
I think that such a disposition of the duplicates of the British Museum,
as would aid this object, would be far more advantageous to the public,
than the continuance of the present practice of selling them. With
reference to the manuscripts, I think it desirable that in addition to a
general classed catalogue, the importance of which was so much and
deservedly insisted on by former witnesses, there should be published
separately a more fully descriptive catalogue of that portion of them
which relate to English History ; it might be such a catalogue as was
suggested by Mr. Planta in 1801, for the public records in the Museum.
With reference to the present department of antiquities, I think a sub-
division of it would increase its usefulness, and that the marbles, prints,
and coins, should each have a separate and responsible keeper ; that
distinct catalogues of each should be printed for sale, that of the
marbles being more descriptive than is that portion of the present
synopsis devoted to the antiquities, and at least equally so with the
catalogues of the sculpture galleries of Munich and Dresden. ... It
is also highly desirable that selections from the coins and medals
should be formed to illustrate history and the progress of the medallic
art, and be exhibited openly without restriction. I would add, with
regard to the library, that as next in importance to the capacity of
supplying the wants of the enquirer from its own stores, is that of
indicating to him where such wants as itself cannot supply may be
met ; so catalogues of other collections in this country, and elsewhere,
especially those of manuscripts, would be highly useful ; a catalogue,
for instance, of the Cecil Papers, preserved at Hatfield, would be of
great value to any one enquiring at the British Museum into the history
of the reigns of Elizabeth or of James I. It might sometimes spare
him useless labour in a wrong direction, and knowing what he wanted,
he might, if the object were important enough, obtain access to those
46 EDWARD EDWARDS.
papers. As Lord Salisbury permitted a catalogue to be made for the
Commissioners on the Public Records, he would no doubt, if applied
to, permit one to be made for the British Museum ; and so with regard
to the libraries of the Houses of Parliament, etc. Of the curious
collection of English Tracts discovered in 1832, and destroyed by the
fire of 1835, not even the contents are now known, no duplicate
catalogue having been preserved. In the same points of view, I think
it would be highly worthy of the Trustees of the British Museum to
endeavour to collect information as to the materials for British history,
etc., contained in foreign libraries and archives, and that the corre-
spondence so kept up between such institutions and the Museum might
reasonably be expected to bring with it other and not less direct
advantages, and might facilitate an object so much to be desired as
the general and regular interchange of the literary productions of this
country and of the Continent. In conclusion, I would beg leave to
press on the attention of the Committee, the importance of larger
annual grants for the purposes of the British Museum, if those
purposes are to be attained on a scale at all commensurate with the
wants and with the means of this country.
With regard to the report of the committee, and its
bearing upon the work of the Museum since that date,
the present treatise does not propose to deal. The
inquiries of 1835 and 1836 led him, it may be supposed,
to give further thought to the history of the British
Museum and its work, and formed the germ in his mind
for his book published in 1870 on the Lives of the Founders
of the British Museum.
Edwards' letter addressed to Sir Martin Archer Shee, on
the reform of the Royal Academy, consisted of forty-four
pages, and is dated from Niton, 2oth January, 1839. The
writer of it deems it " but justice to an institution which
has too often been exposed to covert and indirect attack,
that any suggestions for its improvement, from however
humble a quarter, should be submitted to its president
before the attention of the public is asked for them ".
He opens by deploring the tone of the controversial
publications of the president in his defence of the Royal
Academy as well as in the proceedings of that body. A
much lower ground had, he claims, been taken in its
defence than was necessary. It had been urged, on behalf
of the Royal Academy, that those responsible for that
EARLY PAMPHLETS, ETC. 47
institution had honestly endeavoured to carry out its
purposes, and that those funds, which had come into
their hands, had been employed for the express purposes
it was intended they should be used. Another limited
number desired the abolition of the Academy's privileges.
With neither party had he any sympathy. The gravamen
of the whole charge preferred by public opinion was that
the Academy had been unprogressive, and inadequate to
the wants of the time, and this was the true and only
valuable question which Edwards desired to discuss.
Sir M. A. Shee had written a letter to Mr. Hume
respecting his efforts to obtain free admission for the
public during a certain period. Edwards says that, had
he entered into a calm and dispassionate consideration of
the whole question, he would have written differently.
He warmly defends Mr. Hume. That gentleman at least
deserved to have the credit for right motives. He says :
" I am free to confess that as the humblest of those who co-
operated with Mr. Hume in that original committee which,
after the labour of many months, led to the proceedings
at the Freemasons' Tavern in May, 1837, I always deeply
regretted that the application for gratuitous admission to
the Exhibition of the Royal Academy, including as it
must needs do the entire question of the constitution and
results of that establishment, was not kept entirely dis-
tinct, from those other applications which related to
institutions of a clearly public and fully recognised
nature ". The committee in question advocated free
admission to all public monuments in national edifices.
" Gratuitous admission to our cathedrals for example," he
said, " is one on which the friends of education and of
the fine arts are of one mind." The same could not be
said with regard to the Academy. That institution
depended almost entirely on the revenue derived from
admission fees. Why had not the Academy sought to ob-
tain larger powers ? Had they done this, zealous friends
would have gathered around them, instead of being made
suspicious by " apparent willingness to put up with a
48 EDWARD EDWARDS.
continued uncertain and irresponsible character ". It was
for the Academy to come forward and propose the
modifications in its laws and regulations necessitated by
the altered circumstances which had arisen since its
foundation. Then he proceeds with his suggestions.
" The name attached to them," he says, " can add
nothing to their value, unless it arise from the circum-
stance that although deriving from the productions of art
the enjoyments I most prize, I have no claim to the
appellation of an artist. ... If my earnest efforts to
understand the history and present state of the Academy
have been at all successful, I am warranted in entertaining
a confident hope that you will agree with me in tracing,
to one and the same cause, as well as the defects . . .
the incautious combination in one body of men ... of
several distinct functions, the union of which has been
found incompatible with the due discharge of each."
The three main functions he described as an assembly
of honour in the arts ; a chief school of instruction in
the arts ; and a directing body for the chief exhibitions
of current productions in the arts. He urged the non-
continuance of these three functions. He would dissever
the third of these functions from the other two. The ex-
hibition he proposed to leave to the management of an
elective and renewable body chosen by the whole of the
exhibitors of a certain standing. These several points he
discusses at length. His observations cover more than
three-fourths of the pamphlet. In these he traverses
some of his ground again, but emphasises the leading
points: The limitation of number; duration of office;
removal of the exclusiveness of spirit ; the question of
engraving ; the Parliamentary inquiries of the eighteenth
century ; removal of pecuniary dependence on the exhibi-
tion ; academy as a school of instruction ; lectures ; aca-
demy as a public exhibition ; benevolent fund ; finances of
the academy. These and other questions he surveys in his
observations, and surveys them critically and with skilful
marshalling of facts. The last sentence in the pamphlet
EARLY PAMPHLETS, ETC. 49
is, " Believing that the Royal Academy, when invested
with the powers, privileges and responsibilities of a
national institution will be found to discharge its impor-
tant functions worthily and zealously, I cannot but
earnestly hope that no suggestions, either of a false pride
or of a false economy, will be suffered to impede the
progress of such reforms as are indispensably necessary
to the maintenance of that high character ".
Truly this was no ordinary young man. His very bold-
ness must have produced some dismay in certain quarters.
What was the immediate result of his pamphlet cannot
now be said. That it created more than a passing interest
is certain.
CHAPTER IV.
WORK AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM 1839-1850, AND HIS
ADVOCACY OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN 1847 AND 1848.
They (public libraries) may be governed without noise : used with-
out favour : maintained and improved without claptrap appeals to
public benevolence, or compulsory recourse to ephemeral excite-
ments. Their truest work will lie in helping to educate the educators :
and in facilitating the placing of rate-supported free schools, side by
side with rate-supported free libraries, throughout the country.
The best fruits of that work will not be seen until those who have
striven earnestly to initiate and to carry into effect the legislation
which alone has made such institutions possible in England, shall
have been long in their graves.
Memoirs of Libraries.
THE following letters between Edwards and Mr. Panizzi,
written previously to the former's appointment as assistant
in the library of the British Museum, have never before
been printed, and serve the useful purpose of illustrating
what were the immediate circumstances which led up to
Edwards being appointed an assistant in the department
of the printed books. They also serve to show the cordial
relations which at that time prevailed between Edwards
and Panizzi. Mr. Panizzi had succeeded Mr. Baber as
Keeper of Printed Books in 1837.
On 5th September, 1838, Mr. Edwards sent to Mr.
Panizzi an eight-page foolscap letter addressed from Niton.
The letter begins : " During the not very long period that
has elapsed since you became the head of the Printed Book
department in the British Museum, there have been so
many indications of an anxious desire to give the greatest
possible extension to the public usefulness of that depart-
ment, that I feel assured I need make no apology for
troubling you with two or three remarks pointing out
what appear to me to be further possible means of
(50)
AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM, 1839-1850. 51
advancing that object ". Then he proceeds for the re-
mainder of the closely written pages to put forward his
views of what improvements can be made.
Mr. (afterwards Sir) A. Panizzi replied on i4th Sep-
tember, 1838 :
Your very valuable letter of the 5th inst. reached me only late the
night before last and I beg to return you my best thanks for the
interest it displays for an institution to which I am proud to belong,
and for the justice you are pleased to render to my anxious desire to
give greater possible extension to the public usefulness of the library
of printed books in this establishment. Since the opening of the new
library several alterations have taken place in the way of experiment
which, it is hoped, will be found worthy of being definitely adopted,
probably with some modifications, and tend to the comfort and
advantage of the readers. It would be too long and not very easy to
explain them all to you in writing ; and on the other hand they affect
in some cases the points on which you suggest changes, so that we
cannot enter into an examination of these suggestions without a
thorough acquaintance on your part with what has been already done.
I trust therefore that you will not take this as an answer to your letter,
but merely as a letter of thanks. The value of the observations
themselves must be the subject of a verbal and amicable discussion so
soon as you find it convenient to call here and which I hope will be
immediately on your coming to town. We then will go over all the
important topics alluded to in your letter, and I shall probably tell you
on the spot and with all means of explanation at hand what I think of
them, and what reasons I have for so thinking. Depend upon it every
alteration which may appear feasible shall be gladly adopted. In the
hope that you will have the kindness to accede to my request.
The next letter is from Edwards to Panizzi, dated 8th
October, 1838, written from Niton, and reads :
The perusal of the papers concerning the Library of the British
Museum which you were so kind as to lend me (and especially of that
which you intended for the Commons' report) have afforded me so much
pleasure and satisfaction, that I will not wait until my return to town
to thank you for them, but prefer rather to trouble you with another
letter. It shall not, however, be quite so tedious as my last, much of
which I should in truth have spared you had I then known what you have
done and are now doing at the Museum. I regret very greatly that
your paper on the foreign libraries was not printed entire l and unaltered
as it most certainly ought to have been in the Commons' papers.
1 The italics are Edwards'.
52 EDWARD EDWARDS.
And although I cannot but still differ from you on a point or two (with
the fullest sense however of the deference due to your judgment and
experience), yet I must in honesty add that in my own opinion the
suggestions contained in that paper which the committee did not print
are for all practical purposes of substantial improvement, far more than
worth the whole of what they did print from other witnesses, on the
same subjects. I have said that I cannot but (at present) continue to
differ from you on a point or two of opinion I will not now trouble
you with my observations upon them, but will hope for another oppor-
tunity of enjoying the pleasure of your conversation. But in the
meantime there is a matter personal to myself, in connection with the
Museum, which I am induced to take this occasion of mentioning to
you on account of the fear you expressed the other day that you were
about to be deprived of the services of Mr. Watts in your department.
Since I have become better acquainted with the Museum, I have often
felt that nothing would give me greater pleasure than to find honourable
employment in its service, but it is only within the last few days that
circumstances have occurred which make me free to offer myself to
your notice as desirous of filling the situation of assistant in your de-
partment whenever a vacancy may occur should you have no candidate
better qualified. The employment is one which would eminently
please me and I trust I need scarcely assure you that my best energies
and unbroken exertions should be used to discharge it to your fullest
satisfaction, should you think fit to honour me with your recommenda-
tion.
Mr. Panizzi replied on i3th- October to say that Mr.
Watts had made arrangements to reassume his duties at
the British Museum, and that consequently no place was
vacant. Mr. Panizzi followed by saying that had Mr.
Watts' determination been different he should have felt
sincere pleasure in doing what little he could to ass'ist
Mr. Edwards' success in obtaining an appointment.
At the end of January, 1839, Edwards was appointed a
supernumerary assistant at the British Museum Library,
and remained in that capacity until 1850. This appears
to have been his first appointment of any kind, so far as
can be ascertained. His work during that period was
largely bestowed upon the Thomason collection of pam-
phlets on the great Civil War. His appointment at the
Museum was largely a result of the prominence into which
he had come on account of the Hawes pamphlet and his
evidence of 1836. With a temper kept within manageable
AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM, 1839-1850. 53
limits, and an exercise of tact needful in all public positions,
and in none more so than in cases where the work is under
the control of chiefs, who are themselves responsible to
higher heads, the appointment might have been for life,
and have afforded opportunity for prominent and material
advancement. Throughout the years at the British
Museum the late George Bullen was his friend, and the
friendship lasted long after Edwards' appointment came
to an abrupt termination in 1850. Parry was also a
warm friend of Edwards during their years together
at the Museum. As the years progressed acerbities
frequently displayed themselves between Edwards and
Panizzi. Into the cause of these, or the relative degree
of blame to be attached to either, it is not necessary at
this distant date to enter. Edwards occupied a very sub-
ordinate position, and Panizzi a far more prominent one,
which later gave him, through the influence of several great
statesmen, the coveted position of chief of the Museum.
There must have been true worth in Panizzi to draw to
him the strong friendship of Palmerston and Gladstone.
The shrewd Italian was not without faults of temper.
But he held a place of trust in which a display of this
weakness of disposition did not show itself so con-
spicuously as in the case of Edwards, who was more
liable to be marked for this defect than a superior who
came less frequently in contact with the public. But
there was little of the spirit of compromise and concilia-
tion in Edwards' character. The wonder is, looking back
upon affairs at such a remote time, that Edwards remained
for over ten years at the Museum. On the one hand, it
is a tribute to the forbearance of Panizzi, and on the
other it is no less a tribute to the real usefulness of
Edwards as a servant in this national institution. Both
men accomplished work of no mean order : the one for
the British Museum at a difficult transition stage in its
history, and the other for libraries in the larger area of
the nation's life. It is significant that neither of them
carried into their public work any of the personal animus
54 EDWARD EDWARDS.
which they felt towards each other. There is not an
angry note in any reference to Panizzi in the Lives of the
Founders of the British Museum. There is, on the
contrary, a clear recognition of his claims to the credit of
the meritorious work accomplished. Pages 542-3 of the
book just named may well remain as Edwards' tribute to
his chief. He defended Panizzi's appointment with zeal,
and it is evident that Edwards held in high estimation
his ability. Edwards displays the same spirit towards
Thomas Watts, who was, long prior to the time when
Edwards wrote his book on the Museum, the most
powerful of Edwards' critics, and one who turned a strong
searchlight upon Edwards' statistics prepared for the
Parliamentary commissions of 1849-50. It was an uphill
task to bring about an adequate improvement in the
British Museum. Parliament has dealt with a somewhat
niggardly hand in most of its dealings with the British
Museum. In the efforts to bring this national institution
up to the level which it has since attained, the names of
Baber, Panizzi, Watts and Edwards must ever be remem-
bered. Other equally important names of later date
could be quoted. The multitude of present users of the
British Museum Library little realise all the thought and
labour which were involved in bringing the library to its
existing splendid condition both in structure and contents.
There are many references in Edwards' diaries to his
days at the British Museum, but it is not necessary to
quote them, as their gist is contained in the foregoing
remarks. One regrets, on looking over these records, that
Edwards alone was responsible for the conditions which
made it impossible for him to remain at the British
Museum. Ewart did not like Panizzi, and this topic, no
doubt, was discussed with Edwards during their many
conferences in 1848-50. Panizzi had to pay the penalty
for his misfortune in being a foreigner, and the blemishes
in his personal bearing were sometimes magnified. In
commerce, literature, and in other departments of life
Britain has benefited from the service of those who have
AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM, 1839-1850. 55
become her naturalised citizens. It is only fair to
Edwards to say that on the score of nationality he had
not the slightest prejudice. Could he have carried with
him during the years 1839-50 the same largeness of view
which is evidenced in the Lives of the Founders of the
British Museum, there would in all probability have
been a more successful career in the service of the State
to chronicle. It is impossible on reading his diaries not
to feel the throes and throbs of the strain that must at
times have existed. The British Museum is so absolutely
unique as a national institution, in whatever aspect it
may be viewed, that the wish will be shared by many
that Edwards' life-long labours could have been retained
in its development and administration. A long roll of
names known in literature and skilled librarianship is
associated with the great structure at Bloomsbury. Ed-
wards' name would not have gone down in library history
as a mere museum " supernumerary," now a title happily
abolished, and as occupying a subordinate place in the
work of the great catalogue, could he have acquired that
quietness of spirit and harmonious working with others
so essential in such a post as he filled. One reference in
the entry in his diary for 24th April, 1846, may be quoted.
He says, "... Read part of Panizzi's Memoir on the
state of the library, especially with regard to its deficiencies
and the means and cost of supplying them. I may fairly
claim the credit of having taken the first steps towards a
systematic display of the serious deficiencies in the library
ten years ago in my evidence before the committee of the
House of Commons."
Here his years at the British Museum must be left.
Much more might be said, but there would be no gain to
the reader in ploughing over a field of thorns and thistles
such as those years present to the student.
Beginning with the middle of 1845 there are in his
diaries many references to his work at home, in his leisure,
on the British Librarian, and there must have been
a large accumulation of manuscript for the proposed revival
5 6 EDWARD EDWARDS.
of this periodical. A bibliography of the monastic lib-
raries represents a good part of his labour, and there were
threats of litigation respecting this matter : and the dispute
between himself and the publisher who contemplated a
reissue of Lowndes' serial was ultimately submitted to
arbitration. Oldys' British Librarian of 1737, from which
the title was derived, is full of interesting details of
books and libraries. Lowndes' British Librarian was
issued from 1839 to 1842. The contemplated republica-
tion in 1845 does not seem to have been realised.
Edwards' paper on " Public Libraries in London and
Paris," contributed to the British Quarterly Review of
August, 1847, fill 8 some forty-two pages. His immediate
purpose, he states, is to give a rapid summary of the his-
tory and existing condition of public libraries in the
metropolis. His references to the Dr. Tenison and Dr.
Williams' libraries are only brief, but this was inevitable
considering the ground which he desired to cover. Then
he passes at once to the British Museum, noting specially
the early gifts. The fidelity with which he notices the
gifts is very marked. In this respect he looked upon
himself as a kind of " old mortality ". He waxes eloquent
on the Grenville bequest, especially of old and rare Bibles,
about which he gives brief but very clear particulars.
He is proud of the collection of pamphlets. He quotes
the elder Disraeli's remark, that "wherever pamphlets
abound there is freedom," and the presence of the huge
collection of these publications, at the time Edwards wrote
this paper, was a certain sign of the freedom which then
existed, and still exists, in the freest country in the world.
Referring to one period he says that " there is no more
useful appliance than a full and impartial collection of the
fleeting publications which appeared from day to day in
the very eddy of the strife, and the poorest and feeblest
of which could not fail to bear something of the shape and
impress of the time ". Carlyle had, about that time,
poured scorn upon the " rubbish mountains of the British
ADVOCACY OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN 1847-1848. 57
Museum," but to these rubbish mountains the Chelsea
sage was himself greatly indebted, as Edwards pointed
out on a later occasion. Edwards says of Carlyle, in the
paper now under consideration, that he was " a cele-
brated writer whose genius and other high qualities are
disfigured by a perverse affectation of superciliousness
manifestly foreign to the natural bent of his mind ".
The lover of libraries will be grateful to Edwards for
his defence of the British Museum collection of pam-
phlets. There is not only interest, but often much
importance attaching to pamphlets, and this was especi-
ally so in the case of the pamphlets named in this
article by Edwards. Nowadays the review and magazine
writer has taken the place of the pamphleteer of former
days ; but the pamphlet holds a material place in the
economy of literature. Edwards points out, in this
article, the deficiencies of the British Museum Library of
that time, especially in the departments of continental
literature. The government of the day would be aided in
coming to a decision, to amend the grant to the Museum,
by Edwards' appeal for greater generosity to this national
institution. He then surveys the use which was made
of the reading-room. He defends the open access to
the shelves in the reading-room, and points with some
pride to this accommodation, which would be increased
as opportunity might offer. Then he turns to the cata-
logue and argues for an improved catalogue with zeal
and practicability. The British Museum Library could
scarcely under any conditions have become a lending
library, and now in all probability never will. In this
paper in the British Quarterly Review he again hopes
to see the time when an evening reading-room will be
possible. All his references to the British Museum Library
are not only free from ultra-criticism, but are distinctly
appreciative of its great work. He refers next to Sion
College Library, and then passes under review the libraries
of Paris, if a space of less than three pages can be called
a review. But probably his editor had pulled him up.
5 8 EDWARD EDWARDS.
On 2oth March, 1848, he read a paper before the
Statistical Society of London giving " A Statistical View
of the Principal Public Libraries in Europe and the
United States of North America". Within a compass
of thirty-one pages Edward Edwards gives a mass of
statistics and details which show that he had a masterly
grasp of library statistics in their reasonable aspect, and
of all that comes within the range of library economics.
He begins in this paper by stating that in very few
branches of statistical inquiry was it more difficult to
arrive at well-grounded and precise results, than on the
question of public libraries. " Yet an accurate computa-
tion of the extent of the public libraries in the several
States of Europe, and of the amounts expended in their
maintenance and enlargement (compared with the popu-
lation and resources of the respective countries), ought
undoubtedly to enter, as a subsidiary element, into any
estimate of the educational condition of such States."
He wished to confine himself to such libraries as were
really open to the public at large, or to such as derived
their support, either wholly or in part, from public sources,
and to such as contained 10,000 volumes and upwards.
The number of public libraries in Europe contained within
these limits he believed to be 383, and he gives a series,
of long tables to show how these were distributed. These
statistics he elaborated with a minuteness which had
never before that time been equalled nor attempted since,
save as regards the libraries of the United Kingdom and
the United States.
He gives a number of figures relating to the British
Museum. The effect of the Select Committee of 1835-36,.
especially in the amount spent for the purchase of new
books, chiefly of foreign literature, is indicated. His own
evidence before that committee had much to do in bringing
this about, but he does not say so. A careful analysis
follows, of the expenditure for new books and manuscripts
in connection with the Bodleian Library. A number of
pages are then devoted to the public libraries of Europe..
ADVOCACY OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN 1847-1848. 59
He is careful to give his authority for these figures, and
his list of these authorities extends to nearly three pages.
The statements respecting British and Irish libraries are
made, he says, " either from personal knowledge or from
the best answers I could obtain to careful inquiries ".
The term " Public Library,'' as it appears in the returns
given in this paper, must not be interpreted too liberally.
He includes the Birmingham " Public Library " founded
in 1779, and the New Public Library founded in 1796, and
also the Bristol Library founded in 1772. These libraries
and the libraries in the university towns given in the
tables were, as the reader will not require to be told, open
mainly to subscribers or university students. They were
not accessible, as the term is now understood, except of
course in the case of the British Museum, the Bodleian
and other national libraries. The returns are more than
instructive. They formed the basis of much of Edwards'
evidence before the Parliamentary committees. The latter
part of the paper refers to the public libraries in the United
States of America. The paper ends with a careful index
of cities named in the returns. The entire paper shows
the result of a self-imposed task. These various papers
illustrate how the subject was beginning to take definite
form in the mind of Edwards. They represent the foun-
dation of his work. The superstructure which followed
was worthy of the foundation, and the foundation was
quite capable of carrying the building which followed.
Edward Edwards' letter of 1848 to the Earl of Ellesmere
on the " Paucity of Libraries freely open to the Public in
the British Empire " consists of thirty-eight printed pages,
and is dated loth April, 1848, and was written from 14
Westbourne Park Road, Bayswater. The Bridgwater
family have been benefactors to literature and to art. As
a member of that family the then Earl of Ellesmere ren-
dered good service to the cause of education. He was one
of the commissioners for inquiry into the constitution and
management of the British Museum, and it is in this capa-
60 EDWARD EDWARDS.
city that Mr. Edwards addresses him. He begins by ex-
pressing a desire to elucidate not only the position of the
Museum Library, but other libraries in London, public or
partially public. He proposes primarily to confine him-
self to a statistical view of the provision of libraries then
existing. He does not desire to rely solely on the argument
from comparison between London and other large cities.
The utility of public libraries being unquestioned, such a
comparison of their paucity in London will aid him to
place their existing deficiency in a more salient and prac-
tical point of view. London, he said, then possessed four
libraries of a somewhat public character. These were the
British Museum Library, Sion College, the Dr. Williams'
and Archbishop Tenison's. He then goes minutely into
the sources of income of each of these libraries, the num-
ber of volumes and some other details. None of them
were lending libraries under any circumstances whatever.
That is, as compared with to-day, there was not in all the
metropolis in 1848 a public lending library. Sunday-
school and working men's institute libraries existed, but
the latter were subscription libraries. The reader should
fix that fact clearly in mind. It is the starting-point of
the public library movement. Edwards emphasised the
statement in clear language.
He goes on to state that Paris possessed seven libraries
which were public in the strictest sense of the term, and
then enumerates them and gives statistics respecting them.
London had at the date named 476,500 books accessible
to the public for reference, and Paris had 1,354,000. Berlin
had two public libraries and Florence six, and he especially
notes that the books of the Royal Library, Berlin, were
lent out under proper precautions. He surveys other cities
in a similar way. Dresden had four, and the Royal Library
in that city was a lending library, as also was the Royal
Library of Munich. The criticisms respecting these
figures, which appeared in the Athenceum at a later date,
will be dealt with in a succeeding chapter.
He notes that the private libraries in the metropolis pro-
ADVOCACY OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN 1847-1848. 61
bably surpassed those of every other country. The dupli-
cates in the British Museum then amounted to at least
52,000, and the greater portion of these duplicates could
not, he forcibly argued, be more usefully employed than
in the formation of a metropolitan public lending library.
A list follows of the continental lending libraries, and a
longer list of foreign libraries ranked in numerical order
of volumes. He traces the origin and the progressive
increase of these libraries. Many pages are devoted to
these details, and London is shown at a considerable
disadvantage. In summing up this portion of his argu-
ment, he says :
London, with its population of two millions, ought surely to possess
other libraries, somewhat different in character, and with different
aims. That in such a country as this, there should be one great
national storehouse . . . But in addition to this, libraries in different
quarters ... on a humbler scale, very freely accessible, and aiming
at more immediate and educational utility are much to be desired.
He proceeds to answer, in advance, some of his critics
who might think that, if the libraries of corporations and
learned societies were included in the estimate, London
would assume a higher place than it takes in the list.
He glides over this point rather hurriedly, and in fact did
not give to it the attention which it deserved. But it may
be said that the libraries were proprietary, inasmuch as
they were only available to members.
Then he turns to some of the large provincial cities
and begins with Dublin, following with Edinburgh, Man-
chester and other places. Among all the libraries of the
country, Manchester took, he said, the first place in having
in the Chetham Library the most easily accessible library
in Great Britain. That will ever be a proud claim.
Birmingham had no library which could be called public
in the sense in which he applied the term, and Liverpool
was in precisely the same condition. He contrasts
Hamburg with Liverpool, and the former city had great
book advantages according to his showing. France and
Prussia and other countries are then placed under review.
62 EDWARD EDWARDS.
A total of thirty libraries for the United Kingdom was
enumerated. Of these, twenty were university libraries,
whilst some others had but doubtful claim to be considered
public at all, so that the remaining number was meagre
in the extreme. Some of these, he said, professedly
excluded all works on theology and politics. Then he
says :
A very different spirit must preside over the management and
collection of public libraries such as may really promote education in
its fullest sense, and aid in the preparation of the great masses of the
population, for the wise and prudent exercise of their rights, and for
the honest and conscientious discharge of their duties.
He follows with a list of the university libraries, and
he hopes that his facts will merit the attention of the
commission. As a humble citizen he is grateful to
Parliament for its liberality (sic) to the British Museum.
But he entertains "a strong conviction that it will not be
for the honour of Parliament or the advantage of the
country that its liberality should stop there. Those great
provincial towns, which are the centres of our manu-
factures and commerce, might well claim a share in it.
This immense metropolis needs other libraries than that
of the Museum. . . ."
Then there is a personal note. Since his remarks were
first submitted to Lord Ellesmere, he had the satisfaction
of seeing that Mr. Ewart had introduced his motion for a
Select Committee. This letter to Lord Ellesmere and
Edwards' paper before the Statistical Society were among
the direct causes which led to that committee being
appointed.
Other questions are dealt with in the pamphlet, such as
the books acquired under the Copyright Act, and the
national interchange of books. " A great boon," he says,
" would be conferred on society, if facilities were . . .
afforded for the formation of libraries of humbler aims
and extent, in such of the smaller towns, and even of the
villages, as are yet without them." He then proceeds
to gather up his arguments.
ADVOCACY OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN 1847-1848. 63
In the attempt to extend libraries throughout the country upon
whatever system, there will doubtless be some opposition to be over-
come, and more indifference to be transformed into sympathy and
co-operation. But the ground once broken, co-workers will soon be
met with. A measure which should at once invite voluntary sub-
scriptions, confer the power of levying a library rate by consent of a
certain proportion of rate-payers in any district, and also provide for
some amount of parliamentary aid at the outset, would probably be
that best calculated to attain the object in view. ... A public provision
of schools, without a public provision of libraries, would evince small
regret for logical sequences. . . . Those who can read will never be
without reading of some sort. ... To place good literature within
everybody's reach is certainly the best way to counteract the empty
frivolity, the crude scepticism and the low morality of a portion ... of
the current popular literature of the day. ... To make books of the
highest order freely and easily accessible throughout the length and
breadth of the land, were surely to give no mean furtherance to the
efforts of the schoolmaster, and of the Christian minister, to pro-
duce under God's blessing a tranquil, a cultivated and a religious
people.
Such was the programme of this pioneer for the people's
universities. There is an appendix giving an appropriate
tabular view of libraries containing 10,000 volumes and
over, accessible to the public in the seven States of Europe.
The closing pages of the pamphlet are devoted to the
form of petition to the House of Commons in favour of
the Parliamentary inquiry.
In 1848, during the time of the Chartist troubles, Mr.
Panizzi asked Edwards if he would be sworn in as a special
constable. An attack on the Museum was threatened,
and the officials were sworn in as special constables. His
sympathies were then with the Chartists. He writes of
disgraceful proclamations against them, and on this he
says : " I resolved, immediately waiving all minor dis-
agreement, to sign the petition for ' The Charter,' as my
humble and individual protest against this nefarious pro-
ceeding". Sad to say even this old sympathy did not
remain, for, in 1876, he added this note to that entry in
the diary, " I look at this entry after some twenty-eight
years with very different convictions re Chartists".
On 25th June of the same year he went to hear Emerson's
64 EDWARD EDWARDS.
lecture on "The Superlative in Manners and Literature,""
of which he remarks, " A very ingenious inculcation of the
virtues and value for us of the merely positive, the quiet
and the measured in manner and language, over the
extreme and the extravagant. But accompanied with a
vindication of the superlative in the oriental literatures
and amongst the eastern peoples especially the Persians
as represented by their poet Hafiz." At a later date, and
probably at the same time as the note just quoted about
the Chartists, he added this remark, to the reference to the
quiet and the measured in manner and language, " An
excellent lesson, and one never by any more needed, than
by the writer of this diary. E.E.". Poor man ! he keenly
felt the trouble that his turbulent disposition had caused
him all through life.
CHAPTER V.
DIGEST OF THE EVIDENCE OF EDWARDS BEFORE THE
PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES OF 1849 AND 1850.
But, besides the Libraries for the learned, and for those who
aspire to become learned, other collections are needed for readers-
of a class to whom such an ambition is unknown. And, in this
[nose wnu woricea ai u wiin many snortcomings naa me one
merit which often repairs defect, and ekes out small means, they
persevered, in spite of obstacles.
Libraries and Founders of Libraries.
THESE Parliamentary inquiries must ever stand out as
the charter of the public library movement. They may
be ancient history now, but it is necessary for the sake of
completeness to look closely at Edwards' place in the
work of the committees. It may never again be necessary
to tell the story, but the reader is asked to kindly bear
with the recording of it on the present occasion. The
first letter from William Ewart to Edwards, among the
correspondence in the Manchester Reference Library, is
dated ist February, 1838, and is about some foreign
returns respecting institutions of art. During the same
month Ewart asks for Edwards' help in using some can-
vassing cards. Exactly what these were is not clear.
The correspondence was continued at intervals, and on
2jrd August, 1848, Ewart wrote to Edwards :
Observing that you have made a valuable contribution to the
Statistical Journal on the subject of public libraries, and having
myself made motions on the same subject several years ago in the
House of Commons, I am induced to write to you respecting it. ...
I believe that libraries freely open to the nation (as on the continent)
would have a considerable effect on our national character. . . . Before
such a committee, evidence might be given ... of the best mode of
5 (65)
66 EDWARD EDWARDS.
instituting, maintaining and affecting the formation of libraries. . . .
I apprehend that enough could be supplied to justify enquiry ? Sub-
mitting these ideas to your consideration.
On 28th August, 1848, Edwards enters in his diary,
" Letter from Mr. Ewart, M.P., about public libraries. . . .
Desirability of a Select Committee. . . . Wrote to Mr.
Ewart warmly approving his idea of a Select Committee."
On 4th September, " Letter from Mr. Ewart approving
return from . . . Marsh's Library, Dublin ". . . . On
yth September, " Letter from Mr. Ewart on proposed com-
mittee". On 28th September, " Wrote to Mr. Ewart . . .
making suggestions as to lending libraries, etc.".
On 5th October, 1848, Ewart wrote :
. . . Your circular . . . appears to me at once comprehensive and
precise. ... It is very desirable that the municipalities should form
libraries for the inhabitants. ... I have your letter to Lord Ellesmere
and shall duly attend to the subject of lending libraries. . . . The
outline which you propose of your evidence will be very serviceable,
and will guide me in other cases as well as in your own. ... I shall
be fixed in town . . . when I shall hope to have the pleasure of seeing
you.
On 25th December, 1848, Edwards enters, " Wrote to
Ewart offering to call on him either on Sunday or on
Monday next". For ist February, 1849, ne enters,
" Letter from Ewart telling me he had to-day given notice
of motion for Select Committee on libraries". On 2nd
February, " Wrote to Ewart enclosing copies of papers on
public libraries . . . and sending him recent letters . . .
promising to call at nine ". On 3rd February, " Letters
from Ewart, the first asking me to send copies of pam-
iphlets on libraries to various M.P.'s, the second ... to
proposed interview on Monday at nine ". On 5th February,
" Called on Mr. Ewart at nine o'clock. Conferred with
him about sending copies of pamphlets which he wishes
me to reprint . . . about getting up petitions to House
of Commons, etc. . . . Drew up petitions on libraries
for ... institution, and wrote Ewart thereon enclosing
copy." On 6th February, " Mr. Hume called on me and
DIGEST OF EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMITTEES. 67
spoke about desirability of evidence and suggestions on
libraries. . . ."
On yth February, 1849, from Ewart :
. . . Lord John Russell shakes his head at the Committee . . . sees
no object for it. ... I must see after the Returns moved for last session
at your suggestion. . . . Would it not be well to draw up a series of
questions, and lithograph them for the purpose ? . . . The petition
you have sketched is a very good one. ... I am afraid I shall have
to trouble you with frequent letters as the subject opens on us.
On 8th February he enters, " Letters from Ewart (two)
stating progress in House of Commons ". On gth Febru-
ary, " Letter from Ewart desiring me to reprint pamphlet ".
On 1 5th February, " . . . to House of Commons desiring
to see Hume and Ewart". On i8th February, " Worked
on circular queries about foreign libraries ". On igth
February, " Wrote Ewart with queries enclosing . . ."
On 2oth February, 1849, Ewart wrote, " I am much
obliged by your unwearied co-operation," and a little
while afterwards, " You will perhaps be so good as draw
up an outline of interrogations . . ."
On 2ist February Edwards enters, "Wrote notes for
examination before Ewart's committee on libraries, . . .
also began preparation of ' Tabular View ' for reprint.
Wrote letters to accompany pamphlet to the following by
desire of Ewart." Then follow the names of Gladstone,
Disraeli, Villiers and others. The intervening days were
occupied in very much the same way.
On loth March, " Letters from Ewart (two) ". On nth
March, "Wrote to Mr. Ewart giving him . . . and appoint-
ing to call on him on Tuesday next at nine ". On i2th
March, " Wrote notes for Ewart about libraries of Birming-
ham and Dublin ". On i3th March, " Called on Ewart and
had long conference with him about explanatory statement
on introducing his motion and on formation of Committee".
On i4th March, " Letter from Ewart telling me I am on
Speaker's list for to-morrow". On i5th March, "Met
Ewart who took me to Speaker's gallery he was hesita-
ting whether to bring on his notice, or not, but I advised
68 EDWARD EDWARDS.
him to do so, unless it were certain the delay would not
exceed a fortnight ". On igth March, " Letter from Ewart
asking me to draw up interrogations, etc., and giving his
rough notes of ' plan of campaign ' ; replied, proposing to
call on him at nine to-morrow ". On 2oth March, " Called
on Ewart who read to me his proposed committee list as
far as it is settled gave me a cheque for expenses of re-
printing pamphlet .15." On 22nd March, " Ewart sent
me letters and documents from Glasgow. . . . Wrote Mr.
George Dawson (Birmingham), asking him to give evi-
dence before Mr. Ewart's committee . . . M. Guizot with
copy of pamphlets (at Ewart's desire)." On 24th March,
" Letter from Ewart with list of committee nominated
yesterday (and from others about library matters) ". On
25th March, " Wrote . . . also to Ewart with outline of
questions for MM. Guizot and Van de Weyer". A few
days are passed here, but on each he heard from or wrote to
Ewart. On 3oth March, " Letters from Ewart. Wrote
Sir H. Verney, Mr. Kershaw, Mr. Thicknesse and Mr. C.
Knight with copies of pamphlet." On 3ist March,
" Letters to-day (three) from Mr. Ewart apprising me of
proceedings of Libraries Committee yesterday, and their
adjournment to Thursday, igth April, also enclosing
letters from Rev. W. Brown, of Edinburgh, and a Memoir
on Itinerating Libraries. . . . Evening, wrote Ewart
answering these letters, advising app(licatio)n to Abp.
Whately for evidence suggesting lithography of general
questions." On Sunday, ist April, he enters, " Very
unwell and tired so at home all day ".
On 3rd April Ewart wrote that he was going out of
town for the Easter recess, and asked, " Would it be agree-
able to you to come ... on Good Friday and pass the
day with me at a cottage I have in Buckinghamshire ?
You can take an early dinner with me and my children,
and we can afterwards confabulate. Bring the papers if
you come." Then from Elstead Lodge, Godalming,
" Will you come out here next Saturday and stay till
Monday ? We can then talk over the library question.
DIGEST OF EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMITTEES. 69
. . . On reconsidering the subject and the advice which
you have been so good as supply, I think it might be
most advisable ... to get a well-signed petition . . .
which we could present in a body. Then the fact would
get into the papers and excite public attention."
For 6th April he enters, " Left town at eleven by Great
Western Railway for Slough, and thence (Ewart sending
his carriage for me) to Pickeridge. I had a very delightful
ramble with him the day being beautiful. Dined with
him and his children, and had pleasant chat, with instruc-
tive allusions to Panizzi's Liverpool career, introduced
quite unexpectedly by him a propos of my conjecture as
to influence used with Sir G. Grey to obstruct Ewart's
committee. We went over draft questions for foreign
witnesses together. ..." On xoth April, " Letter from
Ewart. . . . Revised draft of questions to be put to
witnesses . . . respecting foreign libraries beginning
with Guizot on those of France." On nth April, " Wrote
Ewart sending him revised copy of questions. . . . Wrote
Ewart enclosing three other copies of questions. Letter
from him with letters from ..." On i2th, i3th, i4th,
1 6th April, entries similarly full. Every day he heard
from Ewart. On iyth April, "Letter from Ewart
wishing to see me to-morrow. Evening, completed draft
of questions and prepared notes for examination, also
revising Tables for the Appendix, etc., till i o'clock A.M."
All through 1849 and through a good part of 1850 it is
the same record. Pages by the score could be filled with
copies of the entries from the diaries. They all tell
the same story. Early and late he toiled for these com-
mittees. Ewart pelted him with questions, consulted
him upon every detail, and followed closely, so far as can
be seen, the advice given by Edwards. Their chats in
the long walks taken together in lovely Surrey are recorded
by Edwards in his diaries, intermingled with all his en-
thusiasm for the country. It was in these interviews and
correspondence that the whole subject was threshed out.
The anvils upon which were forged the public library
70 EDWARD EDWARDS.
movement one destined to spread itself over the whole
Empire were Edwards' writing-table and Ewart's study.
Every detail was discussed between them, and in numerous
instances it is plain that Edwards was the suggester, and
Ewart, with the quick practical mind of an active public
man, the executor, instant to see what was possible and
what was not possible.
In the Report of the Select Committee of 1849, extend-
ing to nearly twelve pages of the blue book, there is at the
end the record that " The thanks of the Committee are
especially due to Mr. Edwards of the British Museum, who
has not only devoted a large portion of his time to the
subject, but supplied to the Committee the result of his
inquiries and his experience during many years ". The
eulogy is not extravagant. Edwards being at the time a
public servant in receipt of a salary is probably the reason
for the scanty reference to him in the report.
Edwards was examined by the committee on igth April,
1849. In reply to the preliminary questions, he said that
he had been an assistant in the department of printed books
at the British Museum between ten and eleven years.
Had he given attention to the subject and published
articles upon libraries ? Yes, he had given attention to
the subject during many years, and had published articles
upon the subject. He found great difficulty in making
statistical comparisons. Asked, had he found it easy to
acquire accurate data for making comparisons between
libraries (Q. 8), he said :
It is a matter of very considerable difficulty indeed : there are few
subjects upon which looser and vaguer statements are to be found, even
in statistical works of great repute, than upon that matter. In fact the
difficulty is still greater with respect to English libraries than with respect
to foreign ; very little attention has been bestowed upon the statistics of
libraries, either home or foreign, in this country, and I think there are but
two ways in which anything like accurate information can be obtained,
namely, either by practical familiarity with the libraries themselves,
which it has not been in my power to attain to any great degree, or by
correspondence, which latter I have carried on to a considerable extent.
It is upon that I base most of the results at which I have arrived.
DIGEST OF EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMITTEES. 71
He would define the term " Public," as applied to libra-
ries in reference to this inquiry, as " embracing, first of
all, libraries deriving their support from public funds, either
wholly or in part ; and I would further extend it to such
libraries as are made accessible to the public to a greater
or less degree ".
The result of his comparison between the libraries of
the continent and those which then existed in this country
was " That nearly every European State is in a far higher
position, both as to the number and extent of libraries;
accessible to the public, and, generally, as respects the
accessibility of such libraries as do exist. There are some
exceptions, but, speaking generally, in both those respects,
almost every European State is in a far higher position
than this country."
The difficulties that English authors experienced in
having access to works of reference were dealt with
pointedly. He began with the well-known instance of
Gibbon, who said that he had constantly found the greatest
difficulty in consulting books, from the want of a good
public library. Gibbon complained of the need to send
for books from abroad, and sometimes this had to be done
to verify a single citation, and stated that he was often in
a much better position when residing in Switzerland and
in France, than when residing in this country.
The library world may be grateful to Gibbon for the
statement of this fact. It set some of the men from the
universities thinking that there might be after all some-
thing in the plea that libraries were needed.
Edwards referred next to Roscoe when at work on his
Life of Lorenzo de' Medici and his Life of Leo the Tenth,
Even in a town like Liverpool there was no great public
library to which he could have access for the purpose of
consulting Italian authorities. A reference in the Curio-
sities of Literature was mentioned, where the elder Disraeli
said that it was often necessary at the British Museum to
wait for some days before a book could be obtained.
Comparisons were made as to the advantage possessed
72 EDWARD EDWARDS.
by foreign authors, as against English writers, in having
access to libraries, and Edwards said that there was no
doubt about English literature having suffered from the dis-
advantage. The number of libraries in France was next
referred to, and he mentioned 107 libraries with an aggre-
gate of 4,000,000 volumes open to the public. Some of
these he had himself seen used by persons of rank, and he
could state that, even in the libraries in small provincial
towns, works of rarity and great value were often to be
found. Belgium, Prussia, Austria, Saxony, Bavaria,
Denmark and Tuscany were next dealt with in the order
here given. The basis of his replies were the statistics
previously prepared for his paper for the Statistical Society.
Then he dealt with the libraries in Paris, and gave a
list of those to which he desired to call the attention of
the committee. In reply to the question (45) as to whether
those he enumerated were lending libraries, he said that
all except one were such, and in reply as to how he would
define a lending library, he replied that he would define such
a library as one where " the books . . . are to be borrowed,
not as a matter of favour, but as a matter of right upon
complying with certain recognised conditions ". In Paris,
he said, it was upon a recommendation or introduction
vouching for the reputability of the party applying to
borrow books. Asked as to what libraries in England it
would be possible for a student or reader to enter and ask
for a book for use in the library, and be supplied without
stating who he was, he said that he believed there was
only one such, the Chetham Library at Manchester.
Marsh's library in Dublin, he said, was in practice just as
accessible. But evidently in his mind the Humphrey
Chetham Library was the one library in all the United
Kingdom permitting its books to be used by any one in the
library without let or hindrance. All honour to the Chet-
ham Library for occupying this distinction. It is probable,
however, that in this reply Edwards overlooked the Stir-
ling Library at Glasgow, which was an endowed library,
freely accessible for reference purposes to any inquirer.
DIGEST OF EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMITTEES. 73
The committee again turned to the continental libraries.
Particulars of the libraries in Milan, Munich, Copenhagen,
Florence and other cities were given, and he handed to
the committee his general list of the public libraries in
Europe. He had, he said, given his authorities, and only
claimed to put it forward as an approximate list. He had,
he continued, "addressed circulars with questions to the
librarians as well as to literary friends, and had obtained
answers from a great many of them ". He named as
lending libraries (Q. 91), six in Paris, three each in
Dresden and Copenhagen, and the royal libraries in
Brussels, Munich and Vienna, and one in Milan. A
certain social position or some introduction satisfactory
to the librarian was required on the part of borrowers.
Some dozen questions followed respecting the public
libraries in the United States. As to the measure of ac-
cessibility in these, he said that a great many of them,
although being corporate property, were made practically
as accessible as if they were public property. As to the
number of lending libraries among them, he said that the
university libraries were generally lending libraries to
those belonging to the universities, and libraries belonging
to societies were usually lending libraries to members of
those societies.
The State libraries were, he said, lending libraries "for
all persons bringing satisfactory introductions ". Very
great attention was given, he said, to the maintenance and
improvement of those libraries by the Legislature of the
United States. The Astor, Smithsonian and Harvard
Libraries were next mentioned. " Do you think that if
libraries were accessible and made a matter of public in-
terest many persons would be induced to bequeath books
to such public libraries ? " (Q. 101.) " I think," he said,
<( there is very great evidence of that in what has been
done, both for the British Museum and for the Bodleian
Library." The origin of some of the libraries in the United
States was inquired about. In his answer he referred to
legislative grants of the particular states. Congress passed
74 EDWARD EDWARDS.
a vote for the Congress Library. Then in conjunction
with this part of the subject he was asked what libraries
on the continent as well as the United States were sup-
ported by the State : what by vote of constitutional
assembly, and what by municipalities. His reply referred
to Paris only, and was to the effect that for the four chief
libraries of Paris the cost was some 23,555 yearly.
The amount of State or municipal support given to the
provincial libraries in Belgium, and those of Munich,
Berlin and other cities, was next surveyed, and in reply
he said that as a general rule " they were supported by
municipal and in some instances by communal funds ".
An important question was number 112. "Do they
ever levy a rate upon a town for the support of a public
library ? " The reply was, " That obtains in many of the
German states, I believe : but I have not information to
enable me to state precisely to what extent ". How many
known instances were there of any foreign lending libraries
having ceased to be so in consequence of the abuse of the
privilege ?
I do not know any instance of that kind : I know that very great
complaint has been made in several cities of such abuses, but I think
they have occurred in consequence of inadequate regulations, and might
have been obviated by better management.
The privileges of borrowing were not open to the
humblest class. As to the use of the continental libraries
by the middle and working classes
I believe in France they are to a considerable extent : there are
libraries in France of every grade and class : in Paris itself each of the
libraries, I believe, may be said to have a distinct class of visitors : one
sort of visitors resort to one library, and one to another. The Ste
Genevieve Library in particular has been noticed for the considerable
number of persons of the humbler classes who frequent it : the fact of
its being open in the evening is calculated to produce that result.
Maps drawn up by the witness showing the relative
position of the libraries in continental cities were then
handed in to the committee. As to who were responsible
for the safe custody of the books in the public libraries,
DIGEST OF EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMITTEES. 75
the librarian, he said, was usually responsible. There were
regulations laid down which imposed upon the borrower
the condition of returning books within a specified period,
and if not returned the value must be paid. Registers
were kept of the names and addresses of borrowers, and it
was the duty of the librarian, upon failure of the return of
any book within a specified period, to apply to the borrower.
The depositing of securities was required in several cases,
but he looked upon this as being the exception rather than
the rule. In Paris there were aggravated cases, and books
had been unreturned for years, but this he affirmed was
owing to the insufficiency of the regulations.
A question from Mr. Brotherton (Q. 126) elicited the
reply that the libraries in the capital cities of most of the
European states belonged to the State. In the provincial
towns the libraries were the property of the municipality.
Mr. Ewart, the chairman of the committee, asked how far
the libraries submitted to the inspection of the Minister of
Public Instruction.
With respect to France, the usual practice is that reports are
periodically addressed to the Minister of Public Instruction, and super-
vision is exercised over the provincial libraries, by inspectors. In
France there are inspectors-general of libraries who make occasional
visits to the provincial libraries and report to the Minister of Public
Instruction.
In this it was admitted by the witness that there was a
more centralised system than would be probably compatible
with the usages of this country. A reference followed as
to how many libraries in France had been the result of
private foundations : he said that a great number had
resulted from the dissolution of the monastic establish-
ments.
The committee then turned (Q. 130) from the foreign
libraries to the libraries of our own country. He replied :
In respect to this country, there is great difficulty in drawing the
line with precision as to what is really a publicly accessible library,
and what is only accessible as a matter of mere grace and favour :
therefore I have included some in my estimate, the admission to
76 EDWARD EDWARDS.
which is only to be considered as a favour, but is practically accorded
to some considerable extent. With that prefatory observation, I find
about thirty-three libraries, more or less publicly accessible in Great
Britain and Ireland, with an aggregate of 1,771,493 volumes of printed
books.
He presented a list of these libraries. For the sake of
completeness, and to show from what a foundation the
modern public library movement has grown, the libraries
are named, without the statistics, in the order in which he
enumerated them :
Aberdeen : King's College and Marischal College Libraries . 2
Armagh : Primate Robinson's Library i
Cambridge : Public Library, Queen's College and Trinity College
Libraries, Catherine's Hall and Christ's College . . 5
Dublin : Trinity College, Marsh's Library, Dublin Society and
Royal Irish Academy, King's Inns Library .... 5
Edinburgh : Library of Faculty of Advocates, University Library,
Library of Writers to Signet 3
Glasgow : University Library, Hunterian Museum Library and
Stirling's Library ........ 3
London : British Museum Library, Sion College Library, Dr.
Williams' Library and Archbishop Tenison's Library, Lam-
beth Palace Library 5
Manchester: Chetham Library i
Oxford : Bodleian Library, All Saints' College, Christ's Church
College, Radcliffe Library, Ashmolean Library, Queen's
College, Oriel College and Wadham College ... 8
St. Andrew's University Library, and the Warrington Public
Library 2
Asked (Q. 131) if he could assign any reason for the
comparative fewness of public libraries in this country as
compared with many other countries. The reply was im-
portant and is given in full :
I think one reason which may be assigned is, that while in foreign
countries the libraries of monastic foundation were generally appro-
priated to the public use, in this country they were for the most part
destroyed, or injured to a very considerable extent. Proofs of that
will be found in Leland's Collectanea. Perambulating England a
few years after the dissolution of monasteries, he frequently speaks
of the destruction of valuable books ; he says, in reference to one town
he visited, the bakers' ovens were still supplied with monastic books.
That, however, will account for the fact only in a limited degree.
DIGEST OF EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMITTEES. 77
Another reason of the fewness of public libraries in this country ha&
been the isolation of such bequests or foundations of libraries as have
occurred. They have been left without any sort of general control or
supervision, and for want of that, I think, they have not been so fruitful
in leading to imitation, as they would have been if brought under some
more direct administration. In proof of that statement I would instance
the foundation of the Cotton Library. For the first sixty years after
the institution of the Cotton Library for public use, there was but one
addition made to it, by Major Arthur Edwards. That was the only
instance during sixty years. During that time the Cotton Library
was very ill cared for ; it was ill-lodged, several times moved, dilapi-
dated, and very much injured by fire on one occasion, and suffered
greatly from want of attention and good management ; but, on the
Cotton Library being incorporated with the British Museum, during
the next sixty years following that incorporation, there were not less
than eight or nine important collections bequeathed or presented in
addition to that collection.
Some further questions were based on the encourage-
ment which is given to donors of books if there is a
proper place for the keeping of such books, and especially
where there is a responsible control in perpetuity. This
is a vital principle attaching to public libraries under the
Acts, and was thus foreshadowed in one trend of the
Parliamentary inquiry. " You think," he was asked, " that
one of the advantages of a library which is well known
to be public, is that it invites public contributions ? '*
" Yes," he replied, " I think experience shows that to
a remarkable extent." Question 140 sought to get deeper
down to the cause of the comparatively small number of
public libraries in this country. He assigned as a reason,
the scant attention which had been bestowed on the part
of the Government. It was only, he pointed out, within
a very few years that Parliamentary grants in aid of
education and literature had been up to that time at all
prominent in the estimates. The Parliamentary grants
to the British Museum were, in a succeeding answer,
carefully outlined by the witness. This fact may cheer the
educationist, that the British Museum had at that early
day the largest amount of public money voted for it of
any library in the world then existing. The committee
78 EDWARD EDWARDS.
then turned to the degree of accessibility in libraries, and
he was asked how he would classify them. His reply
was :
First, I would take those which are gratuitously and unrestrictedly
accessible to the public : secondly, those which are gratuitously
accessible of right, but only on the production of some special re-
commendation : thirdly, those that are the property of corporate or
proprietary bodies, admission to which is given on certain conditions
as a matter of favour.
Again, he gave the credit of being the only free library in
the United Kingdom and Ireland, to the Chetham Library
at Manchester, and this, he said, was unrestrictedly acces-
sible. The only formality which was necessary was the
writing of the name and address in a register book. The
libraries in the United Kingdom accessible of right, on the
production of some sort of recommendation or introduction,
he gave as ten or at most eleven. These were accessible
on the production of a recommendation from some person
of standing, as at the British Museum. Twenty or twenty-
one other libraries, he said, were accessible as a matter of
grace or favour, such as college libraries and libraries of
that description. Questions were asked about legal and
medical libraries, and after these had been disposed of, the
library of Sion College, Dr. Williams' and Archbishop
Tenison's Libraries were taken in review. Maps of Lon-
don, Edinburgh and Dublin were put in showing the
public libraries in these cities. Details were given of the
number of volumes to every hundred inhabitants in Paris,
Berlin and other cities, showing London at a disadvan-
tage. The part of London immediately around the British
Museum was best supplied, and next to that the City.
The Guildhall Library, he said, was very easily accessible,
to such persons as desired to consult the books. Now it
may be said, by way of parenthesis, that the library is open
to all who desire to use the books. Questions were asked
if any public library existed in Marylebone, Finsbury,
Southwark or Pimlico, and to each question he had to
answer, " None at all ". Questions about Edinburgh and
DIGEST OF EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMITTEES. 79
Dublin followed, and full reference was made to Marsh's
Library in the latter city. From 1713, the date of the
foundation, to 1828, some 1,200 volumes were lost, and this
he attributed to the defective management in the library.
The books were unstamped, and readers were permitted to
go to the presses and take the books down. The committee
wished to press home the fact as to whether the general
public could be trusted to have unrestricted access to a
library. The case of Marsh's Library helped in clearing
up this point. It was not the freedom of access which
was responsible for the losses, but the defective control.
Up to 1828 there had been unrestricted admission, and
then this was changed. Some other libraries were next
discussed, Glasgow was then reviewed and questions were
asked about other libraries in Scotland.
Then came what the lawyers call a leading question, in
number 281. How many of the libraries which you have
named are lending libraries ? His reply was :
None at all, with the single exception of the library I have mentioned
already as existing at Armagh ; there are no free lending libraries in
Great Britain of any kind. The university libraries, except that
of Trinity College, Dublin, are lending libraries to the members ; the
Library of the Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh has been, by special
favour, in certain cases, a lending library, but not of right.
The library at Armagh was founded by Primate Robin-
son, contained about 12,000 volumes, and was liberally
endowed. Other questions with regard to the libraries of
the Universities of Aberdeen, St. Andrews, Edinburgh
and Glasgow were asked, and then the committee ad-
journed until the 24th April, when Edwards was again
under examination.
In the beginning of that day's evidence, the witness put
in a statement of the number of members of, and volumes
in, the libraries of several Mechanics' Institutions in
Lancashire and Cheshire. In some of these libraries,
during the winter season, the whole of the books had
been in circulation, and not a volume left in the library.
This he quoted from the Rev. William Brown's pamphlet
8o EDWARD EDWARDS.
relative to itinerating libraries in East Lothian. The
pamphlet, said the witness, had attracted more attention
on the continent than in England. It was translated
into French and German, and was even circulated in St.
Petersburgh. The attempt to form these travelling libraries
began in 1816, and was carried on up to the death of the
originator about 1839. This attempt to form libraries
was of an interesting nature, and Edwards quoted some
passages from its pages. These early attempts to provide
reading for the people are historic in the library movement,
especially in view of the recent great extension of travelling
libraries in America.
Questions 313 and 314 referred to the cathedral libraries.
Then a slight departure was made from the immediate
purpose of the inquiry. Edwards had said that he
considered that education was inferior in England to
what it was abroad, in relation to a certain class of the
population. He said that he thought one great cause of
the deficiency was " the want of means on the part of
large numbers of the population to defray the cost of
schooling for their children even where there is a desire
to do it. Another cause is the extreme duration of the
hours of labour, and the extremely early age at which
young persons are forced to do something towards gaining
a livelihood ; and another, the great deficiency of good
schools and of properly trained schoolmasters. I think
all those are causes tending very much, of necessity, to
abridge educational facilities, and ought to be remedied."
In answer to a question shortly afterwards put, he
said :
In addition to the positive want of schooling on the part of large
numbers of the population who are now growing up, those who do get
some partial education, habitually neglect to improve what they get,
from the want of cultivating a taste for reading. I think that is one
great cause, and unless good books are made accessible, it is very likely
to continue to be a cause, even where education, by Sunday schools,
and other efforts of that kind, has been brought within the reach of
considerable numbers of the population, why the good effect has not
been continued in after life.
DIGEST OF EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMITTEES. 81
Here comes his statement as to elementary education
being one of the main pillars of the public library move-
ment. Asked, if in his opinion, as education increases,
the facilities for obtaining books ought to be increased
in proportion also, his answer was "Yes," and this he
strengthened in the next reply. Those who knew how
to read would get bad books instead of good books to read
if the better literature were not provided. Some features
of education in Scotland followed. The state of education
in East Lothian he considered superior to that of a great
many continental states, and this he attributed to the
wise and provident foresight of preceding generations, who had taken
legislative measures to bring schools almost over the length and breadth
of two-thirds of Scotland, making efforts to secure their permanence,,
and not committing them merely to the chances and hazards of volun-
tary effort, and occasional local subscriptions, but really providing themi
by legislative measures.
It would be useful if that reply could be rubbed at the
present moment into some of our legislators at West-
minster. Did he think that libraries superadded to such
a scholastic system would be of great use in Scotland ?
" Of great importance, and I do not believe a more prudent
or a more wise subsidiary measure could be taken with
reference to education, than to connect with schools, lend-
ing libraries of a good kind."
Inquiries about parochial libraries followed, and he
gave some interesting particulars in reply to the questions
respecting these libraries. There was at one time a con-
siderable number of these parochial libraries. Their
history is a very interesting one, and the subject should
be better known. The report of Lord Brougham's Com-
mission to inquire into public charities says little of
these libraries. Institute libraries in villages and village
libraries were next inquired into. " Now that books
are so cheap (Q. 341), would not they be of easy estab-
lishment, and very desirable for the rural population ? "
" Highly desirable, I think," said the witness. Congre-
gational libraries in connection with churches and chapels-
6
82 EDWARD EDWARDS.
were discussed. Of Sunday-school libraries there were a
considerable number, and attended with very good results.
He was asked by the chairman, "by what means" he
thought " the formation of new public libraries might best
be promoted ". The first means he could recommend
would be an extension of the Museums Act. The object
of this Act, he said, " was to levy a rate for the establish-
ment of museums, proceeding upon a requisition or resolu-
tion of a definite proportion of the ratepayers, . . . such
rate not to exceed a halfpenny in the pound upon the
rental of the district". Had the Act been extensively
taken advantage of?
I fear that it has not been largely taken advantage of, and I would
attribute that to the circumstance that no provision has been made for
bringing a Parliamentary grant in aid of local contribution, as is done
in educational matters, but everything has been made to depend upon
local effort. I can cite one instance of its being acted on with refer-
ence also to a library. In Warrington there is now a museum and
library, partly supported by a halfpenny rate, levied by the town
council under the Museums Act, which produces about 80 per annum,
and partly by annual subscriptions, which are already promised to the
extent of about 70. There is also a fund subscribed for the erection
of a building at some future opportunity, and in the meantime interest
upon so much as is paid up, about ^250, is applied towards the pay-
ment of rent for a temporary building. That library was originally a
private subscription library, founded in 1760.
The Museums Act did not authorise the levying of a
rate for the formation of a public library, and the library
could not have been assisted except from the fact that it
was part of a museum. Sir H. Verney asked if he thought
it desirable to extend that power to other districts where
town councils did not exist. " Highly desirable," said
the witness, "and that otherwise very little good can be
done." Asked as to what bodies he would entrust with
such power, he said :
I think the best principle would be to take the circumscription of
the Parliamentary boroughs generally, and give a power to a certain
proportion of the ratepayers in every such Parliamentary borough. I
think the principle should be the expressed consent of a definite pro-
portion of the ratepayers, and that there should be a similar power to
DIGEST OF EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMITTEES. 83
that given to Town Councils by the Museums Act. The principle
might also be extended to parishes, or poor law unions ; or the circum-
scriptions of the public health bill might be taken.
Had he turned his attention to the expediency of a grant
being made by Parliament, to assist in the formation of
libraries, as is done in the case of schools of design ? "I
think that very important ; the principle upon which the
grants of the Privy Council for education are made would
be an excellent principle to be extended to libraries ;
namely, that in any district where a certain amount of
local contribution was raised, for the purpose of founding
a library, a Parliamentary grant should be given in aid."
A trifling grant would suffice, and would do a great deal
of good. The point was pressed home by several questions.
A small grant, he thought,
would be of very great service indeed, and would be found to be a
powerful stimulus to local effort. He thought another means by
which libraries might be encouraged, would be by promoting national
interchanges of books.
The public library world is still looking for that small
grant, and rural libraries in many districts cannot be
established without some such help. He thought that
if local libraries were established, great accessions would
be made to those libraries by donations. Do you approve
(Q. 363) of the principle of that part of the Copyright Act
which directs the compulsory delivery, by authors or pub-
lishers, of copies of every book published within the United
Kingdom for the benefit of certain libraries ?
The Legislature having repeatedly affirmed the principle that books
should be contributed by authors and publishers in aid of public
libraries, it may, perhaps, be thought undesirable to re-open the
question, but I must say, that in my individual opinion, such enact-
ments are based upon a bad principle ; I think the growth and increase
of public libraries is a national object, and ought to be met by national
funds, and that no tax ought to be levied upon a section of the public
for the benefit of the whole of the public.
He emphasised this by saying that least of all upon
the producers of books would he levy this tax. It used
84 EDWARD EDWARDS.
to be eleven copies of every book and still stands at five.
It is an oppressive tax, he urged, especially as some con-
siderable portion of the books so exacted go to libraries
which are not public. This injustice upon publishers
exists at this day. Questions on the origin of the Copy-
right Act followed, and he gave two answers embodying
in a brief form the history of the Act. Further questions
were asked as to which libraries the books exacted by the
Copyright Act were sent. The libraries to which these
books were sent should involve the right of free access by
the public.
A library which accepts a Treasury grant of that nature does most
unquestionably make itself a public library, and ought to be considered
as a public library, and to be responsible for being such in practice.
Questions on this head applying to some of the Scotch
libraries were asked. Later on he said, " I think it highly
desirable that there should be public depositories of all books
which appear in the United Kingdom, but that being a
national object it ought to be done at the national ex-
pense." He was then asked a question bearing on the
annual value of books published in the United Kingdom,
and put in a return showing this for the previous ten years.
Question 389 asked if there were any fiscal arrangements
which he deemed to be impediments to the formation of
public libraries, he answered :
1 think there are many, and I will instance as the first of those, the
import duty upon foreign books. I believe that to be a most unwise
and impolitic tax. It has been considerably reduced, in relation to
certain classes of books, but it is still an oppressive duty, and one
which operates materially to the enhancement of the price of foreign
books; it amounted in 1841 to 8,500. I believe it now amounts to
a considerable sum, so that it still operates greatly to increase the price
of foreign books. The present duty has been computed to be equiva-
lent to an ad valorem tax of twelve per cent, on the average. In na
other country, so far as I am aware, has so heavy a tax been levied
upon foreign books.
Other questions dealing with import taxes upon books
and advertisements in different countries followed.
DIGEST OF EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMITTEES. 85
In reply to the question (403), can you offer any sug-
gestion with regard to the increased utility of existing
libraries ? he said :
I think the step which lies at the threshold of all improvement in
this respect is an entire revision of the conditions on which the Trea-
sury grants are accorded, requiring that accessibility should be made
an indispensable condition of such grants, and that the libraries re-
ceiving them should be placed under some definite supervision and
responsibility. I think it would be very desirable also that any
existing libraries, which are disposed to place themselves under the
inspection, for example, of the Committee of Council on Education,
which is perhaps the body most analogous to that Ministry of|Public
Instruction, which I hope we shall have some day, should be enabled
to do so ; and in case of their own resources being deficient, that they
should obtain some grants under the Committee of Council in aid of
those resources. I think by that means great improvements would in
time be effected. But I believe, looking at the difficulties which some
of the best of the few libraries which do exist in this country are in,
from inadequate resources, that at present no improvement of any
important amount can be hoped for, except upon the condition of
Parliamentary aid being extended to them, in cases where public utility
is clearly seen to be promoted by those existing institutions. I think,
too, such aid should especially be afforded, with regard to the pre-
paration of catalogues, upon which the utility of libraries entirely de-
pends, scarcely any of the existing libraries having now any resources
at all by means of which catalogues can be printed and published : and
unless catalogues are printed and published the libraries themselves
can never be of great public utility.
The remainder of his answer referred to the catalogues
of Aberdeen and other university libraries. He said he
would make the preparation and printing of catalogues a
great State object. Two questions followed respecting
the catalogue of the books in the library of the British
Museum.
Did he think the present system of requiring recommen-
dations before granting admission to the use of libraries
necessary ? "I was strongly of that opinion formerly, but
upon thinking of the matter more closely, and making a
comparison of the results of what occurs here, and what
occurs abroad, I am inclined to change that opinion, and
to think that the system is not really necessary, though
86 EDWARD EDWARDS.
probably if very free accessibility were granted a revision
of the existing regulations, and some considerable modifica-
tion of them would become necessary."
Questions as to the injury which had resulted from un-
restricted admission were put, and later he described his
interpretation of unrestricted accessibility to mean the
absence of any formality of recommendation or introduc-
tion, so that any one can go into the library and call for
books without producing any warrant or ticket. This, as
he explained, would involve a reading-room.
Yes. I conceive that, although practical experience shows great
injuries to have resulted, in some instances, from unrestricted access
. . . such injury has arisen from the want of good regulations: for
instance, persons have been allowed to help themselves to books
from the library.
He thought that there would be no difficulty whatever
in the granting of such free access in the large provincial
towns, but had some doubts as to whether it would be
practicable in London. Questions followed as to the
accessibility of catalogues in the continental libraries.
He was asked as to the time taken before a book could
be served in the great continental libraries. In the
National Library of Paris he received books within half
an hour of applying for them, but not always. The printed
catalogues of that library he described as being far from
perfect or adequate. As to the British Museum he observed
that all men of letters would, he believed, acknowledge
that the accessibility was never so great, and the service
of the establishment was never in such order, as it then
was. He was asked if he was of the same way of thinking
as Dr. Pertz of the Berlin Library, that there is no greater
waste of money than to print a full catalogue of a library.
He said : " I would listen to everything which fell from
him with great respect, but at the same time I would feel
no hesitation in confuting that opinion ". Asked if he
thought it desirable that books should be lent out, he
answered that he thought it very desirable, and that no
greater boon than the institution of lending libraries could
DIGEST OF EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMITTEES. 87
be conferred upon men of letters and students. Any in-
jurious results which had arisen could be obviated by
better regulations. By these he meant with respect to the
period for which books were to be lent, and by insisting
upon some voucher for the respectability of all persons
applying to borrow books. A reasonable amount of wear
and tear must be of course admitted.
Did he think (Q. 441) that persons seeking to borrow
books should be called on to show their inability to con-
sult them in the library itself? He replied :
I have heard that advocated as one means of checking abuse, but
I do not think it would be expedient, especially with reference to per-
sons who are engaged in literary tasks of considerable extent and
duration. It is most important to allow them to have books in their
own studies at home, and I think they ought not to be called on to
show that they are absolutely incapacitated from coming to the
library, because they cannot, in the library, use books to the same
advantage as at their own homes.
In the next question he was asked if he thought that the
practice of lending should be restricted to such books as
are possessed in duplicate by the respective libraries, and
answered that he thought that ought to be so with regard
to the great libraries then existing, but hoped to see new
lending libraries established especially directed to that
object.
The number of duplicates and triplicates in the British
Museum was inquired into.
Was he of opinion that libraries ought to be open during
the evenings, particularly in a country like our own where
the day is devoted to labour ?
I think it would be a measure of great expediency and of great
benefit, and that it would enable the working classes of the population
to get access to the public libraries, who, unless some such change is
introduced, must continue to be debarred from access to them : and I
think it would also, in many cases, be of great advantage to professional
men, and even to men whose profession is literature.
He could not give one instance in England of the
application of that principle to any considerable library.
88 EDWARD EDWARDS.
It was desirable to enlarge this part of his evidence. He
thought that it would be of the greatest value that there
should be accessibility during the evening to public
libraries.
I believe, even apart from the direct instruction which may in that
way be brought within the reach of the people, the means of rational
amusement, which would by that means be opened to them, would be
exceedingly important. I believe the want of some provision, from the
public resources, of amusements of a rational and improving character,
has led to the introduction, to a large extent in our towns, of brutalising
and demoralising amusements. In my opinion, something ought to
have been done long before to obviate that evil, and the necessity that
something of the kind should now be done is very urgent.
All friends of the public library movement should note
the emphasis with which this part of his evidence was put
forward. The heart of the movement lies in the facts
here stated, and no other witness examined, so fully and
clearly placed these needs of the people before the
committee.
In the way of definite supervision and responsibility in
the management of public libraries, he said : " I think the
most desirable thing, and a thing I am not hopeless of
seeing in England, will be a department specially charged
with public instruction, dealing with all the relations of
Government to public education : then I think the super-
vision of libraries would naturally be one of the attributions
of that department".
Friends of education are still looking, after a lapse of
fifty years, for that department of public instruction.
Perhaps in another fifty years the nation may succeed
in securing it, and then possibly we shall not have the
contemptible farce of a minister in the House of Commons
poking weak jokes at some aspects of educational matters.
Mr. Edwards said that he did not refer to pecuniary
responsibility, but rather to a sort of periodical inspection
as to the condition of libraries, with the power of revising
their regulations, and making recommendations, with a
view to increase their public usefulness. He was of
opinion that increased interest on the part of the public,
DIGEST OF EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMITTEES. 89
and an increase of the contributions, would accrue from
the making public of the accounts and the general working
of public libraries.
Just before the close of that day's examination he handed
in his "Approximate Statistical View of the Principal
Public Libraries of Europe and of the United States of
America". This is printed in the appendix to the blue
book and covers fifty pages. The statistics are a wide
elaboration of the tables prepared for his paper read before
the Statistical Society. The enormous amount of labour
represented by these statistics can only be known by those
who have attempted a similar task. The additional notes
and figures given in the blue book add value to these tables.
They were accompanied by explanatory letters and a full
list of his authorities. The insight shown by him into
the whole subject, and the broad grasp of every detail, are
matters of wonder to-day, if this evidence of his is carefully
perused. The library world will yet see carried into effect
some of the practical suggestions made by Edwards in
1849. Truly was he a prophet with prophetic vision.
In his diary for that memorable day he makes the
simple entry, " Gave evidence from half-past twelve till after
three ". It would weary the reader to give the entries until
he was next called. There was not a day when he was not
at work. The revising of the proofs of the evidence was
Edwards' work. On 5th June he enters, " At twelve
attended committee on libraries and was examined at
considerable length satisfactorily I think, in the main ;
but not at all so on the important point of catalogues . . .
which I must try to mend ".
On 5th June, 1849, Edwards was further examined.
The time occupied in obtaining books at the British
Museum was gone into minutely.* Some angry readers
had been airing their grievances in the newspapers.
Other details connected with the British Museum were
gone into, and occupy four pages of the report, but for
the present purpose it is not necessary to call attention
to them here. Fuller particulars of the rules and regula-
go EDWARD EDWARDS.
tions respecting access in vogue in continental libraries
followed. He had, since his previous examination, been
collecting information respecting the parochial libraries
founded by Dr. Bray and the " Associates of Dr. Bray,"
between 1704 and 1807. The most complete details ever
gathered respecting these libraries were given by Edwards-
in the return which he then presented. The statistics fill
six pages. Then he gave a little history of the origin of
the movement to establish these libraries. A table of the
cathedral libraries in England and Ireland was also
presented. A series of questions ranging from 3353 to
3378 followed respecting catalogues. He insisted that
it was upon the catalogue the utility of the library
depended, and that for this reason the catalogues of
public libraries should invariably be printed. Did he
think that catalogues of public libraries should be alpha-
betical or classified ?
That is a question to which I have given much study for many
years, and the result of the best consideration which I have been able
to give to it is a most decided opinion that classified catalogues are
far preferable to alphabetical ; and with the permission of the Com-
mittee, I would enumerate some of the reasons why classified catalogues
appear preferable to alphabetical ones. In the first place there is the
obvious advantage of presenting a great many books, upon the same
subject, to the reader who consults them. It is true that many persons
may find it more easy to use an alphabetical catalogue than a classified
catalogue, with the principle of the construction of which they have no
special acquaintance ; but I think that the purposes of an alphabetical
catalogue can be better answered by supplying the classified catalogue
with an alphabetical index of authors' names, than you can answer the
purposes of a classified catalogue by putting a classed index to an
alphabetical one. There is a general notion that classification involves
great difficulty in the preparation of a catalogue ; but the difficulties
that attach to any system even of alphabetical catalogues are very
great, so that it is only a choice between difficulties. I think, too, that
in respect to classification, very much might be done, even by what
may be termed mechanical arrangements, to simplify the use of such
catalogues.
He believed that the catalogue was the eye of the library.
Would it not facilitate the preparation of the catalogue if
the books were placed before the compositor under a glass
DIGEST OF EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMITTEES. gi
case, and the compositor were to set up the title in print in
the library itself? " I am afraid that idea could not be prac-
tically carried out to any great extent, because, in order
to catalogue books, it is not enough to see the title-page.
A great deal of bibliographical knowledge is requisite to
catalogue a large number of books. A man must refer
not only to the book itself, but to many others. For
instance, all early books require a great deal of research,
and merely mechanically copying the title would not
answer the purpose. In fact, many books have no title-
page at all. A mechanical arrangement of that kind
might be useful, but I do not think it could supersede the
necessity of literary, scientific and bibliographical know-
ledge on the part of the persons employed."
Reference was made to the City Library of Bristol and
an old library at Norwich. Then the import duty on
foreign books was taken more fully into review. Question
3387 was : Have you any suggestion to offer with respect
to the formation of new public libraries ?
I think, generally speaking, advantage ought to be taken, wherever
it is possible, of existing libraries, as the foundation or nucleus upon
which larger collections might be based ; but in answering the question
I would divide what I have to say with regard to different classes of
libraries. I think, first of all, there are the libraries that we need in the
capital cities ; next to these are the libraries that are needed in
provincial towns ; and then there are the village libraries, the formation
of which ought to be encouraged in rural parishes. Those seem to
me to be three classes of libraries which ought to be separately looked
at. With respect to London it is of the highest importance that there
should be at least two new libraries founded, strictly of a public kind,
and such as should keep pace with the progress of literature, in addition
to the library of the British Museum, and that they might with great
advantage be adapted to a different class of readers, so as in some
degree to draw away from the reading-room at the British Museum
certain of what I may ventur.e to term, in a literary sense, the less
important class of readers. . . . With regard to provincial towns,
particular attention ought to be paid to the literature of the locality,
a sort of topographical character ought to be given to them. Most
of our great towns have no libraries at all that can in any proper sense
be termed public, so that what has to be done there is entirely from
the beginning. It would also be important that the claims of country
parishes should not be overlooked ; an entirely different class of
9 2 EDWARD EDWARDS.
libraries is needed there from those which are required in the great
towns, and I think the plan which has been already suggested of
itinerating libraries eminently deserves the consideration of the Com-
mittee ; the adoption of that plan has certainly done great good in
Scotland, and I think it would be worth trying whether it could not
be brought into operation in England.
Particulars were given of the probable cost of a library
say of 20,000 to 30,000 volumes. He estimated the cost
of a library of good character of that magnitude at IDS. to
I2S. a volume. The import duty upon books then existing
must be kept in mind in comparing this with existing
average prices. Some tables and returns referring to the
British Museum were presented by the witness. Special
libraries for particular districts were then reviewed. He
subsequently addressed a long letter, dated 23rd June,
1849, fr m 5 Cunningham Place, St. John's Wood, which
entered at length into the question of catalogues, both as
it applied to the compilation of the catalogues and the
printing of them.
On i3th June, 1849, he " called on Ewart who read me
an outline of proposed report ". On the i8th he was at the
House of Commons, "... saw Brotherton who spoke to
me about Salford Library ". His evenings at this time
were occupied with the correction of the proofs of the
evidence. The days bristle with his activities for this
report. On yth and i4th June he breakfasts with Ewart
and discusses report. " I proposed," he says, " two or three
additional clauses which he asked me to draw up and send
him." Like entries follow. On 6th August, " Very
unwell ". For yth August, " Letter from Ewart acknow-
ledging pamphlets and speaking very confusedly about
Report. . . ." On 2gth August he left for a little holiday,
and on 3ist August he is at Niton, and has a " long and
delightful ramble ". Truly Niton should become the Mecca
of the library world.
The September, October and November diary is full of
entries of a like character to those already quoted.
DIGEST OF EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMITTEES. gj.
On igth December, 1849, Ewart wrote, " ... I quite
agree both as to the dignity and policy of a brief notice
only of our assailants. They cannot cross our trenches.
Our position is too good and we can overlook their sharp-
shooting. . . . You have most generously (given) time
and profit in a manner which ought not to be forgotten."
There are still existing some fifty-five letters, during 1849,
from Ewart to Edwards.
The year 1850 opens with, on 2nd January, a " letter from
Ewart asking me to come to Elstead ". On 5th January he
is with Ewart at Elstead, and records, li pleasant confabula-
tion with Ewart on libraries and politics. Read 'Verificator'
on journey down. . . ." On the following day, which was
Sunday, there was " a long and very pleasant ramble
through deep snow. In evening, chat with Ewart
de omnibus rebtis, etc." There was a trouble about the
foreign returns, and the diary shows it at this time. On
25th January he lends Modern Painters to Miss Ewart,.
and for the day following he enters, " Letter in Athenceum
to-day signed ' C.' . . . and praising ' Verificator ' as one
who ' deals in facts ! ' He may be said to deal in facts as
gipsies are said to deal in children, first stealing and then
disfiguring them to make them pass for their own." The
stress and strain of his life at that time comes out rather
pathetically.
A second Parliamentary Select Committee was appointed
on i4th February, 1850, to report on the best means of ex-
tending the establishment of libraries freely open to the
public, especially in large towns. The last paragraph of
the report of this committee endorses the statement of the
committee of the previous year, that this country is still
greatly in want of libraries freely accessible to the public,
and would derive great benefit from their establishment.
Edwards was the first witness examined, and this was on
yth March. For that day he enters, " Note from Ewart as
to attendance in committee-room, etc. sent him rough
draft of some questions as to i (statistics, broad results only)
and 2 (catalogues) in event of attack on these points to
94 EDWARD EDWARDS.
House of Commons . . . when I underwent a long exa-
mination chiefly from Lord Seymour who had evidently
been both prompted and drilled very illiberal and paltry
questions were put as to salary, as to enquiries at Foreign
libraries, etc., but, I think, no real damage to main ques-
tion at issue ".
He was, he said, appointed to his position at the British
Museum at the end of January, 1839, specially to be em-
ployed on the new catalogue of printed books. His remu-
neration in 1850 was 164 per annum and a fraction. "It
requires," he said, " some calculation to tell the precise
sum." A number of questions were asked respecting the
British Museum, and much light was thrown on the manner
and methods there in operation. Take the evidence on the
whole, the British Museum showed out well in the inquiry.
Some defects were acknowledged. The average cost per
volume of books was inquired into, and some of the answers
to questions in the inquiry of 1849 were again traversed
in order to elicit additional information. He thought that
he had known the British Museum Library as a reader from
1833 or 1834. The evening opening of the library at
Bloomsbury, and a great variety of other issues affecting
the library, were surveyed. The use which the witness
had himself made of the National Library of Paris was
inquired about. The losses in the French libraries had
evidently disturbed the minds of some of the members of
the committee. The statement had been made that out
of 250,000 volumes in the library at Rouen above 200,000
had been carried away. The witness entirely doubted the
statement.
The measure of accessibility in German libraries was
again traversed, and the use of national libraries by women,
for the purpose of consulting the books, was referred to.
It was asked whether the mutilation of books was not
more to be dreaded than the abstraction of books. In
reply he said :
No doubt of it, and the subject requires great care and caution. At
the same time I would say, that where the attendance of readers is
DIGEST OF EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMITTEES. 95
numerous I think it operates as a sort of mutual police, and that where
there are many persons present injury or depredation to the books is,
perhaps, less likely to happen than where the access is restricted to a
few. I believe we have found that with our art collections : that the
greater the number of persons who are allowed to come to them, the
less the injury which is done.
He held to the opinion that the reading-room of the
British Museum was very accessible. He further stated
that a vast number of the popular works of the day were
written or compiled in the reading-room of the British
Museum. Many other questions respecting this national
library were put to the witness. The number of prohibited
books in the libraries of Italy was inquired into. He said
that a large proportion would not be accessible to the
people, though the library might be accessible.
In my humble judgment the only force of a statement like that
which has been referred to, just lies in the strong contrast which there
is between the highly civilised and the highly intellectual condition of
this country in most respects, and its comparative paucity of public
collections of books freely open to all the world.
Let the croakers who think that every country is better
than our own rub that into their understanding. Prohibited
books in the libraries of Italy included a great number of
the best works of all countries, and were only allowed to
be read by licence. Mr. Ewart asked whether he thought
that the very advancement in the condition of the people
of this country would be an additional reason for their
having more books instead of fewer, and that they have
fewer whereas they ought to have more according to their
intellectual state. " Precisely," said Mr. Edwards, "and
J think that very superiority of condition which we may
without arrogance claim in many respects which is con-
fessedly allowed to us, is a reason why we should be in a
better position than we are with respect to Public Lib-
raries."
Some other questions respecting continental libraries
.finished that day's sitting.
There were several interesting questions at the end of
9 6 EDWARD EDWARDS.
that day's sitting. Mr. M. Milnes asked (Q. 362) : Have
you any objection to state what has been your principal
object in taking so much pains in the investigation of
libraries . . . ?
I have for many years contemplated a work upon the economy of
public libraries. I began to collect the statistics of libraries as far
back as 1835, and I have since, at intervals, continued my inquiries by
getting the best information which I could from official documents and
other sources.
Have you therefore collected all those materials with so
much labour and diligence solely for the purpose of placing
this subject as fairly as you could before the public ?
Decidedly ; and also in the hope that, humble as my station is, I
might do something to advance what I believe to be an important
public question, namely, a better provision of libraries for public use
in this country.
Mr. Ewart said : Perhaps you are aware that ten
years ago I called the attention of Parliament to this
subject ? Yes. (Q. 365) And that Mr. Panizzi gave
some very valuable information upon it ? Yes. The
next question and answer (366) are given together. Con-
tinuing, the Chairman said :
And the year before last I gave notice of a motion upon the sub-
ject ; and then by chance seeing an advertisement of a pamphlet
written by you upon it, not having the pleasure of knowing you, I
wrote to you and asked you if you could supply me with information,
which you very readily did. Is not that the origin, in fact, of a great
part of the inquiry and the evidence laid before the Committee ?
With one exception, that it was not an advertisement which you saw,
but you had done me the honour to read a paper which had been
published in 1848 in the transactions of the Statistical Society.
Then the last question (367) referring to this point and
put by Mr. Milnes was : " Therefore in all the information
which you have collected upon this subject, and for which
we owe you so much in this Committee, you have had no
other object in view except that of benefiting the public ? "
Edwards answered " I hope not, and believe not ".
The committee sat again four days afterwards. The
bearing of the circular letter of Edwards to the foreign
DIGEST OF EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMITTEES. 97
libraries asking for information was inquired about.
The questions asked may be given here :
i. How many Libraries accessible to the public are there at ?
2. What are their proper designations ? 3. When were they respectively
founded ? 4. Under what regulations or restrictions are they publicly
accessible? 5. How many persons have frequented them respectively,
for the purposes of study, during the last twelve months ? 6. By
what funds are they supported, and what is the amount of their en-
dowment, if any ? 7. Who are the present librarians ? 8. What is
the present number of volumes in each : distinguishing printed books
from MSS., and also distinguishing the number of tracts or pamphlets,
as nearly as the same may be known ? 9. What is the average annual
increase in the number of volumes ? 10. Are books lent out from the
library: and, if so, under what regulations? n. What is the total
number of volumes so lent out during the last year ? 12. Is there
reason to believe that this privilege is abused, and that books are lost,
or are wantonly injured ? 13. Do any printed catalogues, either alpha-
betical or classed, of the contents of any of these libraries exist ? If not,
is it intended or desired to print any such : and if any, on what plan ?
That represented the main part of his examination on
that day. Other witnesses were examined. On the 2ist
March he was again called in and examined. Questions
had arisen with regard to the accuracy of some of Mr.
Edwards' statistics. He said on the day named, " No one
is more conscious than I am that they contain many
mistakes and many omissions ; but it is utterly incorrect
to say that they were carelessly compiled; they were
compiled with very great pains and labour : that is within
the knowledge of many persons who did me the favour to
assist me in the preparation of them ". Before the tables
themselves he placed this prefatory note : " I cannot hope
that I have not committed many errors : those, however,
who are best acquainted with the difficulties which beset
enquiries of this nature will regard these errors with some
indulgence ; and for any information tending to their
correction I shall at all times be very thankful ". He
further said in connection with this point :
I think it is fair that it should be borne in mind that I thus expressed
my conviction of the comparative imperfection of those statistics at
the very outset of this enquiry ; and the evidence that has been adduced
7
98 EDWARD EDWARDS.
this year is confirmatory of that remark of mine, showing how very
conflicting the statements are which appear to be authoritative, and
to come from quarters upon which it might be expected that reliance
could be placed.
This question as to the reliability of his statistics was
evidently one which had disturbed the minds of some of
the committee. The chairman said that although perfect
accuracy may be exceedingly desirable in statistics of
this nature, it is scarcely attainable, and that it is as
desirable to make as great an approximation to accuracy
as possible. Mr. Edwards had, in framing his tables,
endeavoured rather to understate than to overstate the
number of the books, and when he had conflicting state-
ments before him he was in many cases rather inclined
to take the lower statement in point of numbers than the
higher.
A number of further questions were asked him respect-
ing certain details given in previous evidence, Lord
Seymour being especially anxious to find the weak places
in Mr. Edwards' figures. The title given to his tables
was "Approximate Tabular View of the Number of
Libraries containing 10,000 Volumes or upwards, access-
ible to the Public in the several States of Europe ".
Questions followed on the international exchanges of
scientific and literary works, and his examination closed
with the general impression created in his answers
respecting the working of the British Museum. The
general tendency of his evidence was, he claimed, favour-
able to the British Museum.
The appendix contains a copy of a letter from Edwards
to Ewart, dealing again with the degree of reliability attach-
ing to his statistics. The letter covers seven pages, and
he surveys the details given for the various countries
with additional information. The supplementary returns
and particulars cover a large area, and the general trend
of them is to show that he had understated rather than
overstated the number of individual libraries falling within
his statement, and the aggregate number of books in the
several libraries.
DIGEST OF EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMITTEES. gg
The fact should be noticed here, that the greater com-
parative accessibility and number of continental public
libraries, which Edwards so persistently urges, must have
been used as a kind of argumentative lever rather than as
a matter of strict fact. It is very extraordinary that the
continent should have been found by Edwards to swarm
with freely accessible libraries in 1849, while, as a matter of
fact, there are hardly any at the present time, save royal
and university libraries, which are in many cases by no
means open to all.
The excitement in the whole library world over these
Parliamentary inquiries was considerable. In the Sera-
peum of i5th January, 1850, a letter appeared addressed
to the editor, extending to eleven pages. To take even a
reasonable view of it, the article is a spiteful attack on
Ewart, Edwards and the committee. One sentence reads
as follows :
... Mr. Ewart was the one who set the task. Now, so far as I
am aware, this individual was not driven to this work by any particular
vocation or special knowledge of libraries ; I do not believe that he
had, at that time, ever seen any other large library, but he is a Radical,
that is to say, one who knows everything and therefore must naturally
improve everything. He has already instituted other Committees, or
at least taken part in the same, . . . and therefore must do the same
with regard to the Museum and Libraries. As I am advised, he is a
remarkable fellow, who really knows as much about collections of
books as about statesmanship, and that is nothing whatever but he
keeps an amanuensis (of course of the same political colour), who
foists on him the task and materials, and inspires Mr. Ewart just as
well for the salvation of the inhabitants of Birmingham in their need
for libraries, as for all other statesmanlike ideas.
Edwards is the amanuensis referred to, and is further
spoken of as the " 56o-times interrogated Edwards," and
is described as the " great unknown," and that " he merely
occupied the position of a temporary worker at the British
Museum, paid by the week ". Other pretty phrases are
used.
It is not necessary to quote more of the article in this
present instance. Ewart and Edwards attributed it to
Panizzi's influence. In the same publication for i5th
ioo EDWARD EDWARDS.
May, a reply from Mr. Ewart is printed in English, and
is a clear and dignified answer to the several charges.
No new movement ever yet was without enemies, and
the agitation for the passing of the Library Act was by
no means an exception to the rule.
" VERIFICATOR" AND EDWARDS.
In the issue of ist September, 1849, the Athenaeum
printed the first of a series of three notices on the Report
of the Select Committee. Five columns are devoted
to the first of the articles. " This is one of the best
blue books connected with literature that Parliament has
given to the public for a very long time," is the verdict
of the writer of the review. " The Report abounds in
sensible recommendations. . . . There are few traces of
hurry . . . and the witnesses are generally ' up ' to the
mark' on the several points on which it was thought that
their evidence would be found of public service." This
is useful testimony. The maps given in the blue book
had evidently struck dismay into the writer's mind. The
point that Edwards had repeatedly emphasised, that no
country was richer than England in private collections,
and none was so poor in those which belong to the public,
is pushed home by the writer of the article. " Our
libraries are unequal, not only to the wants of the public
generally, but to the wants (and that is worse) of the
great teachers of the public, our literary men. . . .
When libraries such as the committee recommend shall
be as they should as numerous as barracks and
union workhouses throughout the land we shall be glad
to see the hours of access extended to the evenings,
and the system introduced of lending books liberally yet
cautiously." These few extracts will serve to show
the character of the whole of the three articles. The
Athenceum rendered signal service to the movement
for the establishing of public libraries by its able and
sympathetic review.
The second notice prints a good part of the evidence
"VERIFICATOR" AND EDWARDS. 101
given before the committee by M. Guizot, who was at one
time Minister of Public Instruction in France, and more
lately an Ambassador to London. He described minutely
the working of the public libraries in Paris and the
provincial libraries of his country. M. Guizot's evidence
throughout was deeply interesting. His view was that even
books which chanced to be stolen from a lending library
were not morally quite lost. They would be likely to
confer good upon the one who neglected to return the
book. British librarians to-day are not likely to take so
generous a view of borrowers who do not return the books
belonging to the library. In the third article the evidence
of Edwards is quoted in which he referred to the delay
at the British Museum in making the new publications
accessible to the public.
In the same journal a letter appeared on 2yth October,
1849, signed " P.S.W. ". The writer of the letter calls at-
tention to some of the defects of the Bibliotheque Nationale
of Paris. He says that he is slavish enough to prefer the
restrictions of the British Museum to the freedom of the
Bibliotheque. The letter is to the point throughout, and
gives very neatly the other side to the full-coloured
picture of Mr. Edwards.
On iyth November, the first letter signed " Verificator "
appeared. These letters were written by the late Thomas
Watts, who was then employed in the British Museum
Library, and later became Keeper of the Printed Books.
He begins his criticism by saying that the statements,
made before the committee, had received a good deal of
publicity in the press, and he was induced to believe that
some researches he had made had tended to show him
that they were not deserving of the credit which they had
received. He first attacks the maps supplied by " Mr.
Edward Edwards of the British Museum, the first and
most frequent witness before the committee ". The Paris
map shows a number of proprietary libraries, but in the
map of London the libraries of a corresponding character
were not shown. This was manifestly not only unfair,
but laid Edwards open to the charge of not putting forth
102 EDWARD EDWARDS.
his case with strict regard to accuracy. Mr. Watts fired
his heaviest gun first. Edwards suffered, as so many
enthusiasts suffer, from the tendency to prove too much
from statistics. His case was strong without there
being the necessity for adding to it the burden of the
mountain of figures which were put forward in Edwards'
" Approximate View of the Principal Public Libraries
of Europe and the United States of America ". His
line of fortifications was too long, and " Verificator " had
ample ground for the vigorous and well-aimed attack
which he made upon it. Edwards' main statement was
that London and the large towns of the provinces were
shockingly behind the capitals of the continent, and the
provincial cities and towns, in the provision of public
libraries freely accessible to the public. The statement
was unquestionably true. That the use actually made of
this book provision of the continent was not as con-
siderable and as universal as it might have been, was
barely touched upon by Edwards. His array of statistics
in the "Approximate View" is enough to send dismay into
the mind of even a confirmed statistician. It is the
statistics which "Verificator" criticises. To the main
lines of Edwards' evidence, as given before the committee,
Thomas Watts scarcely refers. With the public of that day
it must have seemed a case of the doctors differing. Both
disputants were engaged at the British Museum, and it is
impossible to rid one's mind of the feeling that there was
a degree of captiousness about the onslaught of " Verifi-
cator" which did not go down to the heart of the question.
It is not necessary to traverse the whole argument, and to
some it may seem a rousing up of dry bones which cannot
serve any useful purpose. But there is no doubt that
" Verificator's " attacks told powerfully in a certain direc-
tion. Edwards himself felt the force of them keenly. Mr.
Watts did not touch a worthy note in his side of the
argument. Edwards' term was " approximate " in these
statistics which were given as an appendix in the Parlia-
mentary Report, and do not affect in the least degree the
main avenues of Edwards' evidence. Make the witness
"VERIFICATOR" AND EDWARDS. 103
appear untrustworthy is a plan as old as the very existence
of the Law Courts, but while it may be pardonable for the
holder of a brief to adopt this case in doing the best for
his client, the method can scarcely be defended on the
same lines when it attaches to such a vast and important
subject as was then before the country. Thomas Watts'
microscopic criticisms were no contribution to the discus-
sion of the subject " Should there, or should there not, be
a provision of public libraries in the country on municipal
lines ? " He unwisely passes over the universal absence
of freely accessible libraries. It does not require a genius
to pelt at a range of figures referring to libraries. The
statistics of any dozen libraries in the universe could
be riddled into nothingness. There was something
constructive about nine-tenths of Edwards' evidence
before the committee. There is nothing constructive
about Thomas Watts' fourteen columns of grape-shot.
Here is one sentence from the first letter as a sample of
others.
It may be deemed a pardonable blunder that the city of Mentz is
assigned to Hesse Cassel instead of Hesse Darmstadt, but it is some-
what singular that Mr. Edwards did not detect in time for his second
edition that the famous convent of Alcoba^a in Portugal is not, as he
represents it, situated in Spain, and that Vich in Catalonia belongs to
Spain, not, as he represents, to France. The errors in his next branch
of information, the date at which the libraries were founded, are still
more serious or rather still more ludicrous for we find it stated in
both editions, with the most perfect gravity, that " the oldest of the
great libraries of printed books is probably that of Vienna, which dates
from 1440," when most 6f his readers probably remember what Mr.
Edwards, with his frequent publications on the subject, has so un-
accountably forgotten, that the earliest printed book with a date was
issued in 1457, and the earliest without one, probably not more than
seven years previously.
Poor Edwards ! The nation was practically bookless
so far as accessibility to the public was concerned, and the
weight of this fact is overlooked, and he is told that he
has put a place in Spain which he should have placed in
Portugal. Furthermore he is charged with giving the
date of the foundation of a library of books as prior to the
invention of printing, as if that had anything to do with
104 EDWARD EDWARDS.
later collections. What was the exact purport of these
columns of criticism is not now known. Some book pub-
lished about that time gave the population of London as
1,900,000. Mr. Watts complained that Mr. Edwards
" quietly sets it down at two millions ". Let everything
by all means be whipped into strict accuracy. But in
discussing the features and qualities of a large edifice, it
would not display any marked distinction by complaining
that the panes of glass, in the small window of a cellar,
were out of proportion. The last article in 1849 of" Verifi-
cator" dealt chiefly with catalogues, but here there is no
occasion to follow him.
The correspondence was continued through the early
part of 1850. The only reply of Edwards' that appears
occupies less than two columns in the issue for 2gth Decem-
ber, 1849, an d is dated from 5 Cunningham Place, St. John's
Wood. It is not a strong reply. He had clearly followed
the line of argument adopted by his opponent. " It must
have been," says Edwards, " intensely painful to him to
have had to bestow so much time and labour on trivial
matters and incidental personalities having so remote a
bearing on those public objects and aims." He said that he
was preparing a new edition of his "Approximate View,"
and in this there should be an answer to the charges of
inaccuracies made by " Verificator ". A long time followed
before this became possible. Motives must not be looked
into, but Edwards may have been desirous not to jeopardise
his position at the British Museum. Thomas Watts was
promoted later to be Keeper of the Printed Books. He
deserved an earlier promotion, for he was an extraordinary
and original man. Let it be noted with satisfaction that
Edwards did not seem to have cherished any grudge
against Mr. Watts. In every reference which he makes
to him, in his writings afterwards, the tone and remarks
are always of a kindly and appreciative nature. With all
his asperities Edwards was of a forgiving disposition.
Some of the letters of Thomas Watts in the years prior
to the inquiry are interesting reading.
Mr. Robert Cowtan, a fellow-worker at the British
"LIBRARIES AND THE PEOPLE." 105
Museum, wrote to Edwards on 2ist September, 1849, "...
There are those at the present day who can and do appreciate
your disinterested and indefatigable labours in the great
and glorious cause of popular education . . . but it is the
future generations who are now being brought under cul-
ture . . . who will have the greater cause to thank you ".
EDWARDS' " LIBRARIES AND THE PEOPLE ".
The paper on this subject appeared in the British
Quarterly Review of ist February, 1850. This was a few
months before the vote in the House of Commons, and
being printed in such an influential magazine it could not
fail to have carried great weight with legislators, and in
preparing the way for the struggle in Parliament.
It occupies some twenty pages. The writer of it has
satisfaction in noting that the review in which his paper
was printed was, if he did not mistake, the first among
the literary journals of this country to call attention to
public libraries and to the comparative view of the acces-
sibility of books, both to the scholar and to the people in
different countries.
He refers to some of the evidence given before the
commission by M. Guizot and others. Again he drives
home the fact that no country was so rich as the United
Kingdom in private libraries, and that no country in
Europe was worse supplied with public libraries. His
own statistics presented to the commission are mentioned,
and then in a footnote, in which he says :
These statistical tables have been attacked with much more asperity
than force, in some anonymous letters. . . . The critic deals rather in
assertions than proofs : and in correcting trivial errors and oversights
has committed grave mistakes of his own. The principal features and
broad results of the "Approximate Statistical View of Public Libraries
in Europe and America," remain unimpeached. . . .
His survey of the monastic libraries is sympathetic, as
it always was. At that time books were being issued in
Great Britain, Germany and France at the rate of some
twenty thousand annually. " When persons," he says,
41 unaccustomed to the sight of a great library visit one
io6 EDWARD EDWARDS.
for the first time, they not unfrequently inquire : ' Are all
these books read ? ' Nor is it always easy to convince
them that the books which no human being, at least in
these days, would ever dream of reading, are precisely
those which it is most important that a great national
library should possess, or that the more extensive such a
library is, the larger will be the proportion borne by mere
' books of reference ' to the aggregate numbers, and the
larger also its proportion of 'trash'." For educational
libraries " selection will be far more important than mere
numbers ". Newspapers were then beginning to take a
large place in the reading of the people. In America, he
remarked that the reading of newspapers incited to other
reading, but in this country they superseded it. Were Mr.
Edwards now alive he would probably have to reverse this
view for the respective countries. Even were Parliamentary
aid obtained, the people would require to depend mainly on
their own exertions. Salford, Warrington and Glasgow
were doing fairly well in the way of voluntary gifts of
money for books. Church and parochial libraries, he
notices a little farther on, often contain rare and valu-
able books, but such libraries were circumstanced some-
what as was the man who was rich in lace ruffles
and had no shirt. He closes his paper with a powerful
appeal for the removal of the duty on the importation,
of foreign books. The last sentence in the article is :
We trust that Mr. Ewart will not allow the coming session to elapse
without urging upon Parliament the entire removal of these obnoxious
imposts. To him the country is already under deep obligation for
untiring efforts to amend the laws, to diffuse education and culture,
and to promote in various ways the social and economical well-being
of the people. In respect to measures of this practical nature, few
men in Parliament have done so much. And the time, we hope, is
rapidly approaching when labours such as these will hold a far higher
place in public opinion, than the most brilliant gladiatorial displays
in the cause of party schemes and party interests. We wish to see a
larger portion of our libraries really public, and brought into a nearer
and more healthy relation to the people. We desire, also, to witness
vigorous efforts, like that at Salford, on the part of the people them-
selves, to form new libraries on a sound and permanent basis.
Modest man, he says nothing of his own efforts I
CHAPTER VI.
WORK AT MANCHESTER, 1851-1858.
The management of these libraries has been made wholly inde-
pendent of sect, party or clique in religion or in politics. Their
permanence has been made in like manner independent of charitable
gifts, or of fluctuating subscriptions.
Memoirs of Libraries.
A VERY influential Local Committee had been formed in
Manchester for the purpose of establishing a public library
and adopting the new Public Libraries Act. Subscriptions
to the amount of nearly 13,000 had been raised, and
with this sum the new library was to be organised.
Edwards was selected as librarian and adviser to the
committee, and he aided materially in securing the adop-
tion of the Act, almost unanimously, in 1852. He was
naturally very proud of securing the appointment of first
public librarian at Manchester, not only because his
position at the British Museum had been determined, but
doubtless because such a post would give him an oppor-
tunity of carrying some of his ideas into practice. It was
in May, 1850, that he received his last cheque from the
British Museum, consequently he was free to take up
another appointment. On the i8th of May he made this
entry in his diary, " Breakfasted with Mr. Ewart who
spoke to me very kindly on Museum matters offering to
talk with Sir R. H. Inglis thereon. He also offered me
a cheque for 30 which I gratefully declined at least at
present. He spoke to me as to the difficulty of rendering
me any efficient assistance as to new employment in his
position as an independent member of Parliament^ but
assured me he would gladly do anything that might fall
within his power." The friendship at this time of George
(107)
io8 EDWARD EDWARDS.
Bullen of the British Museum was helpful to his dis-
turbed mind. The same may be said of the goodwill
of Robert Cowtan, who was also at the Museum. Bullen
seems to have realised that Edwards' continuance at
the British Museum was undesirable in the interest of
his own mental comfort and prospects. Interviews and
correspondence with Ewart were constant. The Parlia-
mentary Committee had not yet finished its work, and
Edwards was busy in preparation for his final examination.
On i5th June, 1850, he was on his way to a friend's
house and records that he " met Ewart who gave me
note enclosing cheque for "50 to defray printing and
other expenses which I have incurred in the course of
libraries committee ". He lost not a moment's time in
paying away a good part of this cheque on his mother's
behalf. On 2oth March, 1849, he had received from Mr.
Ewart 15 towards the expense of reprinting his pamphlet
on "Paucity of Libraries". In the autumn of 1850 he
had spent all his money and was in need of more for
household expenses. Some expected remittances due for
contributions to the Atlas newspaper on the British
Museum, National Gallery, etc., had not come to hand,
and he with great reluctance applied to Ewart, who sent
him on 26th September, 1850, "15 as a loan. These
three payments, making a total of 80, are all that can
be traced of money received from Ewart or other wealthy
friends of the library movement, for the ceaseless labour
and endless time and thought he had devoted to the work
of promoting the establishment of municipal public
libraries. Naturally he could not afford to give his labour
to the cause, as could Ewart and others. The first 15
which he received was practically all paid away at once
by Edwards for printing and postage, and 65 thus
remains as the sum total of the pecuniary reward given
him for unrivalled services in an important public cause.
He did not receive anything for expenses as a witness
before the committees. On page xix of the 1849 report
a list is given of those who received payment, and the
WORK AT MANCHESTER, 1851-1858. 109
amount in each case. No list is given for 1850. He so
scrupulously enters in his diary his income and expendi-
ture, that it is reasonable to suppose he would have
entered any sum received as a witness. Government
servants can scarcely be compensated for giving informa-
tion in a Government inquiry, and, apart from this, inquiries
at the Treasury have not led to the discovery of any
payment to him as a witness.
Often he had to battle with poverty, and yet he was too
proud to ask for adequate recompense for honest and de-
voted labour freely given to a great cause ; resting content
to see his labour credited to, or appropriated by others,
and going forth chiefly as the work of the political heads
of the movement. Whether to deplore Edwards' unneces-
sary modesty, or censure Ewart for resting content to be
served by Edwards on such inadequate terms, must be
left to the judgment of the individual reader. The postages
alone upon the correspondence, pamphlets and books sent
to Ewart and others must have been no small item and
could not have been covered by the 15 named. No man
was ever more willing to spend his own scanty earnings,
or even to be exploited for the good of the commonwealth,
than was Edwards ; but, after all, he was not called upon
to undertake intense mental labour, and give help of
measureless value, largely to enhance the reputation of a
rich man who took a prominent place in public life. True,
during most of the time that Edwards was helping Ewart,
he was an assistant at the British Museum, and received for
his labour the princely stipend of 164 and a fraction a year.
The writer has searched every available record for de-
tails of some evidence of public recognition or generosity
towards this man who prepared the brief for public libra-
ries, but beyond the sum of So already mentioned, there
is no trace of any kind of adequate reward.
On istjuly, 1850, Ewart first spoke to Edwards about the
prospects of a librarianship at Manchester, and from this
date there are frequent references in his letters and diaries
to the opening likely to present itself there. At the end
no EDWARD EDWARDS.
of the same month he called upon Brotherton, who received
him very kindly, and " promised to give his zealous sup-
port to my application for the librarianship at Manchester,".
On agth July he enters quietly in his diary, " Libraries Bill
passed this night, forty-nine against fifteen ". On the
same day he wrote to Binney, W. J. Fox, Kershaw, the
member for Stockport, and to Ewart, asking for testi-
monials for his Manchester candidature, and it is clear from
this that there must have been some talk about Manchester
being likely to adopt the Acts very soon after the passing
of the library law. Each of these wrote, and the letters
are among the papers and correspondence discovered by
the writer, and as they have never before, to his knowledge,
been given in print, they are here quoted :
Ewart's letter is dated, "Folkestone, 3ist December,
1850 " :
It gives me both very great pleasure and very sincere gratification to
bear my testimony to your fitness to fill the place of Librarian to a Public
Library. I believe that there are few persons in England so well ac-
quainted with the management, regulation and contents of all existing
libraries. I know indeed that your attention has for many years been
devoted to this important subject. And I am the more disposed (per-
haps the more competent) to speak on it, because I was most
materially assisted, as chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on
Public Libraries, by your extensive experience and unremitting zeal.
I will only add that all I have known of your private character is in
every respect favourable. Sincerely wishing you success, etc.
There is a postscript. " I observe with satisfaction that
there is an article in the American Almanac, for the coming
year, on your ' View of Public Libraries '."
Dr. Binney wrote from Glasgow on 23rd August :
I greatly regret not having been able to write to you before
I left London and still more so, that my constant movements in the
highlands interfered with my previous purpose. I was anxious to
express my wishes for your success in respect to the Manchester
Librarianship. I should be glad for your own sake to hear of your
obtaining an office so congenial with your tastes and habits, and for
the duties of which your employment in the British Museum must
have peculiarly qualified you : while for the sake of the projected
Institution itself, I wish you may succeed, as I think you may be of
WORK AT MANCHESTER, 1851-1858. in
great use, from your knowledge and experience, in connexion with a
library in the course of formation. If it was in my power to forward
your object, I should give my assistance with the greatest alacrity, as
I feel that I could do so with entire confidence ; and, indeed, I would
add, that if you thought this note could be used by you to the least
effect, it is quite at your service for that purpose.
James Kershaw wrote from the House of Commons on
3ist July :
I beg to say how much gratified I am by the information that you are
a candidate for the office of Librarian to the new library about to be
established by the Town Council of Manchester. I entertain a high
opinion of your qualifications for such a post ; and it will give me
.great satisfaction to find that you are elected to the office.
William J. Fox's letter is dated 3oth July :
From my personal knowledge of Edward Edwards, Esq., and of
his services, I am strongly convinced that he would be a most valuable
acquisition, as librarian to the new Library about to be established at
Manchester, or to any similar Institution.
A delightful week was spent in August of 1850 by his wife
and himself at Kenilworth and the neighbourhood. The
holiday was enjoyable to both, and Edwards must have
enjoyed himself like a boy fresh from school, as they had
several boy relatives with them part of the time, and went
-on nutting and blackberrying expeditions with them. In
the middle of the month named, he went to Manchester to
help on his candidature for the appointment as librarian.
He immediately went to see the projected library, and
found it " a capable site but in a dense neighbourhood".
After this brief visit to Manchester he returned to Kenil-
worth, and records several nutting and blackberry expedi-
tions with some boys. Happy the man who can become
or remain a boy ! On 2yth December, 1850, he went
again to Manchester at the invitation of the Mayor, Mr.
John Potter, to help him with the preliminaries in the
formation of the library. The appointment of librarian
had not then been made.
On the following day he records that he was out before
ten o'clock and obtained the plans of Campfield Library
from the borough surveyor. During the day he had
ii2 EDWARD EDWARDS.
interviews with the Mayor and the Bishop of Manchester
on library matters, and in the evening he dined with Mr.
John Potter, the Mayor. The three last days of 1850
were busy days to Edwards in Cottonopolis. On ist
January, 1850, he had 45. 4d. in his purse, and at the
end of that year, 16 los. gd. to carry forward to 1851.
He had expended for " my dear mother and sisters
for the year" a very considerable sum. On New Year's
Day, 1 85 1, he dined again with the Mayor. A week later
he writes, " Attended public meeting at Campfield (Hall
of Science), to organise the Manchester Free Library :
Mayor presided and the meeting went off spiritedly ".
On loth January, at the meeting of the Town's Committee,
Edward R. Langworthy proposed, and the Bishop of Man-
chester seconded, the appointment of Edwards as librarian
at a salary of 200 a year. There were other motions, one
that "100 and one that "50 more than this sum should be
paid, but both were lost. Two days later was Sunday, and
Edwards enters in his diary, " To church at Bowdon (a
noble old church, looking all the more beautiful for its
Christmas decorations) when I repeated my grateful
thanks to Almighty God for bringing me thus far into
a new sphere of labour praying that in it I and mine
may have His Divine blessing, and that I may have
strength to perform my new duties as in His sight ".
Truly this man, with all his failings, had a devout mind.
His appointment at the British Museum had come to
an abrupt ending, but Manchester, the first of the great
new family of municipal libraries, which he had done so
much to bring into existence, had opened its arms to re-
ceive him. Every minute detail had to be seen to by
himself, and he and the committee, whose efforts he was
to direct, had no model which they could follow. The
library stationery forms, shelving, heating, furniture,
everything had to be thought out by him. The buying
of the books was a huge task. All that the compilation
of the catalogue meant at this time, when so much of the
work was simply a groping in the dark, is only known at
WORK AT MANCHESTER, 1851-1858. 113
this day to the immediate chiefs of the Manchester Public
Library. The turmoil of bringing into form and shape
the first municipal public library appears very plainly in
Edwards' diaries at this period. Only the merest fraction
of these entries can be quoted. Readers belonging to the
library world can fill in a good deal for themselves. There
was no mould out of which the parent institution came,
no precedents to be followed and no model to copy.
Everything had to be patiently hammered out bit by bit :
woven with as much care as Manchester bestowed on
some of its choice textiles. This was, perhaps, not the
best task which could have fallen to the lot of Ed wards r
but he settled honestly to the work. Several men are still
alive who shared some of the labours of those days, and
they remember Edwards and his part in the task with
more than a kindly interest. Mr. William James Paul
was secretary of the Working Men's Committee, which
collected money to the extent of 800, and had much to do
in educating public opinion upon the question. He says,
in a letter to the writer, " I was closely connected with him
from the time of his engagement to his retiring, and a
more hard-working, amiable gentleman I never knew".
Mr. John Chadfield was under Edwards for three years as
a boy in the library, and " always found him a courteous
gentleman ". Alderman Harry Rawson, a Manchester
worthy, and Mr. John King, " jun.," now over eighty, were
members of the committee during part of the period
covered by Edwards' librarianship. Mr. Benjamin Chad-
wick was another of Edwards' library boys. These several
gentlemen are still living, and all look back along the years,
and rejoice, that they had some part in the establishing of
the public library, then an entirely new municipal institu-
tion. One of these gentlemen tells a story of how a boy
assistant was carrying an armful of books in the Man-
chester Library with his cap on. The librarian threatened
to box the lad's ears if he 'did not take off his cap. A boy
with his cap on in a library could not, evidently, in Edwards'
estimation, be respectful to the books.
8
ii 4 EDWARD EDWARDS.
William Ewart wrote from Folkestone on i3th January,
1851 :
I heartily congratulate you and rejoice in your success. Make the
most of Manchester. It is a rising place. Be content to rise with it.
" Spartam nactus es, hanc exornia."
My brother had been putting in a word for you at the new Liverpool
Library. But the salary there will be only 100. I must say that you
and I have great reason to rejoice at the result of our exertions. Have
we not planted for posterity ? An honest boast may, in such a case,
be pardoned.
I hear of a Library and Museum being formed at Winchester. But
not a word in consequence of the 50 copies of the Act I lately sent to
the Mayors of as many Municipalities. No new Returns. I will write
or speak of them in Town : whither I go for the season to-morrow.
But theological animosity will obstruct public business and public
good.
The book buying was a serious task, and later some
time was spent, by Edwards and James Crossley, upon
this business. He records the receipt of one letter from
a firm of Manchester booksellers, whose name he gives,
of which he says, "These gentlemen had thought fit to
write me a letter on the strength of former transactions
on my own account, and for my own literary purposes, in
which, after promise of zeal for the library interests, they
offered me in addition a discount for myself". Edwards
replied that price and good condition were the only
recommendations that would influence purchases.
A librarian has just as much right as any other citizen
to have political opinions, but it is not a wise proceeding
to give expression to them to the members of a library
committee. Very early in those days Edwards talked
politics with the Mayor, and Mr. Potter called him " a
radical of the Cobden school ". Later he drew up some
electioneering literature at the suggestion of the Mayor.
This is mentioned in order to urge upon librarians the
wisdom of not mixing with politics. A librarian should
not know any public politics ; he is the servant of all
parties. The Bishop of Manchester was a regular at-
tendant at the meetings of the Library Committee, and
WORK AT MANCHESTER, 1851-1858. 115
had ideas of his own, which he expressed, as to how the
catalogue should be prepared. His plan was to write the
book titles at once in MS. volumes, thus avoiding the
use of slips altogether and adopting one alphabetical
arrangement, without indexes, but with copious cross-
references. The book sub-committee had to thresh out
the question, and, as it was a thorny one, some soreness
was left in the mind of the librarian.
Some very matter-of-fact letters referring to library
matters had occasionally been written by Edwards on
Sundays during these busy days. In 1876 he adds this
note in red ink to one of the entries of that period " I
look now in retrospect on these repeated entries of
correspondence, etc., on Sundays, with the sincerest sorrow
and compunction. It seemed at the time to have very
plausible excuse, but it had really none whatever. It
was altogether wrong and utterly condemnable." He
had a tender conscience. During 1852 he had frequent
consultations with Sir John Potter, for knighthood had
come to the Mayor, about the opening ceremony, and he
conferred with him about an advance in his salary to
"300, but the Mayor was afraid that nothing could be
done. Manchester never has been half liberal enough in
the remuneration given to the chiefs of its library staff.
On 2oth August, 1852, he records, "... Visited each
polling-place thrice to-day and made up returns. At four
with Sir John Potter to Town Hall. Final aggregate
return thus. For, 3962. Against, 40." Manchester had
thus by an early adoption of the Act of 1850 started a
little craft on its way which was destined to become a
great fleet. A Library Committee appointed by the town
council was forthwith appointed. All the work up to
this, already described, had been done by the Town's
Committee. On 6th September, 1852, Edwards makes
the simple entry, " Free Library first opened to the public
for reading . . . there was necessarily great crowding
and noise : but on the whole the demeanour of the visitors
was exemplary". Next day he sent collections of papers
n6 EDWARD EDWARDS.
and documents about libraries to one correspondent at
Oxford, and to another inquirer who had written to him
for information. These early years bristle with such
inquiries. They must have been a severe tax upon his
time and patience. Then, soon after the opening, he
took three weeks' holiday, part of which he spent in the
Isle of Wight, at Niton, and other places. It is worthy
of note that there was only six weeks between the opening
of the Manchester Free Library and that of Liverpool.
In 1854 he seriously felt the pinching caused by his small
salary, and in the autumn of that year Potter hinted to him
that, to use Edwards' words " it would be better for me
to seek to obtain something better ". At the end of that
year his cash in hand to carry over for the following year
was 8s. The present writer would like to inscribe these
sentences about Edwards' agonising days and nights,
caused by insufficient' salary, in such a prominent way,
that every member of a public library committee would be
bound to read them.
On 22nd March, 1854, Ewart wrote:
. . . You must excuse me for referring (I know you will take it as
it is meant) to a passage in the Manchester Library report. I gave
notice of a motion for a Select Committee before I had the advantage
of seeing your pamphlet on the question. Indeed, in the preceding
session ; and, on the estimates, several sessions before. I think that
from your report it would seem that these proceedings had been the
consequence of your work which in truth I read afterwards. I men-
tion this for the sake of exactness.
On 24th March there is this entry in his diary : " Wrote
Ewart with suggestions on his amended Libraries Bill,
on proposed digest of the foreign returns, and correcting
his misapprehension on a point incidental to Committee
of 1849 ".
Ewart wrote on 2yth March, 1854 :
. . . You will, I think, find the essential part of the amendments
you suggest embodied in the new bill. I had left the amount of the
leviable rate unlimited. Sir B. Hall thought it safe to limit it to a
penny, so therefore it stands at present. Still, the extension to a penny
will suit many places. . . . There will, I daresay, be an opposition
WORK AT MANCHESTER, 1851-1858. 117
(verbal only) to the bill. But I trust it will be purely, or mainly,
Sibthorpian. Sibthorpe intends to propose that we should give a
power to purchase Punch. So at least he has hinted. ... In what
I said about an incidental point, I meant that the idea was long in my
mind, and indeed expressed in motions recorded in Hansard long
previous to any intimation alunde. Any light you can throw on the
establishment or proposed establishment of new libraries will aid me
much. The Times in a recent article coldly hints that we have not
succeeded.
In the first and second reports by Edwards there does
not seem to be any remark bearing particularly on the
committee of 1849. Other entries in the diaries about
this time are 25th February (1854) : " Drew up address
to the Burgesses of Birmingham on proposed poll for
introduction of Library Act into that town . . ."
3<Dth March : " Revised draft Petition for Amendment
of Libraries Act. Drew up some notes on Free Libraries,
and wrote Mr. Wright, of Stockport, Mr. Gradwell, of
Ormskirk, Mr. Leader, of Sheffield, and Mr. Tovey, of
Bristol." On 25th October, 1854, Ewart wrote : " . . . It
must be a great satisfaction to you to witness the result
of your many labours on this subject".
On 22nd April, 1855, Dr. Binney preached in Manchester
" a most impressive sermon. . . . May God in His infinite
mercy bless to me this word of instruction lead me in
humble penitence to seek mercy through Jesus Christ and
by the mercy of His atonement, and bring me and all those
who are dear to me into humble submission to His Divine
will and into devout preparedness for all that may be
within His providence concerning us." In 1855, he sent
35 i2S. to his mother, and he had 2S. ud. in hand for
the new year. During 1855 there are in his diaries, during
the last six months, frequent references to his Memoirs of
Libraries, which he had then begun. In the following
year there was another fruitless application for an increase
of salary. It must, however, be remembered that the
movement was a new one at this time, and the library
had some enemies in the town council, who were ready
to pounce upon any weak spot in its administration, so
n8 EDWARD EDWARDS.
that it is not improbable that they would have resisted an
increase of the librarian's stipend. Visits were made to
the library by leaders of local opinion in other districts,
and information was freely given as to methods and
results by Edwards, so that he and his library became
the veritable schoolmaster and schoolhouse of the public
library movement. During 1856, and the year following,
he catalogued the library of Lord Willoughby de Broke,
at Compton Verney, for which work he received over two
hundred pounds. On 5th August, 1857, he spent part of
his holiday in Devon. He writes in his diary " Had a
delightful walk from Torquay by the cliffs towards Babba-
combe, but the pleasure was interrupted by a fall over the
cliff, occasioned by my own awkwardness (I was reaching
over to pluck a wildflower), and which might have lost me
my life. The brushwood saved me under God's good
providence, and I have to be grateful for preservation in
the greatest peril of the kind I have yet met with. May
the life thus graciously preserved be amended and the
lesson be turned to the right account." On i4th Decem-
ber he attended a meeting of the Library Committee which
he describes as " a most pitiable exhibition of crass
ignorance and puerile vanity ". The catalogue was the
source of trouble. A neighbouring proprietary library
had produced a catalogue on the cheap, which Edwards
says " was a disgrace to all concerned in it ". Both the
compilation and the printing were poor. Some of the
committee desired to follow the same lines for the catalogue
of the Reference Library, and it is certain that the librarian
resisted it with vigour. It is not a wise thing for a librarian
to tell his committee that they do not know anything of
books or practical library administration. Such a state-
ment might be true in some cases, but the librarian should
lock the knowledge in his own heart, and refuse to let it
be drawn from him on any pretext. The first librarian of
the first municipal library under the Act of 1850 overlooked
this prudent course, and suffered in consequence. It was
openly said in committee that the librarian was habitually
WORK AT MANCHESTER, 1851-1858. ng
disrespectful, and, if he taunted the members with igno-
rance, any other committee would probably have said the
same thing. Alderman Harry Rawson, who was for very
many years a member of the committee, says, in a letter
to the writer dated aist September, 1901 :
When in 1856 I first became a member of the Committee of the
Manchester Free Libraries Edwards was the chief Librarian. Of his
unique knowledge and great abilities, my colleagues and myself had
a high opinion. But, unfortunately, we differed on certain matters of
administration. No doubt we may have been probably were
somewhat too exacting ; and he was hardly as ready to fall into our
views as he might have been. He was proudly defiant, and we
perhaps needlessly impatient, not making sufficient and reasonable
allowance for his peculiarities of temperament and disposition. Poor
fellow, he deserved a better fate than an old age of indigence and
neglect.
On Qth June, 1858, Edwards makes this entry in his
diary, " The (Town) Council to-day had the almost in-
conceivable fatuity and folly to pass this resolution on
the motion of. ... Resolved that . . . the committee be
requested to procure an analysis of the number of readers
in the several libraries with their occupations and pecuniary
resources so far as may be found practicable." This
illustrates some of the spirit then prevailing. Edwards'
view is shown by his words, " The incomparable Dogberry
who proposed and carried this resolution was very nearly
foisted on the libraries committee by ... in November
last ". The various indiscretions and disagreements
culminated in an open rupture between committee and
librarian, and in the end Edwards was asked to resign.
On gth July, 1858, he received a copy of the resolution
passed by the committee, that he be " again recommended
to resign his office as librarian," and on 6th October the
council resolved, " that the appointment of Mr. Edwards
as chief librarian be, and the same is hereby, cancelled,
and that he be paid such sum, as shall be equivalent to any
notice, to which under the circumstances he may be legally
entitled". Later he received "125 in addition to the
salary due. Before the end of that month Sir John Potter
120 EDWARD EDWARDS.
died, and Mr. R. W. Smiles was appointed chief librarian.
Edwards made visits to the branches to take leave of the
staff, and received some kindly words. One member of
the committee, who had not always been friendly to
Edwards, said that he would at any time travel 100 miles
to serve him. His successor, Mr. R. W. Smiles, wrote
on 6th October, 1859, as follows :
I was very sorry to learn the other day, on my return to the Library,
that I had missed your visit ; and my regret has been aggravated by
the receipt of your favour of the 3oth ult., from which I may reason-
ably doubt whether I shall have the pleasure of seeing you at all, for
an indefinite time. I am sure that I should have realised both enjoy-
ment and profit from a little conversation with you on divers matters :
and I should certainly have liked, on the occasion of your leaving
Manchester, to have uttered my humble, yet very fervent, " God bless
and prosper you ". It would have become me also, as a citizen of
Manchester, to express my grateful sense of the inestimable value and
importance of the public services you have rendered to the community.
Will you allow me to assure you that the traces left here of your
labours, and the spirit which inspired them, have deeply impressed
me with this feeling of the gratitude due to you ? I must be pardoned
for the lapsus of speaking of " traces " of your labours. I should
rather speak of the great monument of them which you have reared,
and speak of the " traces " of your " spirit," as many, and distinct, and
of such a character as to excite feelings of honourable envy in my
own mind. I cannot doubt that many very many besides myself,
are ready to accord you the " niche " here to which you are so well en-
titled, and which very very few men could have so thoroughly earned.
You should not have troubled me by expression of thanks, etc., I
should have been greatly grieved if I could have thought it possible
that you would hesitate to command any little facilities we could afford
you in your literary labours. You, more than any living man, know
the character, contents, and value of these tomes by which I am sur-
rounded, and it would be an unworthy and barbarous thing to obstruct
you, of all men, from the freest possible use of them compatible (alas
for the necessary qualification !) with the character and objects of the
Institution. Rely upon all of us here doing most cheerfully (as literary
hacks or otherwise) anything we may at any time have it in our power
to do for you.
The plan of the catalogue is at length settled, it is to be on the
model of the list (modestly so-called) just out, of the books of reference
in the Reading-Room of the British Museum with this difference that
we shall have six alphabetical groups and six indices of subjects. I
can afford to say to you that I am gratified by this result for various
WORK AT MANCHESTER, 1851-1858. 121
reasons, and among others that it is favourable to rapidity of prepara-
tion for the press. Again and most cordially expressing my desire for
the best happiness of you and yours, and thanking you for the mag-
nanimous kindness which I have received at your hands for the last
twelve months. 1
The reports of the library during Edwards' librarianship
are models of what such reports should be. The first is
dated 3oth June, 1851, and is signed by Edwards. It
-extends to twelve pages, and opens with a record of
various lists of books which had been sent out to book-
sellers. These lists cover a wide ground, and are drawn
up in a way which shows their practical utility. Ac-
companying the report is Edwards' draft-list of books
proposed for purchase. This is printed on one side only,
and various bibliographical particulars, such as size and
date of publication, are given, with blank columns for
prices and condition. The list covers over 280 pages,
and embodies the various sections of literature. It is a
masterpiece of bibliographical knowledge. The second
report is dated igth October, 1854. It is in two parts, a
public report, and a special report for the committee, on
the preparation and printing of a classed catalogue. The
committee content themselves with this paragraph, to
which a page is devoted :
The Free Public Library Committee report : Your Committee have
received the annexed Report (and Appendix) of the working of the
Library during the past year, prepared by Mr. Edwards, the principal
librarian, and which your Committee have much pleasure in submitting
for the information of the Council.
The library world might well return to first principles
in the matter of reports. In most of such documents
there is far too little of the librarian and too much of the
committee. The question of library reports is a very
important one, and the Manchester Libraries Committee
would render good service by republishing the reports of
Edwards, or such parts of them as will be helpful to
present-day librarianship. The third report covers forty,
1 The original letter is in the possession of Dr. Garnett, C.B.
122 EDWARD EDWARDS.
the fourth over sixty and the fifth forty pages. The
reports are in terse and polished English. The two chief
librarians who succeeded Edwards benefited largely in
the preparation of the catalogue of the reference books by
the work of their predecessor. It is only fair to Edwards
to record that, in 1861, the then chairman of the Libraries
Committee, Alderman John King, jun., was the prime
mover in an attempt to have Edwards back to finish the
catalogue. He had an interview in London with Mr.
King, and Edwards expressed his entire willingness to
accede, and also the great satisfaction which he would feel
in undertaking the task. Mr. King did not succeed in
carrying the proposition, but it is pleasing to note that all
the members of the committee, who were members when
Edwards was librarian, voted for his being engaged to-
complete the catalogue. The business men of the com-
mittee had allowed their desire for economy to get the
better of their judgment. The catalogue, instead of costing
all told a modest sum, was run up, Edwards says, to
upwards of 1,600, and is a monument of what to avoid
in cataloguing reference books. In the report printed for
private circulation at the end of 1857, Edwards says :
. . . Against such "cheapness" I most respectfully protest as-
illusive. From the windows at which I write this letter, I periodically
see a practical illustration of " economy," falsely so-called, which,
humble as it is, thrusts itself into my mind as elucidatory of the topic
in hand. One of our most constant visitors at Campfield fair-time
is " cheapjack ". No man can possibly preach "economy" more
zealously than he does. He boasts that he undersells everybody.
He decorates the subject with all the artifices of practised oratory.
If he spoke from well-conned notes he could not speak more glibly ;
and his invariable theme is " cheapness ". But, though his success
has been great, it is, I am told, short-lived. His knives are attaining
an unfortunate reputation for not cutting ; his crockery succumbs to
the slightest casualties ; and his customers are getting convinced that
to buy a better article at a fair price is the true economy. I hope we
shall not at this stage of the business be induced to deal with " cheap-
jack ". . . . I should be willing to undertake the preparation of the
MSS. and correction of the proofs at the rate of 2 per sheet, and if
the committee should be pleased to entrust me with this duty, it
would be my most earnest study to discharge it to their satisfaction.
WORK AT MANCHESTER, 1851-1858. 123
The first part of this extract is a very homely thrust
against the economic tendencies of the committee. The
latter part is indicative that the librarian was willing to
give up the whole of his leisure to the task. At the close
of his appointment, Edwards entered into a partnership
with a Manchester firm of booksellers and printers, but
the partnership did not last long.
In 1865 Edwards was a candidate for the chief librarian-
ship of the Guildhall Library. Lord Macclesfield then wrote
to him from Shirburn Castle, Tetsworth, i3th February,
1865:
Dear Mr. Edwards, As I hear you are a candidate for the office of
Librarian to the Corporation of London, I trust you may succeed in
obtaining a post for which your Bibliographical knowledge and literary
experience so well fit you. I have great pleasure in speaking highly of
your qualifications, as the.manner in which you carried out the arrange-
ment and cataloguing of my library gave proof of your ability and
perseverance.
Mr. James Crossley also wrote from Manchester on the
same date :
I wish you every success in your application for the Librarianship
to the City of London. I hope, that in addition to your testimonials,
you will be able to interest some of the influential persons, with whom
the appointment rests, in your cause, for testimonials, etc., as I well
know, however strong they may be, will not carry a candidate through
without some one on the election committee strenuously to back them.
I enclose my testimonial, which I have great pleasure in sending. I
have not addressed it, as I do not know exactly who are the electors.
Probably this will not matter. I am much obliged by your Synoptical
View of the Records, and am glad to see you turning your attention in
that direction. ... I shall be glad to hear how you are going on in
reference to this application.
Among the remaining books acquired by the writer,
which belonged to Edwards, there is a copy of Heber's
Life of Jeremy Taylor, published 1824, in two volumes.
On the title-page Edwards has written the following
note : " This book, with many others, now in my
possession, and much valued by me, and which, I hope,
may one day (after my death) pass on to a Free Town
i2 4 EDWARD EDWARDS.
Library, . . . came from the Library of my late friend,
James Crossley. To him it came from the Rev. John
Mitford, a true book-lover."
There is also in the book the following note made by
Edwards: "N.B. That this book is so nicely bound
(as I love to see books : for, most truly
. . . That book doth share the glory
That, in gold clasps, locks in the golden Story,)
is due not to 'James Crossley ' but to his old acquaintance,
' John Mitford '. Crossley cared nothing whatever for
the ' condition ' of his books, provided the ' Edition ' was
the right thing : did not even care whether they were
dirty or clean. He possessed about thirty thousand
volumes, but possessed scarcely sixty book-shelves. Most
of his books were arranged, warehouse-fashion, i.e., in
rows upon the floors of various rooms, between two of
which you passed (when going either to dinner or to bed)
as between two files of soldiers. Mitford, on the other
hand, patronised the binder, and made his ancillas learn
how to use ' dusters '. E.E."
Whilst reference is being made to Manchester, one of
several letters written to Edwards by Mr. William E. A.
Axon, LL.D., will suitably find a place. Mr. Axon has been
a friend of public libraries for a long term of years, and has
rendered yeoman service to the extension and develop-
ment of these institutions. On i3th October, 1867, he
wrote :
. . . Permit me to say . . . that I was not aware until I received
your letter that to you we were indebted for the suggestion of Free
Libraries to Mr. Ewart. For this information I return my warmest
thanks. . . . Personally I owe you a deep debt of gratitude. What
little knowledge I possess has been almost wholly acquired by the use
of our Free Library, which placed within my reach those aids to study
and research which but for these institutions would be quite inaccessible
to poor students like myself, and I am endeavouring to show my sense
of the benefit conferred upon me, in a way which I think will meet with
your approval by advocating the establishment of these libraries
throughout the land.
WORK AT MANCHESTER, 1851-1858. 125
There were few obituary notices at the time of Edwards'
death. The fullest and best of those which appeared was
in the Manchester Guardian of 25th February, 1886,
written, it is understood, by Mr. W. E. A. Axon. The
Manchester library world has a warm , appreciation of
Edwards. In no part of the country has his memory
been kept so fresh as it has in that enterprising city.
The tribute paid by Mr. W. R. Credland, in his book,
The Manchester Public Free Libraries, is excellent.
Under date of 3rd March, 1902, Mr. J. Taylor Kay wrote
to the present writer as follows :
... I loved the man. I was a youthful assistant of his, when the
Manchester Free Library Committee did not properly appreciate him,
in 1858. I left in 1860 to become librarian of the Manchester
Athenaeum. I went back, nth August, 1863 (the day R. W. Smiles
resigned the librarianship), to be the Hulme Branch librarian, and
acting secretary to the Libraries Committee. ... I have always
associated his (Edwards') likeness, ' in my mind's eye,' with that of
Lord Macaulay as engraved in the library editions of the ' Miscel-
laneous Works '. There is a great similarity in the expression of the
face, and they were similarly built, being broad shouldered. ' He was
very kind to me he wos,' to quote poor Joe in Bleak House. I was a
short, thin, pale, delicate office lad, and had been a persistent user of
the library when he suggested my being an assistant, an offer which I
enthusiastically accepted.
One of the first to strike a high note for Edwards' true
place in the public library movement was Mr. John J.
Ogle, in his book, The Free Library, and again in a paper
read by him before the Library Association at the Man-
chester meeting of 1899.
CHAPTER VII.
EDWARDS AND PRESENT-DAY LIBRARIANSHIP.
Every man who enters on this calling (of librarianship) may give
a powerful impulse to its elevation. It will never open for him
a path to wealth or to popular fame. It is, and is likely to be,
eminently exposed to social indifference and misconception. But,
as a means of permanent usefulness, it presents opportunities which
are surpassed only by those of the pulpit or the press.
Memoirs of Libraries.
THE difficulties which surrounded the administration of
the early public libraries were numerous and intricate.
The then existing libraries afforded little help in the way
of garnered experience. The introduction alone of the
policy of lending of books for home reading added a new
feature, vast in its possibilities, and requiring thought and
attention to detail in every direction. When organisations
are in full operation, and require only to keep pace with
development as the process of evolution makes it necessary,
it is easy to lose sight of the early struggles to transform
crudeness into workable forms. Doubts and obscurities
enveloped the most elementary details of library practice
in its early stages, and in all parts of the work Edwards
was a pioneer. This fact may be stated with pardonable
repetition. In nearly every method for improving the
practical equipment of libraries Edwards proved himself
to be a far-sighted and extraordinarily successful pioneer.
Not only did he lead the way in the great question of
making libraries of all kinds more accessible, but he
anticipated in a very remarkable manner many of the
methods which are now being advocated as the most
desirable in advanced library practice.
Chief among these methods is systematic classification,
a subject upon which Edwards not only held the most
(126)
EDWARDS AND PRESENT-DAY LIBRARIANSHIP. 127
advanced opinions of his time, but was also the most
competent judge of its absolute necessity in a library, by
reason of his unique knowledge of systems. He was the
first in this country to collect, tabulate and compare the
various proposals made for the systematic classification of
human knowledge. His labours in this direction, as con-
tained in his Comparative Table of the Principal Schemes
which have been Proposed for the Classification of Human
Knowledge, published in 1855, in his Memoirs of Libraries,
vol. ii., pp. 761-831, and Free Town Libraries and his
remarks upon this important subject are marked by the
most painstaking industry and research. His views on
the subject of systematic classification were far in advance
of the general opinion in the municipal library circles of
his day, and, indeed, also in advance of the prevailing
opinion held by a majority of the public librarians at the
present time. His paper entitled " Notes on the Classifi-
cation of Human Knowledge," etc., read on nth March,
1858, before the Historic Society of Lancashire and
Cheshire, and published in the Transactions for the session
1857-58, put forward his well-defined ideas upon the
subject. Edwards must have had this type of librarian,
past and present, in mind when he says in his recapitulatory
chapter of Memoirs of Libraries, p. 1066:
It might, indeed, have been added that, if one thinks deliberately,
the platitudes on this section of our subject, which are so often heard
from the lips of amateur or half-educated librarians their faces the
while beaming with self-complacency are simply ludicrous. For a
librarian to say that he prefers not to classify his books, is much as
though a cutler were to say that he liked steel best when unpolished ;
or a sculptor that, for his part, he thought marble was seen to most
advantage in the block.
In further support of his belief in the absolute necessity
for minute and systematic classification in public muni-
cipal libraries, Edwards devised a scheme of his own which
was used at Manchester, Bolton and elsewhere, and also,
in its broader divisions, forms the system of classification
adopted for statistical and other purposes in a number of
128 EDWARD EDWARDS.
libraries at the present time. This scheme is printed in
the second volume of the Memoirs of Libraries, and is a
practical system which is even now, among the abundance
of minute methods in existence, well worth study. Its value
as a classification method applicable to municipal libraries
requiring a scheme for shelving, cataloguing and charging
or recording books, is marred by a somewhat pedantic
notation, made up of a mixture of Roman and Arabic
numerals, the alphabet and certain literary symbols. Thus,
to express the subdivision of his Class III. History,
representing " Ecclesiastical History of England gener-
ally " he uses this notation : III. 7, f i, or III. 7 f i
which is practically useless, save for printing in a catalogue.
The scheme has, however, been recently reprinted by
Mr. James Duff Brown, librarian of the Finsbury Public
Libraries, in his Manual of Library Classification (p. 51,
1898), in a form which makes it of practical value for public
municipal libraries. Mr. Brown has set out the principal
headings and subdivisions, and printed them in conjunc-
tion with a simple notation which makes the classification
easy to apply and use. The books on the " Ecclesiastical
History of England generally, "for example, are represented
by the simple symbol C. 7-5, which can be spoken or
written, and so used for any library purposes. This sim-
plification of the notation of Edwards' scheme of classifi-
cation undoubtedly adds to its usefulness, and renders it
capable of being adopted in any kind of library.
The principal theories of Edwards, in regard to the class-
ification of books, are so intimately connected with hi&
writings on the subject of cataloguing, that it is impossible
to quote them without repetition, and some of his chief
statements on the general subject may with advantage be
here reproduced from the Memoirs of Libraries (vol. ii.)
and Free Town Libraries.
There is no matter connected with the administration of a Public
Library which can vie, in point of importance, with the character and
the condition of its catalogues. However liberal its accessibility,
however able its chief, however numerous and well-trained its staff.
EDWARDS AND PRESENT-DAY LIBRARIANSHIP. 129
however large and well-selected its store of books, it will fall lament-
ably short of the true standard of a good Library, if its catalogues be
not (i) well constructed, (2) well kept up with the growth of the collec-
tion, and (3) thoroughly at the command of its frequenters. The first
point involves the multifarious questions as to the preferability of classi-
fied or of alphabetical catalogues, and as to the relative merits of the
various schemes which have been proposed for constructing catalogues
of either sort ; the other two points entail a discussion of that much
controverted question whether the catalogues on whatever plan con-
structed of Libraries which are necessarily in astate of constant growth
should be kept up in manuscript or in print. That questions such as
these are neither trivial, nor very easy of solution, those will best know
who have tried to work them out in practice. But, as Mr. Carlyle has
said (after his manner,) " A Library is not worth anything without a
Catalogue : it is a Polyphemus without any eye in his head, and you
must front the difficulties, whatever they may be, of making proper
catalogues ".
But, if there is to be any hope of general agreement as to what sort
of catalogues may reasonably be termed " proper," we must try to set
out with some clear and definite conceptions of the purposes which
such catalogues are intended to subserve. During the last eight years
more space has been devoted to this subject in periodical literature,
both British and American, than was so devoted during the preceding
eighty. Any one whose curiosity may induce him to ' read up ' the
discussion, will meet very frequently with a new phrase that of
" finding-catalogue " which, at the first blush, looks like a definition,
but on closer scrutiny will probably be found of small help in the
inquiry. In one sense, indeed, all catalogues must be " finding "
catalogues, or they are worthless, but the character of the catalogue
which, (in that sense), merits the name will depend on the object of
the search. For a Librarian who has in hand the stock-taking of a Lib-
rary, a mere list of the " press-marks," or symbols, whether figures
or letters, or a combination of both, which fix the local habitation
of each book on the shelves, is a " finding-catalogue ". For a reader
who wants the known book of a known author, the briefest and most
skeleton-like of indexes, so that it be arranged according to authors'
names, is a " finding-catalogue ". Even to a reader who seeks a par-
ticular book by an unknown author, a very brief and meagre catalogue
will prove a finding one always under two conditions : the first, that
he is already acquainted with the precise words with which the title
begins ; and the second, that the catalogue he has recourse to is
arranged according to the beginning of the title, and according to
nothing else. But to a student who resorts to a Library in order to
gain all the assistance it can afford him upon some specific subject of
inquiry, no catalogue will give what he seeks unless it be full, accurate,
and classified under heads.
130 EDWARD EDWARDS.
In proceeding to discuss the various methods by which these several
requirements may best be met, I pass over, for the present, those mere
lists or " inventories " which are necessary to the internal arrangement
and safe custody of a Library, and restrict the term " Catalogues " to
such as are needed for the use of the Public.
Catalogues of books, then, may be drawn up, either, in the first
place, according to the topics treated of in the works which have to be
catalogued, such topics being arranged in a single alphabetical series
for example : AARAU ABACUS ABBEY ABBOT ABEL
ABELARD ABERDEEN ABINGDON ABJURATION, and so
forth, as in the well-known Bibliotheca Britannica of Watt ; or, secondly,
they may be framed in accordance with some systematic classification
of their subjects as, for instance, THEOLOGY PHILOSOPHY-
JURISPRUDENCE HISTORY LITERATURE each of these
classes being divided, and subdivided, into its several branches and
sections ; or, thirdly, they may follow an alphabetical arrangement,
according to the names of the authors, when known, without any
regard to the subjects treated of: the anonymous works following as
a separate series, arranged according to topics (as in the above-men-
tioned work of Watt), or according to the first word of the title, other
than a mere article or preposition (as in the excellent Dictionnaire dcs
Anonymes of the learned Librarian of Napoleon, M. Barbier) ; or,
finally, they may be drawn up in one alphabetical series which shall
include both the names of authors and the headings selected, whether
according to either of the principles above named or to some other,
for anonymous works, and of this kind of Catalogue there are many
examples, some of which I shall have to notice hereafter. . . .
Catalogues on this plan (an alphabet of authors, titles and subjects)
certainly add to the merit of making the important distinction I have
advocated, the other merit at least as respects certain students of
requiring no previous acquaintance with systems of Classification.
But these merits have to be weighed against grave defects. Of neces-
sity, such catalogues must deal rather with the phraseology of title-
pages than with the real subject-matter of books, and therefore fail to
bring under one view all, or any near approximation to all, the books
they contain on any given topic. In some cases one word will have
several distinct significations, and then the reader's search is embar-
rassed with matter foreign to his purpose ; in others, one theme is
expressible by several synonymous or convertible terms, and then all
these must be turned to, before he can be certain that he has the
information of which he is in quest. . . .
The waste of time and the uncertainty of result that cannot but
attend the use, for purposes of study, of catalogues thus constructed,
will become still more clearly apparent, if we glance, for a moment,
at topics which have been treated in many languages and by writers
of very various periods : especially if some of these writers have been
EDWARDS AND PRESENT-DAY LIBRARIANSHIP. 131
subtle schoolmen, or hair-splitting controversialists. Turn either
to the work of Watt, or to any extensive catalogue on a similar plan,
and look at the headings ALTAR EUCHARIST HOST MASS
REAL PRESENCE SACRAMENT SACRIFICE, etc. How
many titles will be met with under one or other of these words which
might, with equal propriety, have been put under any or all of the rest.
And yet other, more vague and general headings must also be examined,
before the reader can attain a clear conviction that he is fully in posses-
sion of the object of his search. . . .
Should any further proof be needed that this alphabetical method is
far less adapted to the main body of a Catalogue, than to its auxiliary
Index, I think it will be afforded, conclusively, if the reader will once
more turn to the book just quoted (Watt's Bibliotheca), and glance at
the article " Rome ". The attempt to do more than glance at that
formidable array of serried columns would be almost as alarming as to
be doomed to read up the controversy on the " Power of the Keys,"
or that on the " Notes of the Church ". This mass of titles is broken
up into twelve divisions, and thirty-six subdivisions : and thus a result
is ingeniously attained which at once sacrifices alphabetical uniformity,
and fails to realise systematic classification. . . .
Whether the Catalogue to be undertaken be alphabetical or classed :
whether it aim at the utmost fulness of information, or at the greatest
possible brevity, the difficulties which are inseparable from the task
will soon become apparent. Even a mere sale-catalogue, if the vendors
are to be honestly dealt with, must proceed upon some sort of plan,
framed with a view to meet these difficulties, or so many of them, at
least, as obstruct a truthful description, how brief soever, of the books
in hand. For the Catalogue of a Library, if intended in any degree to
subserve study, there must also be a careful identification of Author-
ship. No such Catalogue deserves the name unless the reader of it be
able to find, either in the body of the work, or in the Index, (i,) all that
the Library possesses of the known books of a known author, at one
view; as well as (2,) all that it possesses, by whomsoever written, on a
known and definite subject.
The main difficulties that lie in the way of the identification of Author-
ship are obviously referrible to three groups of causes : (i) Variations,
errors, and ambiguities in the naming or describing of an author, in
books the authorship of which is not designedly concealed ; (2) the
intentional suppression of the author's name ; (3) the assumption
of feigned names, and the false ascription of books to persons who
were not the writers of them, whether for purposes of deception, or
merely from ignorance. Memoirs of Libraries (vol. ii.).
The difficulties which attend the choice between the almost infinite
varieties of systems of classification which have been proposed are
many, but they have been commonly exaggerated. It is too little
remembered that any really ' classified ' catalogue however defective
i 3 2 EDWARD EDWARDS.
and assailable its theoretical ' system ' cannot, in the nature of
things, fail to assist and facilitate the researches of a really working
reader and student, in a much greater degree and measure, than can
the best conceivable catalogue arranged according to Authors' names.
To know the names of all the consultable authors who have treated of
a subject is to possess already much of the knowledge which the work-
ing student comes to the Library expressly in order to gather. He
wants a Catalogue to tell him what authors to read. And he wants
not a few books, the authors of which are now known to no mortal.
Above all things else, he does not want to consult if the Library be a
large one a hundred, or a hundred and fifty, volumes of catalogue :
or to turn over and over if it be but a small one the eight hundred
or a thousand pages which may intervene between the authors under
' A ' and the authors under ' Z '. For an Index, on the other
hand, the alphabetical arrangement of Authors' names is admirable.
For a secondary and ancillary full catalogue if accompanying another
catalogue, of what nature or ' system ' soever, provided it be really a
Catalogue of the Subjects treated of in books it is an excellent help.
But it is not, and cannot be, a good principle of construction for
the sole and independent Catalogue of any Library which aims at an
object in any degree higher than that of reading for mere pastime, or
for the acquisition of the humblest rudiments of learning.
This would be a strictly true assertion even were the catalogue of
Authors kept as it uniformly ought to be under a separate alpha-
betical order, wholly apart from the alphabetically (but severally)
arranged Headings of anonymous books and of polyonymous books.
It can never help a searcher for the known book of a known author
to have, in one alphabet of titles, a multitude of the 'headings'
necessarily chosen for the entry of anonymous works jumbled up with
the names of authors. For other searchers than those who are seeking
for known books, the alphabet of authors is plainly an obstacle, not a
help. The clumsiest and worst of all the existing systems of cata-
loguing books according to the nature and subject-matter of the book
were the compiler of a Catalogue so unfortunate as to select it from
the rest would, at the least, bring under the searcher's eye, at the
sole cost and labour of consulting one volume instead of consulting a
hundred volumes or a thousand pages between A and Z the titles
of perhaps a hundred books, either treating of one and the same
subject, or else relating to, and bearing upon, that subject, more or
less closely. This advantage alone would far more than compensate
the real toiler at a tough subject of inquiry for half a score of contingent
but minor disadvantages, did they really exist. And it is very far,
indeed, from standing alone.
The very disadvantages and uncertainties (be they what they may in
degree) alleged to attend upon Classified Catalogues involve, at every
step, some addition or other to previous knowledge, on the part of the
EDWARDS AND PRESENT-DAY LIBRARIANSHIP. 133
searcher. If he be led, by the occasionally doubtful partitions and
severances of a subject, to turn, now and then, from one class, group,
or section of such a Catalogue to another class, group, or section, he
acquires, by the very process, some piece of knowledge which he had
not before. Whilst all that a man acquires by having to lift perhaps
a hundred volumes of Catalogues ' A,' ' B,' ' C,' ' D,' etc., and to
turn them over from page to page, is a wearied body and a jaded
mind. Free Town Libraries (pp. 52-54). [The italics are in his book.]
From these extracts it will be manifest that Edwards
had little, if any, sympathy with the alphabetical arrange-
ment of titles and authors' names as in some catalogues.
With a complete grasp of the whole subject, and a piercing
insight into the manifest requirements which a catalogue
should endeavour to satisfy, he dismisses at once the
claims set up for any kind of alphabetical catalogue which
is not accompanied by a systematic classification and all
necessary indexes and other guides. The hold which has
been obtained by the "dictionary catalogue," as evolved
from the practice of one of Edwards' successors at Man-
chester, the late Dr. Crestadoro, and carried up to a certain
point of efficiency and thoroughness by the industry and
talent of certain American librarians, is to be accounted
for by the facility which its form offers for blindfold
compilation, and the ease with which it is possible to
conceal in a wilderness of alphabet a limited acquaintance
with history, geography and subject relationships. It is
impossible to approve of any catalogue which does not
answer every variety of question which can be put to it,
and Edwards was quick to see that a mere alphabetical
author catalogue, which might satisfy the scholar or special
bibliographer, would be absolutely useless to perhaps
90 per cent, of the frequenters of public libraries. In
the whole of his writings on this subject he has anticipated,
to a very close degree, the principal features of the recent
movement in favour of systematically classed and anno-
tated catalogues of books, provided with all necessary
indexes and other practical aids to research. Although
a scholar himself, he sweeps aside the claims of the
pedantic student working along narrow lines, to receive
i 34 EDWARD EDWARDS.
a monopoly of consideration, and boldly attacks the theory
which many eminent men like De Morgan, Jevons and some
of the officers of the British Museum ably held, that author
and title catalogues in alphabetical order are all-sufficient
for every purpose. As he points out himself, when
speaking of the alphabetical author catalogue, " Many a
reader has spent whole days in book-hunting which ought
to have been spent in book-reading " ; and every one who
has had the misfortune to rely upon author-alphabetical
" finding-lists," of the nature above indicated, will recognise
and appreciate the breadth of mind and practical sagacity
of Edwards, whose knowledge and sympathies rise above
any natural prejudices and convictions he may have been
inclined to hold by virtue of his position as a State official.
The remarkable faculty which he possessed of subor-
dinating his own natural inclinations to what he thought
to be the general good, is shown throughout the bulk of
his writings on library matters. His personal predilections
and training should have made him an advocate on the
side of those selfish recluses who wish to have libraries
strictly preserved for their own use, and who hold in
contempt the aspirations of the poor in the direction of
culture and literary study. His political leanings towards
exclusiveness would also, one is bound to think, almost
inevitably predispose him to oppose any movement tending
to throw the wealth of libraries into the common pos-
session of the proletariat. His very pronounced tendency
in the direction of theological and mystical studies, and
his attributes as a kind of nineteenth-century monkish
scholar, all combine to mark him out as the very man to
cry out, with might and main, against any invasion of
libraries by the multitude. Yet, such was the liberal-
minded and thoroughly public-spirited nature of the man,
that he presents, in the most extraordinary juxtaposition,
qualities which combine the essentially selfish character-
istics of the monk with the alert progressive spirit of the
most advanced librarian. His books abound with passages
in which he urges the importance of allowing the utmost
EDWARDS AND PRESENT-DAY LIBRARIANSHIP. 135
freedom to readers in libraries, and he even advocates the
policy of allowing them to have direct access to the book-
shelves, in a manner similar to what has always been
the practice in the reading-room of the British Museum.
He recommends this policy, not as an experiment to be
tried by the less timid managers of public libraries, but as
a course which should form an integral part of the organ-
isation of every municipal library. These views are only
now becoming recognised as vital to the success and
completeness of our libraries ; but when Edwards first
enunciated them, his was as a voice crying in the wilder-
ness. When Edwards organised the Manchester Public
Libraries in 1851-58, he introduced a number of forms and
regulations which have served as models for many of his
successors, and he was one of the first to make a stand
against any rules which struck against public rights. In
his Free Town Libraries, commenting on the doubtful
practices of augmenting funds by means of a charge for
borrowers' tickets, and the establishment of subscription
departments, he says :
Lending Department. In one or two of the smaller towns, for
example, a payment for borrowers' ' tickets ' has been established.
This, at best, is an evasion of the intention of the Legislature, even if
it be granted that it may, technically, be regarded as just escaping the
precise censure due to the open violation of an Act of Parliament. In
one or two others, and in one or two of those which were among the
earliest to levy a Library Rate, a combination has been effected of a
' Subscription Library ' with a ' Free Library '. At Bolton such a
combination has subsisted for many years. It is less plainly and
obviously an evasion of the spirit of the Libraries Act than is the
practice of claiming a shilling on the issue of a ticket for the use of
the Circulating Department of a Free Town Library, but it partakes,
undeniably, of the essential nature of such an evasion. It is a union
of things which conflict as well as differ. This union of the subscription
principle with the rating principle, as far as regards the Town Library
of Bolton, was so framed at the outset as to increase its objectionable
character. The worst conceivable classification of men (under any
circumstances whatever) in relation to mental culture, or to any
appliance or appendage of that, is certainly the breeches'-pocket
classification. Yet the framers of the subscription arrangement at
Bolton were not content with divaricating the readers at the ' Free
136 EDWARD EDWARDS.
Library' as far as concerns the Circulating branch of it, into a
' First Class,' consisting of subscription paying borrowers, and a
' Second Class,' consisting of non-subscribers : they must needs have
three classes, graduated entirely by the breeches'-pocket scale : namely,
I. Borrowers of books, who could afford to pay a guinea a year ; II.
Borrowers of books v/ho could afford to pay only ten shillings a year ;
III. Borrowers of books who could afford to pay directly or indirectly
only their share of the Library Rate. The borrowing privileges of
each class were made more or less ample, in proportion, exactly on the
principle which gives to a First-class railway traveller very soft cushions ;
to the Second-class traveller very hard cushions ; and to the Third-class
traveller no cushions at all. Free Town Libraries (pp. 58-59).
As regards the imposition of a charge for tickets or
application forms, it is sad to have to chronicle the fact
that, in spite of Edwards' vigorous protest, there are still
public municipal libraries which persist in making readers
pay before they can use the lending library, notwith-
standing the very plain declaration of the Public Libraries
Act of 1892, and certain judicial decisions against the
practice, which have been obtained, both in England and
Scotland. In this, as in other important respects, some
few libraries have altered but little since 1852, and the
fact must be attributed, in a measure, to the circumstance
that the teaching of Edwards has never reached the
majority of British librarians. When it is considered
that only 850 copies of the Memoirs of Libraries were
printed, and that most of these found their way into
the hands of private collectors and libraries, in the United
Kingdom, the Continent and United States, it is not
remarkable that only a few of the newer generation of
librarians should have knowledge both of the man and
his advanced ideas. As regards the rank and file of
librarians, both in Britain and America, it must be re-
luctantly confessed that complete ignorance of Edwards'
practical work on behalf of libraries is the ruling con-
dition. His Free Town Libraries was also a book which
reached but a few professional men, and it has only been
within the past few years, when remainders of this work,
and of the Memoirs, were put upon the market, that some
EDWARDS AND PRESENT-DAY LIBRARIANSHIP. 137
of the more recently established public libraries were able
to secure copies at all. Another reason for the absence
of knowledge of Edwards' teaching is to be found in the
fact that comparatively few modern librarians would ever
dream of looking for inspiration, stimulus and practical
suggestion from books on library economy dated 1859 and
1869 respectively. Yet, advanced ideas and theories are
to be found in plenty by any casual seeker, and it will be
seen from what has been previously stated as regards
Edwards' professional achievements, that his thoughts
and writings touched very closely some of the most
important departments of modern library administration.
The same practical common-sense which Edwards
brought to bear upon the problems connected with public
.access, classification, cataloguing and other branches of
library work, he also carried to the consideration of library
buildings and questions connected with their technical
equipment. But on these points his opinions, though
sound and sensible, are not quite abreast of the remarkable
developments in library architecture since his time, nor
has he anticipated to any extent the improvements in
labour-saving devices and apparatus which have been
introduced by highly trained mechanical specialists.
If every Library in this country on which the public has any fair
claim, could be brought distinctly under public view, by a precise and
periodical statement, comprising at least these three particulars : (i.)
what it is; (2.) what it has; and (3.) what it does; a long train of
improvements would inevitably follow. But the systematic inspection
of Public Libraries to be effective must be national.
This occurs on page 565 of the Memoirs of Libraries.
The same idea was advanced at the 1849 inquiry, and the
library world is still waiting for that systematic inspection.
The present writer is convinced that there will never be a
full measure of health and vitality in libraries generally
until some central control of this nature is established.
The largest and best of the public libraries do not need it,
but would welcome it to secure the welfare of the library
.body politic. But there is a class of libraries, and it is to
138 EDWARD EDWARDS.
be feared that it is not a small one, which seriously need 1
to have light from the outside brought to bear upon their
administration. Such libraries are managed in a narrow,
illiberal manner, with rules which hamper rather than help
the public. The staff is selected without regard to con-
siderations of suitability, training or merit, and every
method adopted is of the tamest and least efficient kind..
Only national and systematic inspection can alter thi
state of affairs. His Majesty's Inspectors of Public Schools-
perform an efficient and salutary work without curbing;
local aspirations, and similar inspectors of public libraries
would be able to carry out an equally useful task in;
connection with the municipal libraries. But it is plain
that no form of public Government inspection would be
agreeable to existing library authorities, unless accom-
panied by some kind of substantial State aid. The present
writer must own to being very much in favour of this-
suggestion of Edwards. To-day the library world is not
within measurable distance of its being carried into effect,
The best part of fifty years has passed since Edwards-
made the suggestion, and it has not yet been seriously
considered. Edwards in this matter is half a century ini
advance of current library opinion. The suggestion was
a far-sighted one, and all credit must be accorded to-
Edwards for putting it forward. There should be no
necessity for undue interference, and this is the last
thing which would be likely to happen. The municipal
authorities would prevent any such calamity, and would
doubtless obtain an inspection which would secure the
best interests of the individual institutions.
Some day it is hoped that there will be found a new source
of income. Such a tax as the dog tax might be utilised,
as in some parts of America, and the local library might be
permitted to receive the tax, providing that its work passed
the critical survey of a Government inspector. There is
a natural disinclination in the minds of many people to
multiply the number of Government officials. But there
ought not to be any fear that a limited number of in-
EDWARDS AND PRESENT-DAY LIBRARIANSHIP. 139
specters of public libraries would be an aggravation of
the tendency towards officialism. The need for some
such inspection as that indicated is very pressing in many
cases. Such an expert would know beforehand much of
the inner working of every public library in his division.
He would stand between the library and the contributing
public, and decide whether or not the fullest measure of
usefulness was being extracted from the library. He
would ascertain if the library was in close and effectual
touch with the educational work of the district, and if the
institution was a due and important factor in ministering
to the welfare of the local public. In a word, such inspec-
tion would speedily determine if the work done was robust
or otherwise. The whole subject is an increasingly im-
portant one, and should be brought constantly before the
profession, as it is probably more important now than
when Edwards first broached it.
He says, in Free Town Libraries : " The day will come
when in Britain we shall have courses of bibliography and
of bibliothecal-economy for the training of librarians, as
well as courses of chemistry or of physiology for the
training of physicians ". The importance of this sugges-
tion will be appreciated by librarians. Such a school, it is
hoped, is within measurable distance of being established.
The use of scientific methods of library classification
and cataloguing, the gathering together of local literature
of every description, was first advocated by him, as will
be seen :
Everything that is procurable, whether printed or MS., that bears
on the history and antiquities, the fauna and flora, the trade and politics,
the worthies and notabilities, and, generally, on the local affairs of
whatever kind, of the parish, town and country in which the Library
may be placed, and of the adjacent district, should be carefully collected.
... If the town or district have any great staple trade, every book and
pamphlet relating to that trade . . . should be procured. ... It will
be well to fix upon some main subjects of a general kind in which the
Library shall be especially well provided. What this subject or these
subjects shall be, must, of course, depend upon circumstances which
will vary in different places. Memoirs (pp. 573-574).
I 4 o EDWARD EDWARDS.
The libraries which he advocated as the best depositories
where gifts of books could be stored and taken care of in
perpetuity were municipal libraries, and "those Libraries
will certainly be likeliest to have a fair share of such
accessions, as combine evident care of the books they
already possess with a wise liberality in the arrangements
for access and profitable use " (Memoirs, p. 606).
Following closely upon this in the Memoirs is the ques-
tion of the distribution to public libraries of selections from
the publications of State Papers and books. Allied with
this is the subject of international exchanges of books.
Edwards had strong views that this plan of exchange with
foreign Governments was not only practicable, but would
tend to considerable benefit.
To sum up, the following are the features which
Edwards advocated :
I. Unrestricted access on the part of the public to
their own libraries, and artistic and scientific
collections in all institutions supported out of
public moneys.
II. Evening opening of the British Museum Library.
III. Sunday opening of Public Libraries and Museums.
IV. Lending Libraries.
V. Systematic and national inspection of Public
Libraries.
VI. Collections of local literature and everything apply-
ing to the district where the library is situated.
VII. The best agencies for taking care of gifts of books,
etc., in perpetuity were Public Libraries.
VIII. The distribution to Public Libraries of Parliament-
ary papers and books and documents printed
at the public expense.
IX. The systematic teaching of Bibliography.
There is probably no librarian of any country, nor of any
period, who can be compared to Edward Edwards for
comprehensive grasp of both the literary and the theo-
retical sides of librarianship. He was deeply versed in
EDWARDS AND PRESENT-DAY LIBRARIAN SHIP. 141
everything relating to bibliography and the history ot
literary effort, while his knowledge of the libraries of his
time was probably unique. But, apart from this, he added
to the many gifts of a versatile mind a genuine sympathy
with the true seeker after the knowledge stored in books,
whether he came clad in broadcloth or fustian. It is so
seldom that such a union of admirable qualities is found
centred in a single individual, that Edwards may be re-
garded as one of these rare phenomena which Nature
occasionally produces a heaven-born theoretical lib-
rarian and a man of letters.
CHAPTER VIII.
HIS LITERARY AND OTHER WORK.
The familiar words, " He being dead yet speaketh," are ob-
viously true of all men who have led (under human limitations)
earnest and noble lives. But their full significance never comes
out, save when the web of life and of character has been woven of
mingled threads, good and ill together, with the darker skein some-
what more than commonly visible.
Exmouth and its Neighbourhood.
EDWARDS put good work in whatever he undertook.
However much he was in need of money, he never did
anything slovenly. His industry in his work was stupen-
dous. The length of time occupied in the preparation of
some of his books would startle many a modern maker of
books. Directly he had a subject upon which he was to
write, whether it was the Memoirs, or his article on the
" Post-office " for the Encyclopaedia Britannica, he began
collecting data and notes with a profusion that knew no
limit and no weariness. To the library world he sets an
example in this respect, worthy of imitation. No trouble
was too great for him to take for the verification of a fact, or
to give fulness to a statement. His note-books, common-
place books, guard books full of memoranda, which it has
been possible to collect, reveal the tireless industry of the
man.
He had the true spirit of the man of letters, and was
no mere book-maker. No sooner was an edition published
of one of his important books than he began to think
how he could improve it for a new edition. The printer
could never tire him with revises, and upon the printer,
all through his work, he was as merciless as an author
could be. He lived in an atmosphere of book-lore. A book
was to him something more than quires of printed paper
(142)
LITERARY AND OTHER WORK. r 4 3
Abound within two stout boards, but he was the last man
in the world to call a book a book simply because it had
the semblance of one. There is not one of his books
which shows the marks of undue hurry. Fulness is
everywhere writ large. In fact, some of his work was too
full, and would have been all the better for wise and
liberal pruning. He erred on the side of redundancy.
It has been already said that he would never have made
a great historian. His leanings and his antipathies were
too marked to admit of his taking an impartial view of a
subject requiring an exquisite poise of judgment. He
lacked in a rather marked' way this mental balance. And
yet, as already stated, he never allowed what happened at
the British Museum or at Manchester to warp his sense
of justice, or lead him to write an angry word. Once he
loses this quality, and that in the Preface of the first vol-
ume of the second edition of his Memoirs of Libraries,
which will be mentioned presently.
His range of literary vision covered many fields of
literature, and he could have concentrated his powers
upon several, and probably have achieved eminence. A
professor's chair of literature was shut out from him on
account of his faults of temper. Coleridge received from
Josiah Wedgwood and his brother a recognition of his
literary talent, which was capable of producing good work,
and they paid him an annuity of 150 a year, as a kind
of endowment of his poetic faculty. Could this have been
done for poor Edwards we might have had greater literary
work from him. It may be argued that the plan did not
turn out to Coleridge's benefit. The successful writer of
ephemeral literature has his financial reward in his day
and generation, but often his death means the eclipse of
his literary renown. The greater writers who have done
their work, and still do their work in much weariness of
mind and body, often in an atmosphere of pecuniary
difficulties, achieve posthumous fame as a reward. Most
writers would be quite willing to die poor if they could be
perfectly sure of reaching this coveted distinction.
i 4 4 EDWARD EDWARDS.
In the humble estimation of the writer, the work of
Edwards which will live is, first and foremost, his genuine
enthusiasm for establishing public libraries in as accessible
a form as it was possible to make them ; his Free Town
Libraries, as the first history of these municipal institu-
tions ; some sections of his Memoirs of Libraries ; and
his book of the Monastery of Hyde. His writings are
mentioned in the order in which they appeared.
His Napoleon Medals (17 x 10^ inches, 167 pages) and
The Great Seals of England (16 x io inches), both pub-
lished in 1837, are productions indicating a very close
acquaintance with his subject. The historical and bio-
graphical notices are concise and clear. Some of them,
it may be said, give a perfect little biography. He begins
his introductory remarks to the second named book by
saying that " the Great Seals of England have never yet
(1837) been given to the English public in a complete
and easily accessible form ". Considering that he was
quite a young man at this time, it would be interesting,
were it now possible, to find out where he had gleaned
all this information respecting medals and coins. The
more it is looked at, the more does it become a little
treasury of numismatic knowledge. The hope may be
expressed that in one of the library or scientific journals
a capable hand will give an analysis of Edwards' work
on these subjects.
In 1837 there was published by D. Walther, anony-
mously, New South Wales : Its Present State and Future
Prospects. The book passed as the work of James
Macarthur, but it is not unfair to say that there is as
much, if not more, of Edwards' work as of the gentleman
named. Edwards is not acknowledged in the preface.
His diaries at the time the book was in course of prepara-
tion are full of references to the progress of the book. The
book occupies 344 pages. The historical part is mainly
Edwards', and this is full of his cherished side-notes
and references. Some other parts of the book dealing
with Government documents and statistics do not always
LITERARY AND OTHER WORK. 145
contain these side reierences. " The New South Wales
people are woefully ignorant of the history of their colony,"
remarked a Sydney merchant recently to the present
writer. But it may be doubted whether the ignorance
of the history of our colonies is not as dense in Great
Britain as it is anywhere. Edwards rescued what would
have been a bald jumble of statistics and official documents,
and turned it into a record of the colony, possessing the
qualities of interest and some literary merit. He would
be twenty-five at the time the book appeared. The style
is concise and not flowery. The history and resources ot
New South Wales are traversed with care and skill. The
intimate knowledge of the colonist Macarthur was supple-
mented by the youthful freshness of mind which Edwards-
brought to the preparation of the book.
In 1840 Mr. Edwards published a treatise on The Fine
Arts in England, their State and Prospects Considered
Relatively to National Education. Part I. treats on " The
Administrative Economy of the Fine Arts of England ".
To what extent the State should interfere, or can usually
interfere for the promotion of education and for the en-
couragement of the fine arts, was then a question begin-
ning to be pressed upon the public attention. A wide
diversity of opinion existed with regard to it, but Edwards
must ever be regarded as one of the pioneers who educated
public opinion on these subjects. His instincts and sym-
pathies in educational matters were distinctly on the
popular side. It was at this period that the poverty of
England in the matter of public libraries began to press
itself vigorously upon his mind and attention. He set
himself voluntarily the task of pursuing an elaborate
statistical investigation of the subject.
The book consists of some 374 pages, and is divided
into twelve chapters. Of these, the most important are,
" On the Foundation of Schools of Design," another,
" On the Maintenance and Management of Public Galleries
and Museums," and a third, " On the Encouragement of
Historical Painting and Sculpture by the State ". This
IO
146 EDWARD EDWARDS.
book is important as being the first literary effort of an
ambitious nature to bear his name. In the preface he
says :
The author having been long convinced that the principle of non-
intervention on the part of the Government, however sound in commerce ,
has limits in respect to the Fine Arts, and to Public Education, carried
beyond which it becomes a serious evil, naturally felt a deep interest
in the proceedings of the Committee appointed by the House of Com-
mons on the motion of Mr. Ewart " to inquire into the best means of
extending a knowledge of the Arts and of the Principles of Design
among the people of this country ; and also into the constitution ,
management and effects of Institutions connected with the Arts".
This was the committeeof 1836 of which Ewart was chair-
man. Edwards possessed a good knowledge of art, and he
had some clear views upon artistic subjects. Whether he
adopted the wisest course to give effect to these views, by
means of a subscription organisation for the distribution
of pictures, is a question upon which opinions will differ.
To Edwards the most important result was that the Times
devoted two special articles upon this book. The first
appeared on 3rd September, 1840, and occupied some two
and a half columns, and the second followed on the i4th
of the same month and ran to the length of one and three-
quarter columns. Both articles are headed in prominent
type, " Edwards on the Fine Arts in England " and
" Edwards on the Fine Arts " respectively, and are given
good positions, and printed as " From a Correspondent ".
This was not a bad beginning for a new writer, and Parry
might well congratulate Edwards on securing these notices
in the leading journal. The writer of the articles did not
agree with Edwards in many of the statements made,
but the whole question is discussed in a way that must
have been flattering to the writer of the book. The critic
leads off by saying : " This little book contains a good
deal of thought and information upon an important subject
regarding which the country has been hitherto both careless
and ignorant ". Edwards pleaded for a higher public esti-
mate to be placed on art, and the Times writer supports
LITERARY AND OTHER WORK. 147
that claim. This critic says that the " study of the fine
arts has been with us until lately almost a disgrace. Men
following art or letters as a profession are still looked upon
with a kind of pity." Throughout these articles Edwards
is constantly quoted. Edwards argued for art to be brought
within the reach of the multitude, and his critic took the
view that it was the gentlemen of that date who required
means of artistic education. This alone illustrates how
far we have travelled since that time, and this improvement
is largely due to men of thej Edwards stamp. The writer
closes his over four column criticism by saying :
He (Edwards) desires that in our public buildings now in progress
painters should be employed, deploring the absence of their works in
our churches, and in many other places where they would be appropriate
and useful. We only mention the heads of the subjects on which he
touches, but perhaps these remarks may draw attention to his book,
which may bring the public and the Government to think upon matters
which they have treated hitherto with such neglect.
The writer was in sympathy with Edwards, but urged
that he would have to begin his art education of the people
at the higher grades of society. The careful student will
see the channel out of which art for the people received
its impetus sixty years ago.
Manchester Worthies and their Foundations, published
in 1855, was his next attempt at a book. It only extends,
all told, to eighty-eight pages, and he goes over similar
ground to that covered in an article he contributed to the
British Quarterly Review, early in 1854. Edwards was in
love with Humphrey Chetham, a Manchester worthy of the
finest strain. The immediate purpose of this little effort
was to give Edwards an opportunity of expressing his
unbounded admiration for the Chetham Library and its
founder. Portions of the chapters had appeared in two
magazines, and these he elaborated. The almost monastic
character of the library struck a sympathetic chord in the
mind of the writer of the little book under discussion.
Edwards was among the first of librarians, if not the very
first, to appreciate the importance of the Chetham Library.
148 EDWARD EDWARDS.
It will have been already seen how glowingly he refers to
it in his evidence before the Parliamentary Committees,
as the first public library in this country open without let
or hindrance to those who desired to use the books. He
points out the defects of the library and how much it had
been starved for the benefit of the school known in the
trust under the name of Hospital. He urged that the
Chetham Library would fulfil a greater purpose if it were
brought under the administration of the then amended
Public Libraries Act of 1855. Edwards wished to see the
library linked to the municipal libraries of Manchester,
and he marshals his brief with skill. The feoffees smiled
then as they would now over any such scheme to gather
them into a large net. The little book forms pleasant
reading, and his list of some of the great treasures in the
library formed the basis of further inquiry into what the
library contained. Between Thomas Jones, the librarian
of the Chetham Library, and Edwards there was a warm
friendship begun at the time of the Parliamentary inquiry,
and continued and strengthened during the life of the latter
in Manchester. Thomas Jones stands out prominently
among the librarians of the Chetham Library.
His article on " Libraries," in the eighth edition of the
Encyclopaedia Britannica, covers sixty pages, and the
thirteenth volume in which it was printed was issued in
1857. The whole of it is very much in the Edwards
style. He begins by treating of the collection of books
by legal exaction,. by donation, and by international ex-
change. Each section is a little treatise on the point
with which he deals with at the moment. His chapter
on the " Internal Regulation and Financial Economy of
Libraries " is one of the most interesting sections, and
illustrates how absorbed his mind was becoming in the
question of library economy. The second section of his
contribution is upon the history of libraries. Probably no
brief history of libraries gives a more succinct account of
libraries than does Edwards in this chapter. The final
corrections of his proofs of the contribution are in the
LITERARY AND OTHER WORK. 149
hands of the present writer, and are one of many evidences
of his thoroughness. These chapters in the reference
book in which they appeared formed the basis of the first
edition of his Memoirs of Libraries.
Edwards' contributions to the eighth edition of the
Encyclopedia Britannica were varied and numerous.
To vol. xiii., the article on " Libraries," on the " History
of Libraries " already mentioned; to vol. xvi., article on
"Newspapers," extending to 25 pages; vol. xviii.,
" Police," occupying 26 pages ; " Post-Office,'' 25 pages ;
vol. xix., " Savings Banks," 18 pages ; vol. xxi., " Tea and
Tea Trade," 12 pages; "Charles Alexis M. Clerel de
Tocqueville," 5 cols. ; " Ant. L. Claude Destutt de
Tracy," 3 cols. ; " Trade Museums and Trade Schools,"
8 cols. ; " Weaving," 14 pages ; " Wool and Wool Trade,"
"Woollen and Worsted Manufactures," 21 pages. A
reference to any one of these articles will show how
comprehensive was his range of reading to have enabled
him to write upon subjects so diverse as tea, and the
wool trade, and written, too, not in the strain of the
newspaper writer, but with a singular grip of the whole
question. It may be said that his article on weaving
gives information, even at this date, not by any means
universally known among those who have spent a lifetime
in that trade. It is probable that the list of contributions
quoted is not exhaustive. Of the nine editions of this
great work the eighth is by many looked upon as the
best. Many of the articles were treatises on their parti-
cular subject. Several of those by Edwards may be so
designated.
So many references have been made on the present
occasion to his chief book on libraries that it will suffice
to epitomise here the contents of the work.
Memoirs of Libraries : Including a Handbook of Library
Economy. London, 1859. 2 vols. Illustrated, 1041 pp.,
with sixty-eight pages of introductory matter.
The paging runs through both volumes continuously.
Book I. gives an account of the Libraries of the Ancients,
ISO EDWARD EDWARDS.
including Egypt, Greece, Rome, etc., with a chapter on
their destruction and dispersion. Book II. deals with the
Libraries of the Middle Ages, chiefly Monastic, with an
account of their economy, and their dispersion at the dis-
solution of Monasteries. There is also a chapter on Libra-
ries formed by the royal, noble and other families during
the Middle Ages. Book III. gives an account of the Modern
Libraries of Great Britain and Ireland, including the British
Museum, Bodleian Library, the University and other Lib-
raries of Oxford and Cambridge ; Chetham's Library,
Manchester ; the Cathedral Libraries of England; Lambeth
Palace and Inns of Court Libraries in London ; Municipal
Libraries of Norwich, Bristol and Leicester ; the Parochial
Libraries of England ; and the history and working of the
Public Libraries Acts, 1850-1855, chiefly in Manchester
and Liverpool. This ends the first volume.
The subject of British Libraries is continued in the
second volume with descriptions of the Advocates' and
Signet Libraries of Edinburgh and the University Libraries
of Scotland, Trinity College, Dublin, and other Irish
Libraries. Minor Libraries of London, and dispersed and
existing British Private Libraries. Book IV. describes
the Principal Libraries of the United States, including
subscription, proprietary, Congressional, State, school and
town, with a chapter on the Smithsonian Institution at
Washington. Book V. is devoted to the Modern Libraries
of Continental Europe, and leads off with the Imperial
Library of France (now the Bibliotheque Nationale),
minor Parisian Libraries, and the Provincial Libraries
of France. Then follow the Libraries of Italy, Austria
and Germany, Poland, Holland, Switzerland, Belgium,
Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Hungary, Russia, Spain and
Portugal. In the case of every country the principal
libraries of every town are fully described.
The second part of the book commences at page 569,
and is devoted to the Economy of Libraries. Book I., on
Book Collecting, deals with the copy-tax question, gifts,
Public Documents, International Exchanges, Purchases.
LITERARY AND OTHER WORK. 151
Book II. deals with Buildings, including plans and views
of existing libraries, hints on planning and information on
fittings and furniture. Book III., on Classification and
Catalogues, is very important, and contains the celebrated
historical account and tables of Classification Schemes,
issued separately at Manchester in 1855, the question of
printed versus manuscript catalogues, with remarks on
catalogue compilation, etc. Book IV., Internal Adminis-
tration and Public Service, reviews important questions
like librarianship, committees, finance, bookbinding, public
access, regulations of reading-rooms and lending libraries,
and various other matters. The whole is concluded by a
general index.
This is at once the most elaborate, complete and
scholarly work on the subject of libraries in general ever
written, and it represents an immense amount of labour
and research. Though much of the information is now
out of date, and many methods described have been super-
seded or improved, it still remains a veritable quarry from
which every succeeding writer on libraries must be content
to gather material.
Chapters of the Biographical History of the French
Academy : With an Appendix Relating to the Unpublished
Monastic Chronicle, entitled " Liber de Hyda " . 176 pp.
1864.
This is one of the least known of Edwards' books, but is
one of the best. On this side of the channel, as he begins
his books by pointing out, there are very hazy conceptions,
except among the most learned, of all that is inferred in
France by being a member of the French Academy. A
celebrated French writer had, just before Edwards wrote,
described a membership of the French Academy as being
the " noblest reward which in our days can crown a
glorious and independent life ". Possibly it was this
saying of Count de Montalembert which led Edwards to
look into the history of the Academy. He displays a
keen grasp of the literary qualities of some of the past
holders of the coveted chairs of the Academy.
152 EDWARD EDWARDS.
Literary and historical fame has often gathered around
the Academy, and some of the most noted battles over
election or expulsion, between 1629-1683, are surveyed by
Edwards with considerable skill. Within a compass of
118 pages he gives a literary panorama, and one free
from the terrible prolixity which has spoiled some of his
other work. It was not a case of one volume being
arranged between himself and publisher, and the work
growing into two ponderous volumes. One of the
best, if not the best chapter in the book, is chapter x.,
dealing with the election of De Tocqueville, and that
writer's work on North America. Writing of this book
Edwards says : " Much of the book has a like home
applicability. There are keen censures in it, which con-
sist simply in putting facts under the light, but the facts
so lighted up are by no means exclusively of American
growth." He finishes that part of his book with reference
to the claims of the candidates of 1863. All through he
shows his acquaintance with French literature. The
interests of literature in France, he says, are the interests
of remote readers all over the world. Whether that
position will be maintained in the future is doubtful. A
detailed account of the Book of Hyde looks singularly out
of place in this record of the French Academy, but it fills
forty-six pages of the book. In 1861-62 he was at work on
Lord Macclesfield's Library, and then discovered the Hyde
manuscript. It was a fortunate find, and it was natural
for Edwards to try and make the most of this discovery in
the literary world. The only way to do this was to publish
a synopsis of the MS. at the earliest possible date. His
record of the French Academy afforded this opportunity,
and hence this is the apparent reason why there is in one
book of 176 pages two totally dissimilar subjects intro-
duced. The parallel pages of Asser, the Saxon Chronicle
and the Book of Hyde Abbey, in Edwards' abstract show
in clear form the value of the Macclesfield MS. This
treatise called the attention of scholars in a special way
to the manuscript, and prepared the way for Edwards
LITERARY AND OTHER WORK. 153
being engaged by the Master of the Rolls to edit the work
for the Government series of historical books.
Libraries and Founders of Libraries. 507 pp. 1864.
The work is divided into twelve chapters with full
appendices. About thirty pages, chiefly in the introductory
chapters, are from his article on libraries in the Encyclo-
pedia Britannica. These chapters deal with the ancient
and mediaeval libraries. Chapter v. is concerning the
libraries of some famous authors of various periods.
Forty pages are devoted to these, and they are among
the best in the book. Chapters vi. and vii. treat of libraries
of some celebrated monarchs, and the old Royal Library
of the Kings of England. The History of the State Paper
Office and the Public Records of the Realm give details
and information not commonly met with. Chapters x.
and the two following are devoted to the Macclesfield
Library at Shirburn Castle, the Marlborough Library at
Blenheim Palace, and the Spencer Library then atAlthorp
and now at Manchester. Edwards' reference to Dibdin's
work is so good that it is worthy of a place here.
It is impossible to write about the Spencer Library and
scarcely possible to visit it without incurring obligation to Dr.
Dibdin. His well-known books have had the curious fortune to keep
their price, without keeping their reputation. They are lustily abused,
and eagerly bought. Nor is the cause far to seek. Want of method,
fantastic raptures about trifles, indiscriminate emphasis, inattention to
minute accuracy, petty but provoking affectations in style, and weari-
some repetitions of pointless anecdotes, are drawbacks which need
very eminent merits to countervail them. That Dibdin had eminent
merits is certain. But his works bring high prices chiefly because
they are very decorative, and of small impressions. The author's
acquaintance with books was large, and his love for them real. As a
writer, he had powers which under due restraint might have become
considerable. He had a highly cultivated taste in the arts of design.
He had much industry. He had seen a good deal of the world, under
varied aspects. But his mind seems always to have lacked the power
of graduation. Much as he had mixed with society, his writings
evince plainly that he could as little mark degrees in his estimates of
men, as he could mark them in his estimates of books. The petty,
the conventional, and the merely external qualities of both, so engrossed
his attention, that the vital and intrinsic qualities usually escaped him.
i 5 4 EDWARD EDWARDS.
When he had to catalogue a library, magnificent in condition and
binding, abounding in rarities, and affording ample means for artistic
illustration, he did his work to the delight of the book-loving reader
as well as to his own. When he attempted to guide other men, not
in collecting fine books, but in choosing instructive and elevating ones,
he showed plainly that he had been so busy about type and colophon,
uncropped margins and morocco bindings, copies with proof plates and
copies on vellum, as to allow the spirit of the author and the essence of
the book to evaporate under his manipulations. In like manner, when
you read his Reminiscences of the men with whom he had mixed in life,
you are left in considerable doubt whether or not he quite understood the
difference between two men, both of whom were " Roxburghians," and
editors of black-letter rarities Walter Scott and Joseph Haslewood.
But, be that as it may, Dibdin's services to the Spencer Library are
eminent and enduring. He loved the master, and he loved the task.
He has sometimes described books inaccurately. He has more
frequently described them with tiresome and frivolous garrulity. But,
in the main, his work was honestly and zealously done. With a little
more method, and a good deal more of plainness, conciseness, and pro-
portion, his Catalogues would have been perfect models. As it is, the
Bibliotheca Spenceriana, the Aedes Althorpiance, and the Descriptive
Catalogue of the Cassano-Serra Library, constitute a more valuable
contribution to bibliographical knowledge, in the technical sense of that
term, than has been made by the aggregate labours of any three among
other English bibliographers who could be named. Those works
have made Lord Spencer's fame as a collector, and the merits of his
library, matters of ordinary knowledge to all lovers of books through-
out Europe, America, and Australia. They have made the paths
smoother for all future labourers in the rugged bibliographic field.
They have both gratified and spread a wise taste for fine printing.
And the faults which attach to them are precisely such as are wont
to be most keenly censured by people who, in like circumstances, would
have been incapable of doing so well. In other ways, too, Dibdin
rendered good service in his day.
The list of known Catalogues of English Monastic
Libraries and the Synoptical View of the Public Records
are fine pieces of work. When it is possible to gather up
in one volume the best from Edwards' books on libraries,
the Libraries and Founders of Libraries will have a promi-
nent place.
Synoptical Tables of the Records of the Realm (13x8
inches, 44 pp.), 1865. His opening words are, " The
long-continued researches of the most accomplished and
LITERARY AND OTHER WORK. 155
laborious of our legal Antiquaries have failed to establish
the dates when the varied functions of the primitive
Curia Regis, or, it may more distinctively be called, the
Aula Regia, were, for administrative purposes, first sub-
divided into those four or five branches, out of which
grew, in process of time, the five principal Courts of the
Realm ". He then traces the several Record Departments
of State, and shows how the preservation of historical
documents ultimately became an important office of State,
with a -Master of the Rolls as chief. His Synoptical
Tables were historically useful at the time they were
published. Truly this man was a breaker-up of unworked
ground.
Liber Monasterii de Hyda : Comprising a Chronicle of
the Affairs of England, from the Settlement of the Saxons
to the Reign of King Cnut : and a Chartulary of the Abbey
of Hyde, in Hampshire. A.D. 455-1023. Edited by Edward
Edwards, and published under the direction of the Master
of the Rolls, 1866.
As a piece of historical work, indicative of Edwards'
ability in this direction, the Liber Monasterii de Hyda
ranks high by virtue of its own and its editor's merits.
He was at work cataloguing the library of the Earl of
Macclesfield at Shirburn Castle, Oxfordshire, when he
discovered this Macclesfield MS., a large volume on
vellum. Some of the pages have richly illuminated
borders. How it came into the family of the nobleman
named is not known, but it must have been a day of
great elation to Edwards when the book came into his
hands. This book of the Hyde monastery at Winchester
is a valuable addition to our knowledge of the Saxon
period.
The book covers some 582 pages. The introduction
extends to ninety-eight pages, and the appendix to the
introduction to sixteen pages. Then follows the book,
the first part of which is written in Latin and the
latter part in Saxon. Throughout there are full and
carefully made references by Edwards, and marginal
156 EDWARD EDWARDS.
notes. The work would not have been entrusted to
Edwards by the Master of the Rolls without the quali-
fications of the editor being fully known. The book
proves the scholarship of Edwards. His knowledge of
Latin and Anglo-Saxon must have been considerable.
The introduction is a most interesting piece of reading,
and it may be doubted whether Edwards ever produced a
better piece of literature. In some of his books, and
particularly in the second edition of the Memoirs of
Libraries, the monastic habit of introducing long par-
entheses had taken possession of him. His sentences in
these are long, and often involved, and require a second
reading to make clear. In the introduction to the Book
of Hyde this peculiarity is absent. The style is clear
and crisp. As a general example of this concise style,
the following sentence may be quoted. It is from the
*' Introduction," p. 33, and refers to the abbots of New
Minster:
It (Hyde Abbey) was now (A.D. 903-968) scarcely remembered as the
once venerated sleeping- place of a mighty king, (Alfred) who was some
day to burst his bonds and restore the ancient monarchy of Britain.
But by the contemporaries of Ethelgar's youth, Glastonbury was still
fondly venerated as the sacred fane which Joseph of Arimathea had
founded ; and by the contemporaries of his manhood as the pattern
monastery of England, snatched by Dunstan from secular and criminal
hands, and moulded into a true exemplar of Benedictine holiness. At
Glastonbury at first, as it seems, under Dunstan's own eye, and always
under the immediate inspiration which he had breathed into its schools
and offices Ethelgar learnt to be an austere, laborious, and am-
bitious, but also a benevolent and a charitable monk. The training
which Dunstan had begun at Glastonbury, Ethelwold completed at
Abingdon. Ethelwold had ruled the see of Winchester but a short
time, when he began his vigorous reform at New Minster. When the
time and the preliminary measures seemed to him ripe for completion,
he put the Abingdon men into the stalls of the refractory canons, and
left to the new abbot, Ethelgar, the practical working out of the Bene-
dictine system. Ethelwold's zeal had clothed itself in an amplitude
of Christian firmness, but the Christian meekness had been much to
seek. Ethelgar was gentle as well as resolute. The soft hand was
now to be felt as well as the steel glove. The woes of the expelled
LITERARY AND OTHER WORK. 157
clergy and their families could touch him, though they had failed
to touch the bishop. In the resolve that performance should follow
profession, and that monastic revenue should entail monastic duty,
both were at one.
Edwards all through his introduction caught well the
spirit of the times covered by the Book of Hyde. He re-
velled in this dive into old English history. Hyde Abbey
was practically founded by Alfred, although his long-
cherished desire to found a new monastery which should
pre-eminently be a place of education, was frustrated by
the death of that ruler. The reader does not require to
be told that the Saxon Chronicles are scanty with regard
to this period. Edwards links up all that is recorded in
the Book of Hyde, and passes the whole through a dis-
criminating intellect. It is to be regretted that this long
chapter of introduction was not reprinted as it stands,
during the year of the Alfred millenary. It would have
formed a useful contribution to the literature of the Alfred
age, and the kingships which followed, and especially of
the vast part which the monasteries filled, in the economy
of learning and religious influence. " Next after its pre-
eminent function as a place of perpetual prayer and praise,
Alfred desired above all things that this New Monastery
should be a seat of learning," says Edwards, and Hyde
Abbey through various vicissitudes performed these func-
tions. Of the desecration of Alfred's tomb in 1788, and
numerous other details which are introduced, this is not
the place to refer. Everything is touched with the sympa-
thetic hand of a painstaking historical student. Monkish
annalists are not strong in dates, and the Book of Hyde
is a striking example of this, as Edwards repeatedly points
out in his introduction and notes. The more Edwards'
literary work is taken in its concrete form, the more satis-
factory does it seem. This is the most scholarly of all
his writings.
Exmouth and its Neighbourhood, Ancient and Modern ;
Being Notices Historical, Biographical, and Descriptive^
158 EDWARD EDWARDS.
of a Corner of South Devon. Published anonymously
in 1868. 362 pp.
Exactly what caused this book to be written is not clear.
A relative of his wife's had some connection with the
Rolle's estate in Devon. Merely a pot-boiler the book
certainly was not, and the research which it involved was
the immediate cause of his desire to undertake a more
ambitious Life of Ralegh. A good part of the book
is taken up with Ralegh. The title he gave to the
book is not a happy one. It is too suggestive of
the conventional guide-book, and a guide-book in
this sense Edwards certainly did not mean it to
be. It gives a charming sketch of Ralegh, and for
interest and delightful reading it is doubtful whether
Edwards has produced anything better. Chapters v., vi.
and vii. are the best in the book. The parts descriptive
of the scenery of that part of Devon are written with a
skill which grows upon the reader as he proceeds. It is
a history of the southern part of that county which
will ever be attractive to lovers of British scenery, and
especially for Ralegh's association with it. Ralegh was a
great Englishman reared in a county which has turned
out some of England's best men. Edwards quickly caught
the Devonian spirit. He visited most of the parts made
famous by Ralegh's connection with them, and gave to this
little book, issued without any name, some of his best
work. The touch was a light one throughout, but this
adds to its charm.
His pamphlet, published in 1868, on "Diocesan Regis-
tries and Historical Searchers," is very characteristic of
the man. It was a correspondence between himself, the
Bishop of Salisbury and the Bishop's Registrar and the
Registrar of the Chapter. He was then making searches
for his Ralegh book and had been to Salisbury. Some
difficulties had presented themselves as to his making
searches, and a claim of a guinea was made upon him for
official services. This charge he resisted on principle, and
defended it in the local county court. He printed the
LITERARY AND OTHER WORK. 159
whole correspondence with his comments". . He lost the
case and had to pay, but there is little doubt about
Edwards having been rather badly served. The trouble
may possibly have been of his own causing, but he furthered
the reasonable demand on the part of historical writers,
that they should be unharassed in their access to the
Diocesan Records. In his pamphlet he said that he had
journeyed more than two thousand four hundred miles in
search of Ralegh documents.
The Life of Sir Walter Ralegh. 2 vols. 1868. Pp.
723-530, rendered service to the student of English
history. The second volume gives his letters, collected
for the first time by Edwards. The Regius Professor of
Modern History at Oxford, at the time the book was
published, described it as a " monument of patient and
persevering research, marked by a sound historical dis-
crimination ". The first volume of Ralegh is a solid piece
of work. It will never rank as a great history, as his
methods of treatment would alone prevent this, but every
page of it proves the care with which he handled his
material, and the patient skill with which he developed his
record. His picture of one of the giants of the Elizabethan
age is a powerful one. He leads up to the cruel ending
of all Ralegh's greatness by a series of pictures which
are graphic and, at times, impressive. There are portions,
which, if the reader did not know who was the writer of
the book, he might think that he was reading some work
of the author of the Conquest of England. That period of
English history will ever have a charm for most readers.
It was a great age because the men and the women in it
were great by every test which can be applied to them,
taking into account the period and the circumstances
under which they lived. Some of them were roaming
buccaneers of the high seas, but in this respect they were
no better and no worse than the fortune-seekers of other
leading nations, and the standard of international honour
was then not as great as is now the case. Ralegh's share,
in these gold and colony-seeking expeditions, is drawn
160 EDWARD EDWARDS.
with care and precision. Edwards was saturated with
his subject, and had a great admiration for Ralegh. He
lived wholly in the Ralegh spirit during the time he was
at work on the book, as is evidenced from his diaries. Read
where one may in the work it is interesting, and any
student of the period would turn naturally to Edwards'
book for reference. The second volume is almost wholly
occupied with the letters. Edwards was probably the first
to use, in a collective form, the rich collection of manu-
script letters at Hatfield House. Lord Salisbury gave
every assistance for this to be done, and Edwards gratefully
inscribes the second volume to that statesman. The late
Lady Salisbury, it is gathered from entries in Edwards'
diaries, rendered aid in making copies of some of the
letters for the author of the book. The index to the
letters is a capital piece of work. If all historians would
give in so full a form an index to the letters quoted as
Edwards has done, it would be a gain to the student.
Librarians will perhaps turn to the list of contents of the
second volume to see what is meant. If the work in its
entirety is not a distinguished history, it deserves to rank
highly as a careful piece of historical writing.
Free Town Libraries: Their .Formation, Manage-
ment, and History ; in Britain, France, Germany, and
America. Together with Brief Notices of Book Collectors,
and of the Respective Places of Deposit of their Sur-
viving Collections. London, 1869. xvi + 372 and (262)
PP-
. Book I. deals with early Free Libraries in Great Britain
and the Legislation passed up to 1866 ; the duties of Local
Authorities ; the planning, formation and organisation of
the Free Libraries ; and the actual practice in towns like
Manchester, Salford, Liverpool, Birkenhead, Birmingham,
Oxford, Cambridge, Southampton, etc. Book II. describes
the Town, Communal and Popular Libraries of France,
Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium ; their constitution,
management and limitations. Book III. gives similar his-
torical and practical information about the State, Town,
LITERARY AND OTHER WORK. 161
Endowed and other Public Libraries in the United States
and Canada. A whole chapter is devoted to the work of the
Boston Public Library. Book IV. is devoted to notices of
celebrated Book Collectors, occupying 224 pages, with a
separate pagination. Under the name of each collector is
given the libraries or other places where the collection is
deposited, with notes on the libraries and nature of the
collections, arranged alphabetically under the name of the
Collectors.
Lives of the Founders of the British Museum : with
Notices of its Chief Augmenters and other Benefactors, 1570-
1870. London, 1870. Triibner & Co. Illustrated, xii +
780 pp.
Lives and historical and critical notices of Sir Robert
Cotton, founder of the Cottonian Library; Henry Prince
of- Wales, founder of the " Royal Library " at St. James's ;
Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, collector of the Arundel
MSS. ; Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, collector of the
Harleian MSS. ; Sir Hans Sloane, and other founders and
collectors whose collections formed the nucleus of the
present British Museum. Book II. deals with other organ-
isers and augmenters, and gives an account of Montagu
House and such collectors of archaeological specimens as
Sir William Hamilton and the Earl of Elgin, whose
" Elgin Marbles " form an important item of the Greek
sculpture galleries. Notices of Cracherode, the Marquess
of Lansdowne, Dr. Charles Burney, Francis Hargrave and
the ninth Earl of Bridgewater are also included. Book II.
concludes with an account of the " King's Library " formed
by George III. and the collections of Sir Joseph Banks,
The concluding Book (No. III.) deals with the internal
arrangements and economy of the Museum under the
management of librarians like Joseph Planta, Sir Henry
Ellis, and Sir Antonio Panizzi, including an account of
the evolution and adoption of the plans for the great
circular reading-room and other parts of the present build-
ing. A chapter is devoted to the work of archaeological
collectors like Fellows, Layard and Newton, and another
II
l6z EDWARD EDWARDS.
to the founder of the Grenville Library, Thomas Gren-
ville. The conclusion of the book consists of chapters on
miscellaneous bequestsand collections of antiquities, books,
ethnography, etc., and the proposals made for separating
the Art and Natural History Collections from the Books
and Antiquities, since carried out by the formation of the
new museum buildings at South Kensington.
Dr. Garnett, in his appreciative sketch of Edwards in
the Dictionary of National Biography, says of this book :
" By his Lives of the Founders of the British Museum he
made himself the historian of the national library, and
although his work must be supplemented and may possibly
be superseded by others, it is likely to remain the ground-
work of every future history ".
It will be seen from the chronological table in the
appendix what is embodied in the Carte manuscripts.
The labour appertaining to them represented a solidly
large task. Edwards worked for six years in the Bodleian
Library, and the results of his labours are contained in
thirty-five large foolscap folio volumes. He brought to
bear upon the work considerable familiarity with historical
studies and with old records. In this, as in all his work,
he desired to be thorough. The dates, however, in it
have not always been correctly given, as has been pointed
out by Gardiner and others. It was due to the kindly
feeling of the late Rev. H. O. Coxe, M.A., librarian at
the time, that the work was placed in his hands.
Edwards was never on the regular staff of the Bodleian
in the acknowledged sense of the term. He was merely
engaged for a specific piece of work, and his calendar slips
were paid for, according to number, so that his position
was one entirely of a temporary nature. When this work
-was finished they were obliged to say that they could not
afford to keep him for anything else. All librarians will
at once see that a period of six years occupied in the
cataloguing of manuscripts, no matter how voluminous,
was a question for the grave consideration of those respon-
sible for the administration of that library. In the case
LITERARY AND OTHER WORK. 163
of the Carte MSS. a gross sum of 1,320 had been ex-
pended. Edwards wished to do supplementary work
in connexion with his calendar, and had the library
authorities at the time been better off, they might have
let him do so. But there was a financial deficit in
1882, the year after the death of the Rev. H. O. Coxe,
and a new librarian had been appointed. The successor
to Mr. Coxe, who remains the chief librarian at the
present time, had no other alternative than to bring the
calendaring of these papers to a conclusion. Edwards
writes on page 13 in the preface of the first volume of the
second edition of Memoirs of Libraries as if he had been
arbitrarily dismissed from a post which was his by right of
a tenure extending over a term of years. This was not the
case, and it is only just to Mr. E. W. B. Nicholson, M.A.,
Bodley's librarian, that the exact facts should be known.
That Edwards laboured at his task strenuously is readily
granted, but the results were such as to cause the calendar
to remain in manuscript, in which form, however, it is still
available for reference in the reading-room. The revision
of it would involve so much further labour in reducing it
to a correct state for printing, that high authorities have
reported against this being undertaken. A much more
succinct calendar would have sufficed. That Edwards
felt acutely the snapping of the Oxford link, in his life, is
patent from his diaries and correspondence at the time.
The loss of the income which he had derived from Bodley's
was a serious blow to him, and placed him, so far as ways
and means were concerned, in an awkward position. The
outlook was dark for the old man, and no wonder that
stubborn depression should have taken possession of his
soul. He loved Oxford. Its colleges, its libraries, and
its river and fields soothed him, and curbed the turbulence
of his restless temper. But the end of his sojourn by the
Isis was to come, and the manner of its coming left behind
a wounded spirit and a sense of having been wronged.
But that he suffered from the inevitable has been made
clear.
164 EDWARD EDWARDS.
During all his Oxford days the Rev. Charles Plummer,
M. A., of Corpus Christi College, was his friend. Some work
in the library of that college was given Edwards to do at
the time thathe was engaged at the Bodleian. To Mr. Plum-
mer, more than to any one, is due the pension of 80 a year
granted to Edwards on 23rd August, 1883, in recognition
of his valuable services to the cause of literature. There
is a pardonable irony in the publication of the list printed
by Edwards in the second edition of Memoirs of Libraries
of the pensions granted by the Crown during that official
year. Edwards' amount is the least. One gentleman,
because he was the son of his father who was a poet, had
a larger sum, and one gentleman who had rendered service
to English philology received nearly double the amount
granted to Edwards. There are other anomalies in the
list. But whoever yet saw a pension list in which there
were not anomalies? In 1876 there was a memorial for
a pension for Edwards addressed to Lord Beaconsfield,
supported by the Mayor of Manchester, and the Chair-
man of the Public Libraries Committee in that city, and
also by the Provost and Scholars of Queen's College,
Oxford. There was no hope of success, and the matter
dropped. It was not a light task to induce Edwards to
give his consent for another attempt to be made. With
the efforts in 1876 he had nothing whatever to do. No
man ever tried less than did Edwards to fix his mainten-
ance on the public purse. He was no parasite of the
Treasury. The Rev. Charles Plummer in 1882 saw a
possibility of reaching the ear of Mr. Gladstone, through
one of the Premier's sons who owned Corpus Christi as
his Alma Mater. A petition was prepared, and when
supported by men like Sir Edward A. Bond, and aided by
powerful public bodies, it brought about the desired end.
This was not the only kindness conferred upon Edwards by
Mr. Plummer. He admired the old man for the services
he had rendered to literature, and in the spread of useful
knowledge. The pension was honestly and laboriously
earned, and this cannot be said of all the claims upon
LITERARY AND OTHER WORK. 165
the Civil List which are granted. Edwards inscribes the
second edition of his Memoirs of Libraries to Mr. Plummer
"with feelings of true regard and esteem". Could he
have had the entire pension for his own purposes, it would
have sufficed to make him comfortable, but the require-
ments of his sister, and the extent of his postage and
printing account, on behalf of the second edition of
Memoirs of Libraries, made serious inroads on the modest
income.
Edwards' " Letters of a Hampshire Conservative (loyal
to the Church and to the Queen)," contributed in 1884 to
Isle of Wight newspapers, covered a number of columns
in those papers. There is much sound sense in several
of them, and those on Public Schools, Public Libraries,
Public Parks and Charities, under the control of the City
Corporation, are the best of the series. But they are
often spoiled by narrowness and incomplete vision.
Handbook to the Literature of General Biography. Part
I. 1885. 250 copies printed.
Edwards collaborated with the Rev. Charles Hole, B.A.,
in the preparation of this fragment. To it he contributed
the chapters on "Biography : its Aims and its Varieties".
This is divided into chapters, and runs to nearly fifty
pages. The biographical part proper comprises thirty-
two pages, and Edwards' initial appears to most of the
annotations. The work was to have been completed in
eight parts, but it could not be carried out. For a long
number of years Edwards had a plan for a work on the
lines of this handbook, and offered it to several publishers,
but without success. He had much of the true biographical
spirit with a trustworthy critical view. One of the last
letters written by Edwards, which are still in existence, is
one addressed to the Rev. Charles Hole, B.A., dated yth
December, 1885, about this handbook. It is written from
The Manse, Niton.
I thank you very gratefully for the kindness of your letter of the
25th ulto., and beg you to present also my best thanks to Mrs. Hole,
for her kind remembrance of me after so many years. You happily
166 EDWARD EDWARDS.
enjoy domestic blessings of which I have been deprived for nine years,
having lost my dear wife at the close of 1876 after a union of almost
thirty-three years. I have felt my bereavement very deeply. When
I left Oxford (in 1883) my health was quite broken down, but the
change to this milder climate has, by God's blessing, been very bene-
ficial to me, and though far from being well, I have much reason to be
grateful for the measure of strength still granted to me at a very
advanced age. As to our little Handbook only this first part has
been worked off in an impression of 250 copies and I can scarcely
hope to be enabled to continue it, without your effective co-operation.
But I had no thought of your incurring any part of the risk of publication.
The literary plan of the work is so much your own, that it would be
utterly unwarrantable to put my name to it without yours, and of my
share of the labour you speak much too generously. . . .
The following are extracts from a letter dated 3rd
January, 1902, from the Rev. Charles Hole, B.A. , to the
present writer :
. . . This correspondence with you has awakened very welcome
memories of the distant past, otherwise almost faded by lapse of time.
I have a very distinct and vivid recollection of Mr. and Mrs. Edwards.
They came to Shanklin while I was curate there, and I quickly made
their acquaintance, drawn towards Mr. Edwards by his literary taste
and conversation. They were visitors at that pretty spot I think
for a whole season [this would be in 1862] if not for two seasons.
Their sitting-room loaded with books and papers in every corner.
His figure and face are quite before my mind's eye ; of fair height and
well formed ; a very kindly expression of countenance, conversation
ever interesting and welcome. I gathered that he had held some post
at the British Museum, but I never knew exactly what. . . . Accord-
ing to my recollection Mr. Edwards, after I parted from him, received
an appointment to catalogue a nobleman's library. I do not re-
member ever having seen a photograph or a portrait of him. . . .
Mr. Edwards used to attend the Rev. Mr. Southouse's Church, the
little country Church on the Ventnor Road, and appreciated his
ministry, which I think suited Mr. Edwards' cast of mind very much,
plain and simple yet full of life and stimulus. ... A serious religious
tone, not over demonstrative, is what I recollect in Mr. Edwards.
You will have gathered, from all I have said, how welcome his memory
is still to me, and how much I valued, as I still do value, men of his
stamp. . . .
The Second Edition of Memoirs of Libraries.
Whatever estimate he may have formed regarding his
other work, the Memoirs of Libraries was his favourite
LITERARY AND OTHER WORK. 167
book. There was to the end an apparent consciousness
that he would be remembered by this book. The first
edition represents a mountain of labour, but for the second
edition he had, from the beginning, planned a long series
of radical changes in its general scheme and scope. The
book was the child of his middle life, when he was in his
forty-seventh year, and the second edition was to be the
outcome of his mature years, when a stage in the ladder
of life had been reached, after which it would be scarcely
possible to undertake any large task. There will be few
writers, or lovers of books, librarians or general readers,
who cannot enter to some extent with sympathy into the
old man's intense longing to leave behind him this work
in as complete a state as his fulness of years, and fresh
library gleanings from every source, would have enabled
him to do. " This do, and let me then die," he may be
imagined as saying to himself. The mediaeval monk,
labouring in the dim light of the waning day at his work
of illumination, could not have been more eager to finish
his task before the light departed, than was Edwards to
complete his last work before the lamp of life was extin-
guished. The whole aspect of this brave struggle against
poverty, old age and ill health, as it can now be viewed,
is pathetic in the extreme.
In his diary for 8th June, 1859, one leaf only of which
has been found, there occurs this entry :
Letter from ... as to proposed arragt. abt. Mems. of Libs, sug-
gested by my letter of i6th ulto. They decline my present offer
respecting 2nd Edit, but express a willingness " to treat with you
for your share of the remaining stock, or rather to pay you a sum of
money as a compensation for any claim you may have on this edi-
tion " : stipulating, however, in any arrangement that we may now
make for the option of publishg. a new edition " should it be considered
expedient to have one, either upon the terms of the present Edn., or
such other terms as we may mutually agree upon ".
This was very early in the day for thoughts with regard
to a new edition, seeing that the first one was only issued'
in January of the same year. The mental juvenility of
168 . EDWARD EDWARDS.
the author aided him to outstrip the publisher in the
demand for the book. It may be stated, that so far as can
be judged from the correspondence now available, he
seems to have been treated with forbearance and con-
sideration by his several publishers. Disputes and differ-
ences between author and publisher are as old as the hills.
Where one book is successful there are twenty which are
not successful. But every author has an overwhelming
conviction that his book is that successful one in the
whole twenty, or at least that it ought to be, and he
probably lays the blame on the publisher if it does not
meet with the sale which, he estimates, should follow a
proper distribution of announcements of the work. The
majority of libraries ought to have upon their shelves
every book dealing with libraries and library administra-
tion. But while a good number take this view, a very
great many do not, and those who take the negative view
are in the majority, and both the author and publisher
of books such as Edwards' must suffer in consequence.
Between 1859 and 1877 Edwards never lost hold of the
need and the possibility for a second edition. He was
overburdened with the thought that he owed to the public
the issue of this second edition. Some doubt had been
thrown on the lack of accuracy in various groups of
statistics, and he was sensitive that this cast a reflection
upon his claim for careful research and discrimination in
putting forward his figures. Edwards had a naturally
feverish desire to improve a good book, the best ever
written upon libraries, by careful revision, and this was
his ruling feeling. Among his papers is a rough draft
of a letter dated 1877, in which the following passages
occur :
It will not, I daresay, much surprise you to be told that (in spite of
all past discouragements on your part), very few years of the eighteen
that have elapsed since Memoirs of Librs. was first published, have
gone by without bringing some considerable progress in my pre-
paration for a new edition, and I now venture to trouble you with one
letter more on that subject. You know well that there is no vanity in
LITERARY AND OTHER WORK. 169
my saying that, with all the many and grievous defects, these vols.
were, and remain, the book on this special subject. But years are
rapidly passing by, and it would be a matter of most painful regret to
me to leave the book at my departure with all its blemish. ... I have
now given solely to it the hard work of seven consecutive months equal
perhaps to nine or ten months of ordinary working hours and I have
made it substantially a new book. I now ask of you, on the old ac-
quaintance and correspondence of 27 yrs., a patient and not a
hurried consdn. of, and answer to, my present proposal. More than
1000 pp. (a thousand) are now prepd. for the printer, and of these almost
the half is substantially new. ... I venture to hope you have, still in
spite of all our petty differences and . . . misunderstandings, ... a
measure of good feeling and goodwill towards me as a patient toiler
in a somewhat rugged field, and as one whom you well know not to
have aimed at merely personal and selfish ends. Had I thought only,
or mainly of these, I shd. have been a richer man, in the manner of
living, and a much poorer one in the end. . . . You will hardly need
to be told that to give my whole time . . . has enforced upon me many
sacrifices, many personal privations. But the years are passing rapidly.
And though I am still able (D. V.) to work at need for eight or even for
nine hours at a stretch without any break I have yet had my admo-
ntns. how timely it is becoming that I should think of gathering up
my poor sheaves. ... I regret my hasty brusquerie with you in '70,
and I regret it the more because I now think I may very possibly have
misunderstood your motives in taking the course which at that time so
much pained me. It may perhaps not be an obtrusion ... to add that
of late I have had much worry and much affliction. And they lead me
to think somewhat differently on many matters than I have thought
heretofore.
The publishers of the first edition offered the unsold
copies on special terms, and Edwards hoped that if the
very worst came he would be able to buy up the remaining
stock of the first edition, and so clear the path for the
new issue. Where the money was to come for this was
not clear, but did an author ever yet take into his considera-
tion such a frivolous detail ? The heart of the publishers'
case lies in their offer to sell the balance of copies. And
the heart of Edwards' position was that a way would be
found for him to do so by some means or other. In his
first prospectus, dated Oxford, 7th August, 1882, he states
that " a small number of copies (first edition) remains
still in print, and for the purchase of these the author is
170 EDWARD EDWARDS.
in treaty with the publishers ; with the intention of selling"
that 'remainder' in the Colonies. . . ." The subscription
to the new edition was to be paid only upon the actual de-
livery of each volume, and the first volume he hoped would
be ready for issue in June, 1883. In April, 1883, Edwards
offered a well-known firm of publishers the MS. free of all
charge or honorarium whatever for authorship. This was
declined on the ground of the existing copies of the first
edition. He offered it to an Oxford firm on the same terms,,
with a promised contribution of 25 towards the cost of
the engravings. This was also declined upon the same
grounds. He tried more than one London printer, but
was unsuccessful in meeting with any one who would take
the risk of publishing the book, especially in face of a
public announcement of the publishers of the first edition,,
that copies still remained on sale. At this stage it will be
opportune to introduce a few extracts from correspondence
about this new edition. The Library Association met in
London in 1877. Mr. E. W. B. Nicholson, M.A.,tookan
active part in the arrangements for that meeting. To
him Edwards wrote on 24th September, 1877 :
I have thought it to be the least obtrusive way of replying to that
obliging card of invitation for Oct. 4, from the Lord Mayor for
which I am indebted to your own kindly remembrance of my name
to ask of you the additional favour of placing before his Lordship, at
a befitting time, and in company with such other notes as the occasion
may bring, the note which accompanies this letter. It is so much
my conviction that you must have found, long ere this, your heap of
correspondence, about the Conference, of dimensions somewhat trying,
that I forbore to trouble you with any letter of thanks on receiving
your kindly proffer, almost a fortnight ago, of the communication from
time to time of such printed matter on this subject as may accrue.
That will, indeed, be to me a special and most welcome kindness, of
which, should life and health be spared to me, I may hope some day
to shew, though not to acquit, my sense of indebtedness. The one
hope in merely business matters, which amidst many difficulties and
obstructions I still nourish, although the years are so rapidly passing
on, is that I may yet be enabled to republish Memoirs of Libraries,
freed and purged from some of the many blemishes, acerbities, and
ignorances which have long made me ashamed of the book in its present
form, as well as supplied with some share of useful and needful additions
LITERARY AND OTHER WORK. 171
and other improvements. As yet, I have failed to make satisfactory
arrangements as to republication, but I suppose the time I have already
devoted to preparatory labours towards that end would, in the aggre-
gate, amount to more than two years of tolerably sedulous endeavour.
My excuse for troubling you with this mention of a circumstance
so personal, is that it will serve to shew, better than other words could
do, how much your kindly proffered communication as to the Con-
ference transactions will if, as I have said, life be spared to me prove
of real use and value to, etc.
On ist March, 1882, the late John Plant of Salford
Museum and Library wrote : " It is so many years ago since
we saw each other, and the changes in men and things have
been so incessant as well as radical, that I may be under-
stood in the right sense when I say that I had fallen into
the habit of thinking of you as one whom I had once
known, but who was no longer in the flesh. It is a pleasure
to hear from you again, all the greater because it is a sur-
prise, and to learn also that you are in harness working
for the love of work, and I hope deriving all the pleasure
which good work often brings the worker. . . ."
On gth August, 1880, Alderman Henry William Newton,
the Chairman of the Newcastle-on-Tyne Public Libraries
Committee, wrote to ask Edward Edwards to be present
at the inaugural ceremony in connection with the opening
of the Public Libraries in that town, since promoted to be
a city. He was also asked to deliver an address. In
January, 1882, Edwards sent thirty volumes as a present for
the library, and in a letter sent at the time to the librarian,
he said : " I am myself a novel reader, and shall hope, if life
and health be vouchsafed to me, to send by-and-by a few
books of that sort. . . ." In October there was a further
acknowledgment for some eighteen volumes.
Edwards wrote from Niton on Easter Monday, 1884,
to Dr. Richard Garnett :
My truly grateful thanks wait upon you for the welcome gift of
the number of Library Chronicle, containing your excellent article on
good John Dury, who is a very old acquaintance of mine. Our
intimacy began in B. M., in years long bygone, and was revived in
late years at " Bodley," during my long labour on the " Carte Papers ".
172 EDWARD EDWARDS.
I respect the man himself, though each passing year makes me less and
less an admirer of his political associates. . . . Good John Keble was
far from being a man of very widespread historical "research," but
he was a very keen reader of the human heart as, I venture to think,
all truly great " Poets " must needs be and his view of Charles I.
and of his " times," however incongruous with the " modern spirit,"
and however much it may be sneered at for the passing moment,
seems to me to give one proof, the more, that the recluse poet often
has a far truer insight into the inner life of past times, than the accom-
plished and busy "researcher" into historical archives. There seems
to be a great temptation, now-a-days, in the eagerness of new " dis-
coveries " to throw into the background old, but most weighty testi-
mony, because of its familiarity. Dury was better, in many respects,
than a goodly number of the men with whom he lived, and with whom
he worked. . . . The " Prosps." which waits upon you by book post is
incomplete. It comes provisionally to be followed by a better copy
by-and-by.
On 5th April, 1884, he wrote from Sea View Cottage,
Niton, to Dr. Garnett :
There being a prospect of my residing, for a few days only (D.V.),
very near to town in May life and health being granted to me it is
my wish then to profit by an intimation Mr. Bond was kind enough
to make (in a letter of last autumn), that there were some documents-
and minutes, relating to the early history of B. M., which he would be
able to communicate. Knowing that his leisure for reading, and still
more for writing letters which are at all avoidable to be extremely
restricted, I refrain from troubling him to write in order to make an
appointment for so favouring me at some time entirely suitable to
himself. It has occurred to me that your kindness and goodwill to
my forthcoming book may induce you to mention the subject at some
leisure moment, and to convey an intimation to me. And, indeed, there
is another reason why I should seek an intermediacy in the matter.
It is likely that there is now a black mark against my humble name,
in Mr. Bond's memory, on account of a hasty and regrettable ex-
pression of mine on my receipt of the reply of the trustees to my
last " Memorial " on the subject of my book. I regret the unwise and
petulant words I used. Disappointment at the refusal of a loan, even
of the recent Catalogues, and at the reference for consultation of them
to the " Town Liby. of Portsmouth," was a little sharpened by his
letter having gone the round of the island (literally) (it bearing the
address " Nilton " in lieu of " Niton "), and coming to me after, as it
seemed, having been opened. Had I been wise enough to delay my
acknowledgment of that letter till next day, my irritability would have
evaporated. Forgive this obtrusion of my small concerns.
LITERARY AND OTHER WORK. 173
This cottage is almost on the spot where my old cottage of 1838-
1839 stood, and where I wrote Economy of the Fine Arts in England
(printed in 1840).
P.S. I am as you probably know extremely poor, and I am 5^ miles
(I say it gratefully, not complainingly) from the nearest railway. To
go to and return from Portsmouth costs me about twelve to fourteen
shillings. A journey to Southampton last summer (on acct. of
Memoirs) did actually cost me i i6s. as I went by road (thirty-four
miles), and by a wherry having accidentally missed the steamer
(twenty-four miles). I got, in addition, a drenching from the rough
sea ; and, as you will imagine, have not repeated the experiment. The
loan of some of the most recent pubns. of the Museum would have
rendered me yeoman service, in completing that section of my forth-
coming volume, and would have cost the trustees nothing but the
carriage. There wd. have been no risk, as I have already a policy of
insurance . . . amply covering all possible loss on that score.
Mr. Charles W. Sutton, M.A., chief librarian, Man-
chester, wrote on gth February, 1882 :"...! am very glad
to hear that you are engaged on a new edition of your valu-
able Memoirs of Libraries. I often turn to the old edition,
andtoyourFr^ Town Libraries, but never without renewed
and increased respect for your enlightened and indefati-
gable labours for the spread of education and the encourage-
ment of learning." On 4th December, 1884, Edwards
wrote to Mr. Sutton as follows :
Can you help me, at a pinch, with one or two more subscriptions
by adding a word from yourself to a prospectus or two. . . . The case
stands thus : The book is at press at last, but I am bound to the
printer for a "minimum " of 140 subs, (he wants 150 at least) having
yet somewhat less than " 130 ". I am very poor, and the responsibility
tells upon me severely, having, in my poverty, expended more than
.50 on ... prospectuses, circulation of them, stationery, etc. . . .
I also expended more than 100 on books.
On the following day Mr. Sutton wrote that it was
gratifying to hear from "the man whom I, in common
with other librarians, look up to as the real founder of
Free Libraries ". On gth December, 1884, Mr. Edwards
wrote :
My most cordial thanks wait upon you for the kindness of your
personal subscription, and for your kind promise to help my canvass.
The book is now at press. . . . The French part of vol. iii was re-written
i 7 4 EDWARD EDWARDS.
thoroughly, from new information, as far back as in 1876-77, and
needed only the supplementary matter down to 1884. I venture to
anticipate some success, specially for that narrative : seeing that the
plainest acct. of the strange fortunes and vicissitudes of the " Natl.
Liby." in particular, is almost a romance in prose with some strange
41 biographies" interwoven. On the strength of your kindness, I ven-
ture to trouble you with a few more " Prospectuses". I have also to
thank you very sincerely for the interesting paper lucid and impres-
sive enclosed with your letter. I had not had previously the pleasure
of reading it.
On 2oth July, 1885, the following letter was sent to Mr.
Sutton. (5'3o A.M. appears under the date.)
The preliminary (merely prelimy. viz. Purchase of Books :
Transcriptn. of documents at B. M. and at Bodley; Printing of
" Prosps." and Advertisements ; Postage ; Raily. Parcels ; and Sta-
tionery of all kinds) of Memrs. of Libs, had cost me, already, upwards
of 150 (One hundred and fifty pounds) before the printing of the book
{which printing began on loth Dec., 1884) had reached 16 pages.
The result is that I am, almost literally, pauperized, and am in serious
difficulty with my landlord here (where I am, and always have been,
" only a Lodger " tho' now, happily, an enfranchised one, at least in
title). My present difficulties are so serious that I venture though
reluctantly to ask of you the great favour and kindness of payment,
beforehand, of your personal subscription, as far as concerning the
first volume only which I am now able to promise shall reach your
hands" D.V." in the course of October. Both " General Introduction,"
and " Text," are at present in the Press, and even the " Preface " is
in type, but I am very anxious to bring up the subject-matter to the
Midsummer of 1885, as far as it may be possible to do so. Any
Statistics that you can yourself furnish me with in advance of your
own Septr. Report, will be also esteemed a high favour. Your recom-
mendation to other Librans. to do the like will be an increased favour
to me, and a great advantage to the book. . . .
On ist September, 1883, Edwards wrote to Mr. Peter
Cowell, chief librarian of the Liverpool Public Libraries :
My grateful thanks wait upon you for the kind expressions in your
obliging letter of Augt. 30, very welcome to a veteran, now but
" lingering " on the stage of human affairs. By book-parcel I send
four copies of my Prosps., etc. I may, perhaps, be pardoned for
somewhat over-eagerly desiring that I may obtain subscribers enough
to the intended new Edn. of Memrs. of Librs.to warrant me in
venturing to print. I have worked on the revision and addns. under
sore discouragements. When I left Queen's Coll. Libry. in Oxford,
LITERARY AND OTHER WORK. 175
after the completion of my catalogue and re-arrangement there, I
took a brief vacn. at Grasmere and in Scotland. I then returned to
-work on Memoirs in Oxford (June, or July, 1876) and worked on, to
the best of my power, until April, 1877, without earning one single
sixpence for daily bread. Long before the Christmas of 1876, I was
become so poor that I had to work with a lead pencil on the blank
pages of a big book, for sheer inability to spare money for paper, pens,
and ink. When, at length, I was forced to work upon the Cain, of
the " Carte Papers " in the Bodn., I had been more than eleven months
without . . . the least remunerative employment striving to find a
publisher. P.S. Forgive the garrulity of an old man, over-intent
upon his own small concerns.
On 29th April, 1884, Alderman James Hibbert, then
Vice-chairman of the Preston Public Library Committee
wrote :
... I shall have much pleasure in making a little practical acknow-
ledgment of indebtedness to you in the use I have made of your
publications to establish the Free Library upon an adequate footing
here, and to further the movement elsewhere. In very truth I should
long ago have placed myself in communication with you : asking
permission to use your well hewn quarries as freely as I have done.
But until I saw your new prospectus of the Memoirs of Libraries I
believed, never hearing or seeing your name, that you were no longer
a sublunary being. Let me hasten to repair my involuntary omission
by forwarding you a copy of my Notes on Free Libraries and Museums
not certainly with any expectation that you will find anything in
the contents with which you are not intimately acquainted, even where
the material is not wholly your own. I do not know any whose initia-
tory labours in creating public opinion in favour of Free Libraries are
at all equal to yours, and I have never been able to understand how it
is that they have fallen more than is just " to dumb forgetfulness a
prey ". I hope, however, that the new edition of your book will bring
you your deserts. Pray put my name down as a subscriber.
His correspondence with the Rev. William Dunn
Macray, M.A., Ducklington Rectory, Witney, the author
of Annals of the Bodleian Library, presents several items
of interest. On 4th April, 1884, that gentleman wrote
that his first report on the Danish archives was then in
print. Later on, " I am looking for the second edition of
Memoirs. But I heard to-day an evil report which I hope is
not true that . . . have interposed an unexpected difficulty
and object to your reprinting any portion of your former
176 EDWARD EDWARDS.
edition until that is completely sold out. It will be a loss
to literature if this should be the case. . . ." On igth
July, 1884, Mr. Macray wrote : " I wish I could help you
with your opus magnum, but I am quite unable. . . .
Your work is distinctly your own : you are master of its
subject : and certainly the first instalment, complete in
itself, ought to be sure of publication. Upon the success
of that the remainder could depend ; and I am sure the
success will be deserved."
On i3th July, 1885, Edwards wrote :
... I have been writing very arduously on my book, and am now
in a condition to promise to my subscribers the publication of vol. i.
(D.V.) in October. The preliminary expenses indispensable books
and transcripts of documents : printing of prospectuses in several
forms ; advts. ; stationery ; postages and parcels exceed 150 (one
hundred and fifty pounds) and I paid the first of a series of Bills ot
Exchange for the printing paper, on Saturday, 4th inst., so that I am
quite impoverished. It would be a welcome favour and a Christian
charity too, if you would imitate the example voluntarily set by your
acquaintances, . . . both of whom have paid their subns. to " vol. i."
in advance. (They are the only two, in addition to one ether subscriber,
who have as yet done so.) The printing goes on steadily and I have
the pleasure to send you a specimen proof herewith. P.S. I begin
work on Memoirs at 5 A.M., sometimes at 430, as I did last summer
grateful for the capability of doing so. Enclosure by book post.
On 2ist July, 1885, to the same :
My very grateful thanks wait upon you for your very welcome
cheque for vol. i. of Memoirs of Libraries, which I believe I may
promise for some day in Oct. (D.V.) next and also for your correc-
tion of what is certainly an error. Vol. i. is to include London and
Oxford, as you rightly infer from former Prosps. Hence my inquiries
about Bodley. If there is, or should presently be anything in print
about recent matters, communication will deeply oblige. . . . Much
of vol. iii. has been already rewritten. I have renewed my old
habit of sitting down to writing table about 5 A.M., but have to leave
off early. I cannot work " all round the dial " as once of yore.
P.S. My poor 600 or 700 books the remnant of very nearly 5,000 l
volumes more than 4/5 of wh. have had to be converted into "bread
1 This seems a large number, but it is not likely that there were
many of intrinsic value. He gathered as opportunity occurred, and
there may have been gifts of books from the several noblemen whose
libraries he catalogued.
LITERARY AND OTHER WORK. 177
and cheese" all bear or are in course of receiving the enclosed label,
and I have made a will to like purpose " creditors" permitting.
To Mr. Spencer George Perceval, Henbury, Bristol,
Edwards wrote on 2yth October, 1884, acknowledging
subscription to the second edition :
... I have thought that my original . . . prospectus of Feb. 1882
might possibly be interesting enough to form part of your gift (D.V.)
to South Kensington Museum. ... I may add (as your eye will fall
upon a little " footnote " in the prospectus of 1882 referring to a Civill
List pension, that the proposition was renewed in May, 1883, and was;
again refused by me. My answer was this : " To apply would, if the
favour were granted, take away half the solace, and all the grace " of
the Royal Bounty. At that moment I was absolutely without any
remunerative employment whatsoever. The application was then
made to Mr. Gladstone, without my co-operation. He delayed his
answer until August. I had then only a very small employment
for Encyclopedia Britannica ; was in utter poverty and in failing;
health. . . .
There are other letters and copies of letters from?
Edwards in the possession of the writer, but they alt
tell very much the same story. Edwards was evi-
dently cheered during this trying period by the cordiality
of many of his correspondents. He derived pleasure and
aid from the letters of Mr. Falconer Madan, M.A., sub-
librarian at the Bodleian Library, Mr. W. H. Allnutt,
and others known in the library world. The printing of
the book was finally stopped in January, 1886, and Edwards
died on the following yth February. All through 1885
there was turmoil over the book. Mr. G. A. Brannon, of
Newport, Isle of Wight, the printer of the second edition,
has supplied the writer with every detail in connection
with this book. A wealthy author could not have been better
treated than was Edwards by his printer. He was in full
sympathy with the earnest enthusiasm of the old man
over his book, and gave time and thought to the work
which, even under the most hopeful circumstances, could
not have been repaid. There remains in his mind no resent-
ment, nor did he at the time blame Mr. Edwards. The
debt at the last was a considerable one, as may be gathered,.
12
178 EDWARD EDWARDS.
and until the present writer traced the sheets of the first vol-
ume of the second edition, they had scarcely been disturbed
since they were packed away in 1886. The excitement of
those days must have weighed heavily on the aging and
wearied spirit of the old man. The position was an excep-
tionally peculiar one, and it would be impossible to distribute
blame in any one quarter. Creation in her birth-pangs pro-
duces life. The fragment of Edwards' second edition of
his Memoirs of Libraries, printed in 1885, of which it was
possible for the present writer to present 497 copies to
librarians and others interested in library work, was pro-
duced with much tribulation on the part of Edwards and his
printer. The world of books and writers has its martyrs
as well as the field of battle. In the roll of the former
Edwards' name deserves a place. The whole of the
existing MS. for the second edition of Memoirs of Lib-
raries is in all probability in the possession of the present
writer. What it may be possible to do with this in the
future cannot for the moment be decided. A kindly
paragraph in the Athenceum respecting this fragment,
referred, naturally, to the absence of an index as being
tantalising. The view is shared wholly by the one
responsible for its issue. But it seemed to him that the
most reverent way of treating the fragment was to issue
it exactly as it left the hands of Edwards, under the pecu-
liar circumstances which have been indicated. Should
it be found practicable to issue one or more volumes, the
absence of the index to the first volume can be then repaired.
Among the last words which Edwards wrote in the
first edition of Memoirs of Libraries are these on page
1069 : " Here, for the present, at all events, I close a task
which has been the occasional employment and the chief
delight of some of the best years of my life. The difficulties
under which it may, at times, have been pursued will form
no excuse for the shortcomings of performance ; nor indeed
can they claim to have been other than the usual incidents
of a protracted task. At some such times, I have ventured
to indulge the hope that, whatever its defects, certain things
LITERARY AND OTHER WORK. 179
in this book may, perhaps, be a source of help and
encouragement to future librarians when the writer shall
have passed away. And I would fain hope so still." The
words will find a response in the heart and brain of many
librarians.
The following letter will serve to show upon what
terms he was with the Lord Willoughby de Broke
family :
Kineton House, Warwick, ist October, 1882. Dear Mr. Edwards,
I am quite shocked and distressed at looking at the date of your note.
The evil habit of procrastination. Before thanking you for your kind
letter, I thought I would mention your wish to my son ; and then
circumstances interposed which prevented my seeing him for a few
days, and then he went away from home for a few days. But in his
absence I have seen his wife and that is the same thing. She is sure
that he will gladly accede to your request that his name should appear
as a subscriber to your valuable work, and she will tell him that it is
so, for I am going to Yorkshire to-morrow for a fortnight, and so can
no longer delay writing to you. You ask me if I remember you. How
can I ever forget those old days and all belonging to them, and the
great and friendly interest you took not only in your valuable work,
but in our surroundings. I have had heavy and great sorrows since,
and am even now mourning for my second daughter . . . who was
taken from us early this year ; but those who precede us to our real
Home above, draw us gently from thinking too much of this world.
With my kind regards and apologies for not having written before,
Believe me, yours very sincerely, G. Willoughby de Broke.
CHAPTER IX.
THE HOMELY SIDE AND LIFE AMONG HIS BOOKS.
Of this unweariable man the hours of mere recreation and of
comparative idleness seem to have continued, throughout life,,
hardly less fruitful in results of some sort than the hours of deliber-
ate and strenuous labour.
Life of Ralegh.
BURIED deep down among the papers acquired by the
present writer were two letters which were evidently much
treasured by Edwards. These were the first and last
letters received from his wife, and are characteristic in
more ways than one. The first is dated i3th March,
1835, an d reads :
Miss Hayward presents her compliments to Mr. Edwards, and
returns his book with many thanks. Miss Hayward has just received
the other two volumes, and will return them in less than a fortnight,
and hopes she shall not intrude upon Mr. Edwards' kindness by keep-
ing them so long. 28 South Bank, Regent's Park.
Then follows the other and last.
8th June, 1876. My dear Edward, I received your letter from
Grasmere last evening. I was not surprised to hear of your locality.
I hope you will enjoy your old haunts once again. I am glad you
have seen some one about your deafness, but it will no doubt take some
time before you receive any benefit from it. It has now been of such
long standing.
I am not able to tell you much good news of self and ailments : I
bore up all last week against them, but yesterday I was so very ill I
sent for Ballard. Perhaps you would like to write to him about charge,
etc. I shall make myself out better as soon as I am able, but I
have been very, very ill, I can assure you. I enclose you a slip : it
was sent to me in a few lines from my sister remembering to have
heard me mention the name in connection with the B(ritish) M(useum).
The weather has been very cold and dreary for the last few days. I
hope you may find it improve soon. I have no news of any sort
(i 80)
HOMELY SIDE. 181
to tell you. I should like to get a change if I could, but in my
present state I should only be a nuisance to any one. We go on
in much the same rambling manner as usual, but I do not want much
attention, I am happy to say. If you would like the Standard sent, I
will send it to you. I do not know if the direction you sent is sufficient.
I cannot remember if there ought to be any county added to Grasmere
if so you must tell me in your next letter. Of course you will visit all
your old haunts. Has there been much alteration made in the place ? I
will let you know how I am going on, and will keep Ballard as little time
as I can. You must excuse this scrawl but 1 am too ill to write much.
God bless you. Yours very affectionately, M. F. Edwards.
Does the Church-yard look as it used, or the Church ?
Edwards' endorsement of the letters just quoted is,
" This is the last letter, I think, that I ever received from
Margaretta, and I have just been reading the first one of very
nearly forty-two years earlier date. Oxford, 2nd January,
1877." She died on 3oth December, 1876, at the age of
seventy-four. On the monument in Lawford Churchyard,
near Manningtree, there is, on one side, this inscription :
" Margaretta Frances Edwards for nearly 33 years the
wife of Edward Edwards of Iffley Road, Oxford, Born in
London, April 7, 1803, Died at Hampstead, Dec. 30, 1876.
Buried in Kensal Green Cemetery, aet. 74. Her life was
chequered with sore trials. She is deeply lamented :
But with the grief that is brightened by faith in Christ.
Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, with Thee is the
fountain of life. In Thy light shall we see light."
Both for the grave at Lawford and the one in Kensal
Green Cemetery Edwards paid for flowers to the last.
Among his papers are receipts and letters showing this.
The marriage took place by license on nth June, 1844,
in the parish of St. Pancras, London. On the last page
of the last diary, 1884, he has made a border round the
date of her death, 3oth December, and written " My dear
wife". He often mentions the reading of some book
aloud to her. She took long walks with him, and clearly
shared a good deal of his life. Beyond this there is no
need to penetrate or to surmise.
His private album has been carefully preserved among
182 EDWARD EDWARDS.
his belongings. In this he has written, "With one ex-
ception only . . . this album is exclusively confined to
portraits of relatives and friends of its owner, and to views
of places at which he has lived or visited frequently ".
Three photographic portraits have been found which were
thought to be pictures of Edwards at different periods of
life, and it was hoped that one at least would be identified
as his portrait by some survivor who knew him. But
unfortunately this has not been found possible, and it is
doubtful, as these three are not of him, whether a portrait
of him is in existence. Messrs. A. & C. Black, the pub-
lishers, wrote asking him to send a photograph of himself
for their album of contributors to the Encyclopedia Britan-
nica, but he never sent one. He seems to have shrunk
from the ordeal of sitting for his portrait, and his modesty
in this direction is indicative of the man's nature. On
5th August, 1873, he wrote from Queen's College, Oxford,
to Dr. Crestadoro, then chief librarian at Manchester :
I am in receipt of your favour of the 315! ult. Your request is a
flattering one, but it is, entirely, out of my power to comply with it.
I have never sat for a photograph, and it was only in the days of
youthful vanity that I ever sat for a portrait of any kind. The last
occasion is, I think, about thirty-five years distant. You will probably
think it a " crotchet," but nevertheless I have always entertained a
strong dislike to photography for portraiture. I yield to none in
admiration of it for buildings and for many other like purposes, but I
do venture to think, that in order to have a " portrait " worthy the
name, you must first catch your painter.
He was very comfortable in his last lodgings in Oxford,
from which address so much of his early correspondence
referring to the second edition of the Memoirs of Libraries
was dated. He always remembered the birthdays of the
daughter of Mrs. Chapman in whose house he lived. In
1878 he gave her Tristram's Bible Places, which is inscribed
" With the giver's best wishes ; and also with the earnest
hope that, as years roll on, this small book may, in its
degree, tend to promote her thorough familiarity with, and
her deep reverence for, the greatest, the best, and the most
HOMELY SIDE. 183
enduring of all books". On the occasion of the following
birthday he presented a copy of the Christian Year, and im-
mediately after he had settled at Niton, some other books.
Those with whom he lived still remember him with kind-
ness and esteem. Some letters on both sides are in the
writer's hands, and they show that he was not by any means
difficult to live with, nor always in one unending state of
quarrelsomeness. It is a fair test of any man's character
to observe what was his standard of home life, and Edwards
emerges from this test as well as most men, including
those who are not engaged in engrossing literary researches.
He wrote to his former landlady on zoth September, 1883 :
" I shall wait upon you at the beginning of next month,
when a very small something will be due to me from Her
Most Gracious Majesty, whom may God preserve and
bless. Hitherto it is I that have had the happiness of
making sundry small and humble payments to Her
Majesty's income from time to time." This is a playful
reference to the income tax, which he paid during his
palmy Oxford days, when he was receiving about "300 a
year. On i7th November, 1883, he wrote:
Please to give to your Elfrida my kindest regards, and to ask her to
look upon the little volume which comes to her, by book post, as only
an earnest of something gayer and more attractive if all be well with
me by and bye. ... I am writing to you after correcting, for the
printer, forty columns of closely printed matter, and, therefore, as you
will easily believe, with a very tired hand, but I do not like to lose this
post. . . . With very kindest wishes.
On yth October, 1885 :
. . . My poverty deprives me of the gratification of visiting Oxford, for
the present, and of seeing you again : but I trust to have the pleasure of
hearing of your welfare and prosperity. ... I hope that you had both
(of your boys) with you for awhile in the summer to cheer you amidst
your labours and anxieties.
There are many letters referring to his votes for hospitals
and asylums. To the Wanstead Orphan Asylum he seems
to have been a subscriber for many years. When he took an
interest in a case it was not a desultory attention which he
184 EDWARD EDWARDS.
gave to it. The Ear and Throat Infirmary ; Emigration
Home for Destitute Little Girls ; Night Refuge and Home
for Deserving Men, Women and Children ; and others were
among those receiving his monetary aid. His correspon-
dence in connection with these charitable gifts of his
must have been considerable, judging by the number of
letters recovered, which cover only a few years. During
his residence at Wimbledon, he came to know intimately
a family where there were two little girls. He sent a small
present to one of them, and she wrote back: ". . . This
lace collarette is indeed beautiful, and will be only worn
upon very special occasions, when I will not fail at the
same time to think gratefully of the good and kind gentle-
man who gave it to me. I am sure if you had any little
girls beside you they would love you very much. In
return I have nothing to send you beyond my thanks, but
if you will kindly accept the two photographs herewith of
myself and sister, you will give us all much pleasure."
Dr. Henry Hemsted and Mr. Henry A. Dowse, now living,
nephews of Mrs. Edwards, were at the Blue Coat School
when Edwards was engaged at the British Museum. On
numerous occasions he would call for them at the school
and take them on the top of an omnibus to his house, and
for walks in the park. Both gentlemen retain a very
kindly recollection of him. They never, as boys, were
afraid to ask him questions. He was always delighted
to give them information, and gave it in such a way as
pleased the boys. A man who is loved by boys is usually
a man worth knowing. With Dr. Hemsted he had a long
and interesting correspondence continued well on to the
end of the seventies. It is to him he inscribed the
Handbook to the Literature of General Biography.
Edwards was a painstaking reader, and his reading
covered a vast and varied field of literature. He was
evidently an omnivorous reader, and had a retentive
memory for all that was noteworthy in the books he read.
The faculty of being able to rapidly discriminate what is
worth reading, and what can be left unread in any book,
HOMELY SIDE. 185
is of very slow acquirement, and there are not many who
can hope to attain a safe standard in this kind of swift
appreciation. But it is worth striving for, as will be owned
by all book-lovers, especially at the present moment, when
the multiplication of books makes the need for cultivating
the faculty more urgent than ever. The bookish spirit
of Edwards was part of the man, and his markings of
approved passages and annotations, and his criticisms,
reveal his inner life more than perhaps anything else could
possibly have done. His better self is shown, and his
intensely religious mind displays itself throughout the
notes which he wrote in his books of devotion. His
Bible contains his autograph and the words, " Sandgate,
25th April, 1861 (St. Mark's Day) ". Pencil marks show
the number of chapters in the aggregate of the books of
the Old Testament, and the number of chapters forming
the New Testament. The first chapter of Genesis bears
the dates, " Oxf. Dec. 1875, and Niton, Advent Sunday
1884 ". To some passages he has appended the Tyn-
dale or the Coverdale rendering. The dates here given
are entered at the head of the first chapter of Matthew.
"V(irginia) W(ater) Surrey, 26 March 1880. Colwell,
I.W. 3 October 1880. Oxf. 6 Nov. 1881. Oxf. 14 May
1882. Oxford i J any. 1883. Oxford n June 1883. Niton
8 Dec. '83. Niton 20 Feb. '84. Niton 16 July '84. Niton
21 Feb. '85." There are about three hundred and fifty
notes and entries in his Bible, and these reveal the devout
spirit of the man. Next to his Bible the book nearest to
his heart and soul was Keble's Christian Year : Thoughts
in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays Throughout the
Year. His copy was the edition of 1863, and he has
written in pencil on the title-page some notes on the 120
editions which the book had passed through up to 1884.
He inscribes it " To my dear Wife For New Year's Day
1864. Blenheim, Oxon. 30 Dec. 1863. E. E." This book
was the companion of his days and nights, and must have
been a source of great comfort to the lonely old man. It
is packed with additions in the shape of transcripts from
i86 EDWARD EDWARDS.
other poets, entries of the different dates on which he read
the various poems, quotations and comments of his own.
He seems to have used the Christian Year as a kind of
composite confessional album, birthday book, and private
diary, in which are recorded his wanderings, hopes, fears,
and the consolation which he found in times of stress and
trial. Lovers of the Christian Year will know the intensely
soothing spirit that prevails throughout the book. This
was one of the ends and purposes of the work, especially
for those who felt the need of spiritual comfort and solace
from the Book of Common Prayer. At the end of the
book there are these original verses by Edwards : " Lines
written in a copy of the Christian Year although very
unworthy presented at Christmas, to a near Relative,
now lamented ".
O may the precious blessings,
Of all true Christian Years,
The constant love of all we love ;
Freedom from earthborn fears :
And, chief, that crowning mercy
Of our holy Christmastide
The love of Him who came to save :
The Faith in Him who died
That we might live, as ransomed ones,
Cleansed from all sinful stain
Be yours and mine, through weal or woe :
In health, and joy ; in grief and pain.
May these be our's, whilst yet we cross
The troubled Sea of Time ;
May these be our's, until, at length,
We reach the heavenly clime.
Faith, then, her sight shall yield, and we
Above shall meet, to part no more
But sing, for aye, redeeming love,
Upon the blissful shore. E,
It is clear from this that Edwards would not have made
a reputation in poetry. The lines were written about
1863.
HOMELY SIDE. 187
He has carefully entered in the margin the dates upon
which the saints' days fall. Beginning with St. Andrew's
Day on 3oth November and ending with All Saints' Day
on ist November, sixteen dates are given in careful order.
He seemed to have these dates off by heart. Some of his
letters, inscriptions in his books, the entries in his Bible,
Prayer-book and Christian Year are full of this evidence.
A certain passage would be read on " St. Simon's Day ".
The last date upon which any quotations are copied is
1882. He had not left any more space in the ample
margins for additional verses. On several occasions
throughout the book he has corrected the printer in his
pointing. If there was a semicolon instead of a comma
he set the matter right in his own copy. His readings of
the poems throughout the year are systematically entered.
Several times there appears this remark, "Read with a
specially grateful heart". One of these is dated yth
December, 1884. To the poem for the fourth Sunday
in Advent, he has written at the end of it, " Read in
much pain, but with comfort and gratitude," at Ventnor,
22nd December, 1878, and again, 24th December. This
poem he seems to have read for the last time on 2oth
December, 1885, after his exposure on St. Catherine's
Down. Against the poem headed "The Holy Innocents"
he has entered these dates : Ventnor, 28th December, 1878,.
Oxford, 1879, Manningtree, '1880, Oxford, 1881, Oxford,
1882, Niton, 1883, Niton, 1884, Niton, 1885. In each
case 28th December is added. This list of dates illus-
trates the system which prevails throughout the book.
The last date written in the book is 24th January, 1886, and
this is against the poem for the third Sunday after Epiphany,
and must have been entered between two and three weeks
before his death. The poem for Easter Day is carefully
marked and various passages are underlined. One entry at
this reads, "Niton i3th April 1884, (6*40. A.M., before Holy
Communion)". There are also two entries showing that
the poem was referred to at Virginia Water, i3th April,
1879, and again at the same place, z8th March, 1880.
i88 EDWARD EDWARDS.
To the poem for the fourth Sunday after Easter there
are many additions, some of them being lines or sentences
of his own, which he was, perhaps, of opinion, would have
been better. The fourth line in the third verse reads,
" Where still He shines on Abraham's race ". Edwards in
the margin gives as an alternative reading the words
" sheds peculiar grace," evidently regarding them as an im-
provement. Another poem has written against it, " Ventnor,
I.W., 2oth July, 1879, day of a memorably surging and
billowing sea, little like its usual aspect at this time of
year ". On page 201 a text is quoted, " And seekest thou
great things for thyself ? seek them not". This he has
underlined, and added, " Stretford, Sept. 1858". This
was the time of his troubles at Manchester. He was
at Shirburn in August, 1861, and has entered in the
margin the place and date just named with the text,
" There are not found that returned to give glory to God,
save this stranger". He gave several copies of this book
as presents. In one of these he wrote :
Some of the notes in this volume have been inserted in the hope
that, some day, when the hand that now writes them shall have long
lain at rest (in God's good and gracious time), they may be found of
some use educationally, for those who are as yet unthought of. This
precious and most lovable book of John Keble has, over and above
its grand and noble devotional uses, also its valuable, say rather its
invaluable, uses for the right training of children, to be good subjects,
as well as good Christians. The receiver of the volume will (D.V.)
understand well what is here meant, in the years to come at present
the notes may seem somewhat out of place. E. E.
His copy of the Lyra Apostolica is marked in a similar
way to his beloved Keble, and his Prayer-book has also
in it very many entries. A few of his notes on the books
he read from time to time, which are scattered throughout
the diaries, may be given without appending the dates.
" Began Memoirs of Sir Powell Button an instructive
portraiture of a man more remarkable for innate energy
and force of will than for mental power, though in that
respect not ill endowed. Finished Stoughton's very in-
LIFE AMONG HIS BOOKS. 189-
teresting Memorials of the Puritans, entitled very appro-
priately Spiritual Heroes, which many of them truly
were." He must have never been without a book near
at hand. During the excitement of the Parliamentary
Committee of 1849 he enters, "Walked with intention to
go to Hampstead, but met with a tumble and forced to
return, spoiling Lamartine's speech on the Single chamber
question, which I was reading when . I fell returned
covered with clay ". Dear man, this is not likely to
have been the only accident of the same nature. The
following will serve to show how omnivorous was his
reading.
Read Wordsworth's ever fresh and beautiful White Doe of Rylston f
and Ode on Immortality, of which I never tire.
Delightful walk towards . . . reading Carlyle's Latter Day Pam-
phlets, a melancholy affair (and then gives the best part of a page of
his diary to a criticism).
Read part of Froude's Bunyan, differing widely from much of his
criticism, it is impossible not to admire and enjoy the skill of the narra-
tive part.
Began " Currer Bell," clever, racy and rough. Read on my ramble
Washington Irving's Life of Goldsmith, a pleasantly written book, but
wanting the geniality and charm of Forster's.
Continued Life of Robespierre, which I have read with pleasure.
Although containing little that is new it is the best and most coherent
narrative of that instructive career which I have seen.
Began Browning's new poem Christmas Eve and Easter Day a vein
of true poetry in it, but sadly embedded in shale and rubbish. Great
thoughts are there nevertheless and sometimes grandly clothed.
Read a small portion of Longfellow's admirable translation of the
Inferno comparing it with the original. It is the closest and I think,
the truest of the translations into English.
Looked at Warburton's Memoirs of Prince Rupert and the Cavaliers?
a book containing a few interesting letters and a great many amusing
anecdotes, but wretchedly edited as if with a pitchfork.
Continued Memoirs of Lord Clone urry, a rich storehouse of informa-
tion on history of Ireland since '95, very vigorously written.
Read Margaret Maitland (Passages in the Life of) a very simple,
homely and sterling story of Scotch manse life in its best aspect
earnest and true-hearted.
Read also Carlyle's Downing Street, better, much better, than the
crude trash about prisons, but still rather declamatory about the neces-
sity of getting a wise government than indicating how to set about it.
igo EDWARD EDWARDS.
Finished Leigh Hunt's Autobiography : 3 vols. His books very
pleasant and genial but he certainly gets too courtly and too apt to
apologise for some of the sayings and doings of his youth.
Read Marsh's Mordaunt Hall, a disjointed, slipshod affair. Continued
Life of Robespierre, although containing little that is new it is the best
and most coherent narrative of that instructive career which I have
seen.
Continued Curzon's Visits to the Levant Monasteries. The book
is lively and graphic, but gives no indication of a mind above
mediocrity in grasp or range. But the author's perceptive faculties
greatly transcend his reflective ones.
Finished Mrs. Oliphant's Life of Edward Irving, in speaking of
whom as saint and martyr I do not think his excellent biographer one
whit over-rates the man, whatever the temporary errors of the theo-
logian or the priest.
Continued the Memoir of Lacordaire, an interesting and yet a very
poor biography. Not even a clear account of his actual relations with
Rome can be obtained from the book which is much more like a
vague eulogy than a " Life ".
Continued Froude's History of England. I think it a very able work,
but with too many documents thrust into the text instead of being woven
into the narrative, and too great a preference of facts which he has
himself disinterred.
Read De Quincey's Autobiographical Sketches as always with
pleasure, but with increased regret at the excessive carelessness and
breathless haste shewn in nearly every chapter of them : the " errata "
would be a curious appendix to them.
Continued Sharon Turner's England (Middle Ages) very vague
and unsatisfactory on many grave points, but still a book worth reading.
The worst thing perhaps and one of the most obvious, an entire want
of careful revision ; almost the printers seem to have been left to them-
selves ; the way in which authorities are cited too, is eminently loose
and inaccurate.
Read whilst walking Life and Letters of Southey. The autobio-
graphical sketch of his boyhood very characteristic, and very full of
twaddle. ... In reading some of the letters of the trend of Southey's
life, I was strongly reminded of the early and college correspondence
of a very different man W. E. Channing. Both indulged day dreams
of community of property, abolition of human selfishness, etc., but
how different the awakening.
Continued Life of Heylyn and that of Hugh Miller. Lives more
diversified than these, can scarcely be imagined, but both of them have,
in common, the charm of strongly marked individuality and force of
character. The one essentially a man of action though thrown among
books, having the best culture, but not always making the noblest use
of it yet the gentleman and the cavalier always visible beneath the
LIFE AMONG HIS BOOKS. 191
cassock. The other born in lowly life with the humblest education,
almost that can be imagined : essentially a man of books ; the poet as
clearly seen beneath the garb of a mechanic, as was seen eventually
by all the world of readers, the man of keen scientific insight, marvel-
lously endowed as an observer of God's glorious works of creation,
and ever seeing above the works and seeing with bowed head and
bended knee the Almighty and all-beneficent Creator.
In the evening continued Kinglake's Crimea aloud. The first vol. is
almost and wholly devoted to the " Causes of the war ". The story is
told with very great ability, but in the judgment passed on two eminent
actors in the strife Nicholas and Napoleon the scales are held very
unequally. The writer is compelled to admit both cunning and false-
hood on the part of Nicholas, but yet is found constantly arguing on
the assumption that his apparent and avowed objects were his real
objects ; whilst in dealing with Napoleon he almost always attributes
even right and wise actions to corrupt and mean motives ; he bases
his reiterated assertions that the justifiable objects of England might
have been obtained without war on the assumption that the proffered
co-operation of Austria and Prussia was trustworthy, and on the further
assumption I must venture to think a most foolish one that a war
postponed in 1853 would have been a war avoided. He can never
discuss the Emperor Napoleon's share in the business with any sem-
blance of historical calmness, and thus in his anxiety to deal out telling
blows he forgets that some blows hurt the giver more than the receiver.
These are representative examples of the notes scattered
through his diaries. He had the common antipathy
against publishers and booksellers which most authors
cherish. A poor estimate of both pervaded his mind.
Among the copy prepared for the Handbook to the Litera-
ture of General Biography, which was only printed in
part, there is a note about The Peerage of England . . .
by Arthur Collins, in which he states :
Arthur Collins (1682-1760) began life as a bookseller. But he was
a marvellous contrast to the thriving and the thriven booksellers of
this latter part of the nineteenth century. Most of them probably,
one may say with utmost charity (the charity of truth) unclean
twentieths of them deal in books as other men deal in cheese or in
bacon, with just as much of regard for the product, so that it be made
"saleable," with small thought or trouble. The greatest book upon
the greatest of themes will, as far as the booksellers' influence over it
may extend, be spoiled or " scamped," if in that scamped and mauled
state it can be made to bring in quicker profits, than if prepared
iQ2 EDWARD EDWARDS.
conscientiously and thoroughly. The utmost success attained in the
book-selling trade is often very often no security whatever that the
eminent publisher's name at the foot of the title gives warrant that the
Author has had fair play in being enabled and encouraged, to do his
powers at their best without check or hamper from the tradesman.
Collins loved Literature far better than he loved money. And in that
capacity as in his capacity of Author he never stinted pains. His
works are models in their kind. Sir Egerton Brydges' edition of his
chief work is admirable. It surpasses, immensely, any subsequent
" Peerage," whether bearing the name of " Burke," or " Lodge,"
or " Foster ". It is no demand of the Public that confines a Peerage
nowadays to a single volume. It is a mere bookselling trick : just as
the enormous use in our day of very small print, is no public require-
ment, but a joint " trick " and a detestable one of booksellers and
of printers, who prefer a very little additional profit, to the comfort and
the eyesight of that large proportion of their customers and readers
who are either aged or advancing towards age.
Booksellers and publishers must find the attacks now
and again made upon them quite refreshing to read.
Several of his commonplace books have been preserved,
and they contain many notes and annotations. Some of
these are not always in good taste. The one now quoted
gives an example of a number of proofs where he allows
his politics and religion to run away with him.
Brownlow North (B.A., Oxon.), Records and Recollections. By the
Rev. Kenneth Moody-Stuart, M.A. Published 1878. Inscription, " To
my dear Sister, from Edward Edwards, of Niton, April 1884 (G(ood)
F(riday)) for Christmas, 1884 (in anticipation of one more meeting
God in His gracious Divine Providence, permitting).
On the page containing the title of book and inscription,
as above, and also on the first page of preface, Edwards
writes as follows :
I have always regarded the gift of a book, whether the present be
made to a beloved relative (as now), or to one of those " little children "
to whom (and, the more especially, that in the course of Divine Pro-
vidence, I have never had the great blessing of enjoying the love
of any child of my very own, I delight to give books that may (D.V.)
be enjoyed, and be profited by, when the hand of the giver shall have
long lain at rest, and cold, in the grave) as a testimony of approval
of its contents.
LIFE AMONG HIS BOOKS. 193
That he was a lover of children is shown by this extract.
The stroke of a child's hand, the playful lisp of a child's
voice, the sound of merry children's voices around the
table, leave their impression upon many a life. Those
who have experienced these privileges will realise how deep
was this man's sense of loneliness. He then continues :
But, in this instance, I can only approve, partially, of these Records
and Recollections of Brownlow North, although I have read the
volume with a deep interest. Most of it I read during a solitary
walk (to Chale) on the most solemn day of the whole " Christian
Year," and also the most Blessed of all its holy-days, save only one.
I love the man's Christian Spirit of self-sacrifice. But I do not love
his " Presbyteriani sm ". Everyday that I live, I become more deeply
attached to " my dear Mother," the Church of England, as by Law
Established : though I had not the blessing of being born, or baptized,,
in its Communion.
The Church was, at first, " Congregational, " that, by the agitation
of the lowest strata of Society, the mass, above, of Corruption, Idolatry
and Mental Servitude, might be broken up : it was then ' Synodal,'
that the tendency of Separate bodies to Heresy, and to Schism, might
be counteracted : it was, then, ' Episcopal,' that in times of difficulty
and of peril the whole Church might act in concert and decisively :
it became ' Papal,' that it might (under God's Divine Providence)
oppose a (strong and) Visible Unity to the (Savage) Armies of Mahomet,
and to the Barbarians of the North. It then became under like
Divine Providence, ' Monastic,' that Learning, Art, Piety (the
' Civilities ' and the blessed solaces of our troubled life) might be
preserved in (almost) impregnable Retreats, amidst the deluge of
ignorance, and of armed oppression : . . . then ' Protestant,' that the
Soul might be emancipated from many errors, superstitions, despotisms :
then, again, ' partially reformed ' even in the bosom of the Papacy,
lest " Protestant Emancipation " should hurry the whole of Christen-
dom into precipitate and radical innovations, into ruinous changes, and
into fatal Infidelity that " infidelity," which is now so rife amongst
us, and which so easily assumes the masque of a " Philosophy " falsely
so-called : even damnable heresies, . . . ' denying the Lord that
bought us ' (2 Peter ii. i).
The good author of this volume and also its better " Subject "
Brownlow North himself wd. have done well to have pondered these
"aspects of Church History," before magnifying that narrow " Pres-
byterianism " so tenderly : which (only two hundred and forty years
ago) ruined for a while our grand Anglican Church, and, for only a
season also, destroyed even our Civil and Secular liberties.
Since that most Holy-Day (April nth, this year) on which I read
13
IQ4 EDWARD EDWARDS.
great part of this vol., after reading the " Divine Service " of course, and
also Canon Liddon's Divinity of our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, I have
read Brownlow North over again, with increased regard for the memory
of a good Christian man and also with increased regret that he ever did
anything, or said anything, to weaken that glorious and venerable Church
into which it was his happiness to be enrolled from his birth ; although
for many years he was a disgrace to it. I devoutly and humbly pray God
that no Gladstones nor other destructive radical traitors may ever be
permitted to rob that Church, or, in any way, to weaken it !
On the last page of the book the following is written
by Edward Edwards :
There's scarce a page within this touching book
But gives much cause for earnest thought to One
Taught by his Summer spent, his Autumn gone,
That " Life " is like a tale of morning grass
Withered at Eve !
There are other lines which follow, and .his note is
" Copied out after a solitary walk on the beach before
sunrise. Sunday, 9 Nov. 1884."
In a volume of " Poetry of the Year," with coloured
illustrations, given to his sister in 1878, he has written :
I hope that the intrinsic worth of the few additional " passages," on
the Seasons, will prevent them from being looked upon as disfigure-
ments of the pages, despite the scrawling hand which, nowadays,
waits upon tried and tired eyes (like to your's). They are written in
pencil, because the paper will not bear ink without blotting, as the
title-page opposite shows too plainly.
The additions are from Matthew Arnold, Wordsworth,
Talfourd, Bern. Barton, Bowles, D. M. Moir and Dean
Alford.
In Sir Walter Scott's Biographical Memoirs there occur
a few interesting notes. A reference to the late Queen
causes him to write, " Her charms of character and her
' personal goodness ' are of more importance than her
personal charms as we all gratefully feel under the rule of
Queen Victoria". On one of the blank title-pages of
this book he has written :
N.B. It is much to be wished that the religious character of many
of the " subjects " of these Memoirs, had been in better harmony, with
LIFE AMONG HIS BOOKS. 195
their eminent literary or historical character. They have to be read
many of them with a constant thought of those unhappy educational
influences so hostile to the Religion of the Gospel of our Blessed Lord
which marked, in a sadly pre-eminent degree, the eighteenth century
an age, conspicuous for dreary Formalism, on the one hand, and for
shallow scepticism on the other. But every life-career that is told in
these volumes, is, on one ground or other, an eminently instructive
life. And the incidents of each and of all are told, with exquisite grace
and with generous sympathy by a man of almost unexampled
genius, of a most loving and noble spirit, and gifted with a power
of lucid narration to which very few English writers have in any age
approached. His gifts as Poet, or as Novelist, are not, I think, a whit
more marvellous than are his gifts as a Biographer : And to read him
is to love him. 1
He loved Scott intensely. For light casual reading he
was fond of some of Mrs. Oliphant's. Readers were never
more in need of reliable finger-posts to lead them to the
best and most wholesome streams of thought than in these
days. Whether there was about Edwards enough self-
forgetfulness to have filled a great place in this way may
be doubtful, but he could have rendered a useful service in
this direction.
His book-plate was of a simple character. Round it
are the words " Rustic Quiet, Prayer and Worship, Friend-
ship, Books ". Near the middle of the plate appears his
monogram and a stag or antelope. Search has been
made at the College of Arms, and the only connection
found is that in 1728 there was a grant of arms to Thomas
Edwards, of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, of which the crest
was a stag under an oak tree. In the arms of the Edwards'
families the crest which has most affinity to the one he
used is said to belong to a family connected with Cornwall,
Devon and Shropshire. On the envelopes of a few of his
letters a seal is used upon which this motto appears, with
the stag or antelope. " Omnis fortuna ferendo ^ peranda
est " (Every fortune is to be overcome by enduring). The
use of the crest and motto indicates his belief that he was
of gentle ancestry.
1 Many words are underlined in the original.
CHAPTER X.
HIS MOTHER AND SISTERS AT MANNINGTREE.
... It must be worth while to ascertain something about the ex-
traction, as well as the immediate parentage, of a conspicuous man,
were it only for the chance that incidental light may so be thrown
on some dark problem or other in his own career. And the in-
fluence upon the ordinary events of life, of blood-alliance and family
connection, is one of too obvious a sort to need insisting on.
Life of Ralegh.
AFTER the death of Edwards' father in 1847 his mother
and sisters lived at several addresses in London. He
helped the elder sister Charlotte with the necessary fees
to pass through some of the classes of a normal training
school for teachers. The family took up their residence
in Manningtree, Essex, in May, 1851, and opened a girls'
school. It appears likely that their brother's loss of his
British Museum appointment and salary had something
to do with the rapid maturing of plans. The school, so
far as pupils were concerned, was never very large. The
first house in which they lived is still shown, and here a
brass plate duly announced that the Misses Edwards kept
a preparatory school for young ladies. There were three
or four changes of residence during their life at Mistley,
which is part of Manningtree, although it possesses a
separate local administration. The writer possesses a
long series of letters from the sisters to the brother, cover-
ing a period ranging from 1854 to 1885, and these are all
dated from Manningtree. They reveal the warm affection
which must have existed between Edwards and his mother
and sisters. The correspondence is of a simple family
nature, but the trend of it throughout is that of a close
and mutually helpful family love. They tell of the un-
stinting monetary help which Edwards gave to them, as
(196)
MANNINGTREE. 197
long as the mother and sister Charlotte lived (for both
died in 1864), and to Elizabeth up to the last weeks of his
own life : even though his income during a long stretch
of years was of a very limited nature. All honour to this
man who gave bountifully of his affection, and unsparingly
of his means, to those near and dear to him. The nobil-
ity of this side of his character is as clear as letters and
personal accounts can make it. A brave heart battled
within him, but he was carried along at times like a piece
of floating wreck driven hither and thither by the force of
the waves. But all through, those in the nest in the little
Essex town had the wealth of his love poured upon them,
their memory was cherished, after they were gone, up to
the end of his days. Homely virtues must ever take a
large place in the estimation of the worth of every man or
woman, whether they take part in actions which set great
forces moving, or merely occupy a humble place at the
great table of life where gather the millions of humanity.
This, man emerges from the test of living up to the highest
and purest of the domestic virtues, with conspicuous
honour, if the letters which passed between his family and
himself and were never written for publication reveal
anything. They breathe a spirit which is alike creditable
and honourable to all concerned. On 3oth August, 1851,
he made his first visit to Manningtree. He was then en-
gaged in buying books in London for the Manchester Lib-
rary. He says in his diary, " Found my dear mother in
pretty good health and spirits . . . prospects of school
not good ". His stay on that occasion was short. In the
autumn of the following year he made his second visit. It
was during these visits that he became known among the
girls in the school as the " wonderful brother ". This
arose from the sisters constantly speaking about him and
quoting him to the girls in the school. In August, 1854,
he was again at Manningtree, and " with my dear mother
nearly all day. Read to her out of Chalmers' noble
discourses on religion." At the end of that year one of
the sisters writes : " We were quite glad dear Edward that
ig8 EDWARD EDWARDS.
you escaped safely from that noisy meeting. We never
read or heard of such work. It was enough to frighten
any one out of their wits. I suppose there were no ladies
present." There is reason to think that the meeting to
which reference is here made was a meeting to promote
the adoption of the Public Library Act. The meetings
for the promotion of the library movement in those days
were as a rule noisy enough in all conscience. The letter
finishes with this sentence : " Our school money this
quarter is every shilling owing, so we do not know what
will be the consequence, .bread and provisions generally,
being so dear, make such a great difference, it is quite a
serious thing". On z8th April, 1856, they write, "We
found no difficulty in reading your kind letter, and dear
mother says that although her eyes are old, she can always
read your writing without trouble ". And a little later the
mother had instructed the writer of the letter to tell him
that " she is much grieved to find that you write so late
at night. We are sure it is likely to injure your health
and that sooner or later you will feel it." He was with
them in August, 1856, and the reports of the prospects in
the little school were not encouraging. There is some-
thing inexpressibly sad when ladies of refinement are left
to earn a living. There were few years for a considerable
period that he was not at Manningtree in the autumn.
At thejvery end of 1859, " We are anxious dear Edward to
know whether you have been successful through the
advertisement or in any other way". It was nearing
Christmas, and the letter finishes with, " We all wish you
may enjoy a pleasant Christmas. I know you will not
forget us in our solitariness. We shall have a very dull
one or rather none at all." On i5th May, 1860, " Dear
mama was very pleased to receive your beautiful letter.
God grant that in due time it may be answered." A month
later, " We are very sorry to hear that you have had so
much hurry and fatigue with your Edinburgh work," and
again about the same date, " We feel grieved dear Edward
to think you apply so closely and trust it will not injure
MANNINGTREE. igg
your health. I should think it must make it pleasant to
have children in the house, particularly as you were always
fond of children." In October, " We have to thank you
for the newspaper. We saw a long account of the
meeting of the Science Congress at Glasgow. It must
have been a splendid gathering. Lord Brougham must
be a remarkable man indeed. We saw your name in the
list. Mama spied it out." Edwards had contributed a
paper on libraries to the Congress. In the last letter in
1860 :
Dear mother sends her most affectionate love and thanks for your
very kind letter and remittance. She wishes me to say that she takes
it exceedingly kind in your sending what you have, and so early in the
week too. She wishes she could write a few loving words to you on
your birthday, but that is not in her power in her weak state, but you
know dear Edward that you have her best wishes and prayers, in which
we both most cordially unite.
In September, 1862, he says in his diary: "... Had
much grave and some cheerful talk with my beloved
mother, who sat up in her room for two hours or so, and
spoke far more easily and cheerily than I could have
hoped. She is sadly worn, but her dear face is but little
altered in features or expression." On the following day
he enters, " Had a solemn and most touching interview
with my beloved mother concluding with earnest prayer
with her and with my sisters. May God in His great
mercy grant that the impressions thus produced on my
mind may not be transient, and that the supplications
thus humbly offered in the name of the one Great
Mediator may in His good time and way be answered."
A few days later he is back in the Isle of Wight, and
enters in his diary on a Sunday : " Attended the Holy
Communion. At the beginning with sad stony indifference,
but afterwards with impressions which I earnestly pray
may not be merely transient. On leaving church had a
long, quiet and meditative walk. . . . The day a splendid
and impressively Sabbatical one." His financial help to
his family that year amounted to over forty-one pounds.
200 EDWARD EDWARDS.
Then in June, 1863, " Our beloved mother sends her
warmest love to you and desires me to tell you that she
had very great pleasure in reading your letter, it is the
only thing that she can read now, and it is such a comfort
to her that she can do that ". Shortly afterwards, " Dear
mother often expresses her regret that you are so far off.
She says it would be such a comfort to her to see you
often. ... I am quite sorry dear Edward that you have
been all this time alone. It must be so dull for you, and
I don't know how you manage so long without your wife,
and I am surprised she likes to be away so much." On
zoth June, 1863, " Our beloved mother sends her warmest
love and thanks to you for your very kind letter, etc., . . .
dear mother says she hopes when you make another remove
you will not pitch your tent so far from Manningtree ". In
September, 1863, he is at Manningtree, and " spent
much of the day afterwards with my mother who had
some grave, earnest and touching conversation with me at
times when she was able to speak with me. . . . Promised
to do all I could for my sisters for her sake as well as for
theirs. ..." On the i8th " took a hurried tearful farewell
of my mother and sisters ". There were premonitions that
the end was coming for the mother. On this page of the
diary there is written some years later these words :
This was the last farewell in life. I did not see my beloved mother's
face again until I saw it in the solemn calmness of death on the 25th
January, 1864, the day after her departure. In my great grief I had
then the happy consciousness that I could not remember to have seen
that dear face with any expression other than that of love : and the
firm conviction that by God's grace and through the sole merits of our
blessed Lord's atonement, I shall hereafter have the inexpressible
happiness of seeing it again in a better world.
The letters during the mother's last illness are very
pathetic. He was then at Shanklin. He received the
note that she was dying on the Sunday morning, and there
being no boat he could not start for Manningtree on that
day. At five on the Monday morning he was on his way.
He remained some days with his sisters. At the end of
MANNINGTREE. 201
the same year the elder sister died unexpectedly, and he
went forthwith to share the sorrow with his remainin-g
sister, Elizabeth Margaret. His income during 1864
was jS 155., made up of 28 155. from the Duke of
Marlborough for the report upon the Blenheim Library,
and two items of 25 each from his publishers. Of this
he sent "45 is. 3^. to his mother and sisters. Fortu-
.nately he had, what was to him, a considerable sum left
over from the previous year. At the end of his diary for
that year there is a little sketch plan of the grave where
his mother and sister were buried. Dr. Merivale, the
historian of Rome and translator of Homer, better known
as Dean Merivale, was then the rector of Lawford Church,
which is about two miles from Manningtree. It was
said at Manningtree that Edwards was much like Dr.
Merivale in appearance. Edwards did not greatly admire
.him as a preacher, for of one sermon he says, " Dr.
Merivale preached, scholarly and coldly ". It may be
doubted whether any one could visit Lawford Church
without being struck with the rural beauty of its sur-
roundings. Situated in the midst of fields, and looking
like a huge park, on all sides of which there are belts of
fine trees, it is the very ideal of a place in which to rest
when one is done with work. The river Stour, winding
on its course with numerous little boats on its surface,
and the little town of Manningtree in the distance, lend
completeness to the scene. Edwards, himself an anchorite,
must have felt the glamour of this haven of rest in an
especial way. It must have filled his soul, and it is no
wonder that he should have several times, during 1864,
.passionately expressed in his diary the wish that he
should be buried in the same grave as his mother and
sister in the Lawford Churchyard.
The remaining sister lived on alone at Manningtree.
In August, 1866, Edwards was with her, and visited Law-
ford Church. He enters in his diary : " Found the grave
of my loved mother and sister very neglected. If God
shall in His Almighty wisdom bless my present efforts,
202 EDWARD EDWARDS.
I hope to remedy this, and to place to them some poor
memorial stone." He was then engaged upon his Life
of Ralegh, for which he was to receive one hundred and
fifty guineas, increased to a larger sum at a later date.
He attended the service, and " Mr. Merivale preached in
his usual perfunctory and lifeless style ". On gth March,,
1867, Elizabeth writes :
I return you many thanks for your remittance. ... I am very glad
to hear you are making such satisfactory progress with your Life of
Ralegh, and hope you will reap a rich reward. It must be a work of
great labour. ... I anticipate another Sabbath alone to-morrow.
Pray for me my dear brother that I may submit to my Heavenly
Father's will in being thus afflicted, but I sometimes .think it hard to
be left here to drag on such a dull life. . . . What do you think of Mr..
Binney's hymn ?
The hymn, of which a written copy was enclosed in the:
letter, was Dr. Binney's " Eternal Light, eternal Light "..
Then on 3oth June, " I am rejoiced to hear that you are;
daily gaining strength, and trust you will continue to do/
so. ... Many thanks dear for your remittance for which.
I am thankful. The want of what you have before so
regularly supplied makes it doubly welcome." Two-
months later :
It grieves me to be any additional anxiety to you, though I know
what you do for me, you do ungrudgingly. . . . Are you seeking to*
obtain a librarianship ? I do trust you will be able to meet with a.
permanency. It would be such a relief to you and to all of us. Is.
your book ready yet ? . . . I enjoyed reading your Devonshire book..
It is very interesting. (In October), Your letter has grieved me very
much. I do trust you will not give way to despondency. The Lord 1
never has forsaken those that put their trust in Him. These trials are
hard, very hard to bear, and especially I think when poverty and
sickness go together, and being so solitary I cannot but think it falls,
more heavily upon me. . . . My dear brother you speak of affliction
souring the temper. I trust that will not be the case with us, by God's,
help it shall not sour mine though I have something to bear. . . .
In the summer ot 1867 he took her to Felixstowe and
Dovercourt, as she had been failing in health. One of
the sweetest things in English literature is Charles
MANNINGTREE. 203
Lamb's loving care of his sister Mary. Edwards' care
of his sister Elizabeth may be classed with that record
of brotherly devotion. A little later she writes, " I am
glad to hear what you say about the Weigh House Chapel,
though I may never see the old place again, nor ever hear
Mr. Binney's voice again ". In the following year (1868)
he was in a weak state of health, and there are many
blanks in his diary. On 4th October, 1873, she wrote :
... I thank you most sincerely for what you have sent me now, as
well as in all times past. All I have to give you in return is my warmest
love and affection, but you will have your reward from Him who knows
all about it. When you write tell me how you are, and if you are
relieved at all, of your deafness. I am anxious often to hear of you
more frequently, but I know you are wearied with pen work, and I
have so little to write about that would interest you. . . .
The last of the sisters received for a number of years
an annuity of 20 from one of the London trade guilds,
secured for her through the influence of a London cousin.
Edwards visited her on 23rd December, 1880, and
spent that Christmas with her. (At the end of 1876 his
wife had died.) The entries in his diary respecting these
days which they spent together are so sweet and whole-
some that they may well be given in full :
Had the happiness to find my dear sister fairly well and cheerful.
Had a long talk together, and earnest humble prayer together in
gratitude of heart for the long desired and now graciously permitted
meeting. On Christmas Day prayed, read and conversed with my
dear Elizabeth. Then walked of necessity alone, and with very sacred
memories, to Lawford. Prayed at the dear grave, which I trust, by
God's gracious memory may, long before 1881 be out, if life and health
be vouchsafed to me, have its due and loving memorial. ... In the
evening had much reading from Holy Scripture aloud, with Milton's
and Keble's hymns, the former from memory. . . . (Two days later),
after prayer as usual read to my dear sister, my old London acquaint-
ance Daniel Moore's fine sermon on the " Life to come " (from a vol.
which I had given to our beloved mother as long ago as 1848). . . . Left
my sister with gratitude for the almost four days which we have been
permitted to spend together in peace and love. God be blessed for
countless mercies to both of us. At Oxford spent a quiet evening
in deep gratitude for a blessed visit and a safe return.
204 EDWARD EDWARDS.
This was probably as peaceful and as happy a time as
he had during the rest of his life. He was no stranger
all through his life to disappointment and trouble. The
common lot of humanity lies very much in that direction,
and Edwards had his full share. On New Year's Day of
1881 the sister writes : " I felt dreary after you left, but I
have kept myself employed and strive hard against it.
The little time we had together, was to me a very happy
time, and I shall often think of it with delight and thank-
fulness. In God's good providence I trust we may meet
again at a more genial season." Then there comes a
sisterly touch. " Your praise of the pudding and cake
made me feel quite proud. I wish you could have taken
with you three times as much." Most men are mortal
and care for toothsome pudding and cake. He loved trees
and all natural things. In the grounds at Mistley the
woodman's axe had been at work. She writes some three
days after the previous letter: "The existence of the poor
trees would be as everlasting as the hills if it were
possible, ere you would permit them to be cut down, and
rightly too. The park here has been much 'spoiled by
their destruction, and one can scarcely forgive." Numer-
ous are the letters at this time, all breathing an affectionate
tone between them. The sister was ailing most of the
year, and indeed during a good part of the remainder of
her life. She was shown neighbourly kindness by some
members of the Congregational Church which she attended,
and its ministers, and it is fitting that there should be
mentioned Mr. and Mrs. George Fenter, and Mr. and Mrs.
John Carter and the daughters of the two families. Two
out of these three girls were scholars in the school of
the Misses Edwards. In April of the year named Mr.
Carter had written to her brother about the sister's state
of health. In reply to this, Edwards wrote :
12 Iffley Road, Oxford, 3rd April, 1881. The note you had the
kindness to write to me on Friday, came to my hand last evening. I
write of course to my sister, by the post which will bring you this
brief acknowledgment of an attention for which I_feel greatly indebted
MANNINGTREE. 205
to you, and for which be pleased to accept my cordial thanks. It must
be superfluous to say how grateful I shall be if, by God's mercy, you
are able by and bye to send me a line to tell of my dear Sister's im-
provement a blessing and mercy for which I humbly and heartily pray.
On a later occasion he called at their cottage and
thanked them both in grave and dignified terms for all the
kindness they had shown to his sister. Elizabeth suf-
fered from attacks of small extravagances, just as did
her brother. They are called small extravagances, for
the means of neither one nor the other admitted of more,
but in both cases they were taxes upon the slender avail-
able resources. Elizabeth would send for the doctor on
the least occasion. She had a weakness for physic, and
while she had some ailments, particularly rheumatism,
there were times in the estimation of those who knew her
when she did not require medical advice, though she would
have it. Unpaid doctors' bills are unmistakably evident.
On one occasion Elizabeth was in a neighbour's house.
" There goes Dr. ," and she forthwith jumped up and
had an interview with him in the cottage where she
happened to be at the time. Dear soul ! She tried her
friends in this way, but to her last days she received a
kindness which must have been the very marrow of her
life, and she was deeply grateful for the thoughtful care
of a few true friends. On 2oth December, 1881, she
wrote : " My dearly loved brother. Accept my loving
thanks for your very kind letter and enclosure. Also for
the beautiful book . . . you supply me so well with valu-
able books. ... I feel very thankful you bear so calmly
and patiently your sad infirmity. In all trials there are
alleviations and your eyes continuing so well is a great
blessing as you have often said."
It was not until 1882 that he was able to have the long
desired monument erected. The inscription reads :
" Sacred to the memory of Charlotte Edwards, Widow of Anthony
Turner Edwards. Born at Hull lyth Aug. 1783, Died at Mistley,
24th Jan. 1864, act. 81 ; also of Charlotte Edwards, Daughter of the
above named, Born at Writtle i3th June 1814, Died at Manningtree,
206 EDWARD EDWARDS.
22nd Dec. 1864, aet. 51. (On the side nearest the church this is
found) : They lived, throughout life, together, and in love together,
they bore many temporal losses and severe afflictions, in the same
year they were laid to their brief rest, beneath. They both died in full
assurance of a blissful Reunion through the atoning sacrifice of " Our
Blessed Lord Jesus Christ" Mediator, Saviour, Redeemer of sinners.
" The Resurrection and the Life Am I : believe and die no more."
Inside Lawford Church there is on the wall which is
nearest the monument outside in the graveyard a beauti-
ful white marble tablet, bearing this inscription : " Sacred
to the dear and Honoured Memories of Charlotte Edwards
(1783-1864): of Charlotte Edwards (1814-1864) : and of
Margaretta Frances Edwards (1803-1876)". Then follow
a text and some lines of poetry. In May, 1882, he was
at Manningtree and the two had another refreshing few
days together. At the end of that year she writes : " I fear
you are suffering much in your health, and it grieves me
much to think that I cause you so much anxiety as well
as expense. Accept my best and loving thanks for again
so generously ministering to my wants. I trust you will
never tax your strength another year as you have this.
... I do not think of my trials as being greater than
yours, for I am sure your deprivation of hearing must be
great indeed, and it is scarcely ever from my thoughts."
In the spring of 1883 : "... As to yourself you must have
some relaxation ... at your time of life it grieves me,
as I have so often said, that you work so hard, and the
remuneration so slow in coming. ... I have scores of
your letters which every now and then I read." On i7th
July, 1883 : " Your most long and sympathising letter my
dearest brother made me very grateful to you. I shall
never forgive myself for having been the cause of adding
to your troubles and anxieties. I would rather have con-
tinued suffering. ... I hope you will believe . . . that
I am living as frugally as possible . . . and deny myself
many comforts. . . . Many times a day my poor prayers
go up for you that Divine strength may be imparted to
you, and help and comfort in all times of weakness and
depression." He was now dependent on his pension of
MANNINGTREE. 207
eighty pounds a year, and from the tone of the letters it
is evident he had expressed deep regret that he could not
do more for her. He was too poor to go to Manningtree
for the Christmas, and indeed never saw his sister again
so far as the available records show. She writes : "I
-daresay like myself you had a very quiet Christmas. It
may be wrong to feel so, but I am always glad when it
has passed. It brings sad reflections as this month does.
.. . . But I trust we can both, humbly yet confidently
anticipate a blessed reunion." She had sent him some
little things of her own working, and hopes he would wear
out many more of them. The tone of the letters during
1884 and the next year is that of deep despondency. The
last letter written from Manningtree on 23rd December,
1885, only a few weeks before the death of her brother, may
be given in full :
Manningtree, 23rd December, 1885. My dearly loved Brother,
'Ever since my last letter to you I have been afraid you might not think
it so kind as it ought to have been, therefore I felt I must send you a
few lines to assure you I had no intention of giving you pain. When-
ever it may be possible to you, I feel assured you will, as in years past,
assist me in my pecuniary troubles. It must have seemed to you a
most selfish letter, and when I wrote it I was very depressed with one
worry after another. I never purchase any Cards, but please accept
those I have enclosed. The one entitled " A Benediction " was sent to
me by a dear old Lady, and the lines will express my prayer for you.
... I have been going to tell you, what perhaps you will think rather
strange, when feeling low and rather melancholy, I often find solace
in reading some of Cowper's Letters, I can enter a little into his state
of mind, I can remember that even when a child I used at times to feel
depressed, and never if I remember rightly, was full of spirit as (I
think) children should be. I shall think of you much to-morrow, as you
will of me I doubt not in our loneliness. I have an invitation to dine
with a friend, but it is doubtful whether I shall be well enough to go.
With truest love, ever, my dearest brother, your affectionate sister,
E. M. Edwards.
The sister lived on, with all her ailments, up to April,
1897, when she died and is buried in Lawford churchyard.
To the last she never ceased to speak affectionately
of her brother, and often said that sooner or later the
208 EDWARD EDWARDS.
work he had done would be recognised. He had some
plans for her to live with him during his sojourn at Niton,
but it never became possible for him to carry the wish
into effect. Edwards sent numerous books to his sisters
as presents. Many of these were from his own collection,
and in all cases were written in by himself. Among
others there are :
Tucker's Memoir of the Life and Episcopate of George Augustus
Selwyn, D.D. In two vols. Inscription, " To my beloved Sister,
Elizabeth Margaret Edwards, with the affectionate regards of the giver,
and with every loving wish appropriate to the blessed and glorious
' Church Festival ' of Easter. 12 Iflfley Road, Oxford, Eastertide, 1883."
Underneath the two verses which face the dedicatory notice there
are lines marking portions of the little poem, and underneath this,
by Edwards : " Warriors and also workers of the true type of the
Holy Church, as by law established, in England ". Other books
are : Tower Church Sermons, edited by T. Binney, 1852. Inscription,
" Charlotte Edwards, from her affec. brother Edward Edwards. Old
Trafford, I4th November, 1852."
The Gospel in Ezekiel, by Thomas Guthrie, D.D., 1856. Inscrip*
tion, " To my dearest Mother, with the affectionate and dutiful remem-
brances of E. E. Manningtree, 2gth August, 1856."
Life of John Coleridge Patteson, by Charlotte Mary Yonge, 1874.
Inscription, " To my dear Sister, with the love and affectionate remem-
brances of Edward Edwards. Manningtree, igth October, 1877."
Catharine and Craufurd Tait, by the Rev. Wm. Benham, B.D., 1879.
Inscription, " For my dear Sister, Elizabeth Margaret Edwards, with
brotherly remembrances, and all loving wishes for the New Year, 1880.
Oxford."
Life Mosaic, by Frances Ridley Havergal, 1880. Inscription, ' To
my dear Sister, with affectionate remembrances of Years that are
gone ; and with loving wishes for the New Year now beginning.
Edward Edwards. Oxford, New Year's Day, 1881."
Biographical Memoirs, by Sir Walter Scott. Two volumes in one.
Published 1830. Inscription, " To my dearly loved Sister, Elizabeth
Margaret Edwards, with the affectionate wishes, the earnest prayers,
and the brotherly love of E. E. Sea View, Niton, Whitsuntide, 1885."
Selections from the Poems of Robert Southey, LL.D. Published 1831..
Inscription, " To my dearly loved Sister, E. M. E., with gratitude of
heart for her graciously vouchsafed measure of improved health, and
with truest love and kindest wishes. Niton, Whitsuntide, 1885."
The following is a draft copy in Edwards' writing of a
letter to Bullen, dated May, 1866 :
MANNINGTREE. 209
. . . For many years although I have constantly worked most
laboriously my income has been precarious in the extreme. In the
course of Providence a dearly loved mother and sisters have been in
great measure dependent on me, and on their account only, I have
spent nearly 700. Of late years this has been during a hard fight
not only with poverty but with long illness. How disheartening and
depressing such circumstances are in their influence upon that other
inevitable fight with the daily pen work, I hope you will never know.
Life presents to all many trials and afflictions, but
possibly the hardest of all for anybody to bear is that of
insufficiency of income to meet expenditure.
CHAPTER XI.
LAST YEARS AND DEATH.
Estimate his (Ralegh's) faults and his errors as we may, his
life's work was fully done. That life proved itself a nobly productive
one.
Exmouth and its Neighbourhood.
THE quaint and beautiful old-fashioned village of Niton is
situated a few miles west ofVentnor in the Isle of Wight,
and is sheltered by the adjoining Down and cliffs, quite
away from the ordinary beat of the tourist. Cottages
nestling in rustic beauty are everywhere to be found.
Roads wind in and out, and are at times dark from the
overhanging foliage, even with the sun overhead. Ed-
wards loved Niton from his first acquaintance with the
district as a young man, and to this place he went after
the close of his work at Oxford. The quiet and seclusion
of the village must have appealed to him. Its rural
beauty was a source of delight to him, and the rich
masses of foliage abounding everywhere would give some
repose to his restless spirit. The St. Catherine's Down
and the cliffs afforded a large area for the ceaseless peram-
bulations, which were his chief recreation. The old church
of Niton nestles among trees, and roses cover the posts of
its gate during their days of bloom. A brook with its
rippling waters runs down by the hedge close to the
churchyard. The house where he resided is screened by
a high hedge of euonymus, which grows everywhere in
the Isle of Wight, and hides the house from the road, and
there is also a restful grass plot upon which he could look
as he sat at work, or gazed from his bedroom. At the
back there is nothing but gardens and shingle between the
house and the sea. Built round two sides of the house
(210)
LAST YEARS AND DEATH. 211
is a verandah providing shelter from sun and rain. Alto-
gether the village and his place of residence presented a
bookman's ideal retreat, but there is no doubt that he
suffered at Niton from the lack of access to books. Edwards
had snug rooms, and in these he must have felt that, after
so much tossing about and unrest of soul, a haven had at
last been found where he might spend his days over his
beloved library work, and his evenings among his books.
If only money matters had cleared up a little, and the
needs of his sister had been less pressing, his last years
might have been happier. Out of his pension of So he
had to lodge, keep and dress himself, find money for some
printing, and continue his contributions to Manningtree.
This was not a lavish sum for a man who had some
aristocratic notions, and Edwards cherished not a few,
and would have thought it sacrilege to curb them one
iota. He always dined at five o'clock, habitually dressed
for dinner in a velvet waistcoat, and donned a flower in
his coat. He wore frilled shirts in these days, quite in
the style of an old English gentleman, and had evidently
not spared outlay on his personal outfit while in Oxford.
While grace was said, or as he said it for himself, he
would stand by his chair in a grave and dignified way.
He would have done this had the Lord Chancellor in all
his robes of office been present, and he would probably
have done it had there been but a crust of bread and
cheese upon which to dine. These habits were relics of
bygone days, when a certain courtly manner was cultivated,
and give a clue to a good deal that had passed in his life.
Edwards was a rigid upholder of these formalities. The
testimony of all who knew him, and can now bear witness
to his manners, was that at all times, and under all cir-
cumstances, he was a gentleman ; an old-fashioned English
gentleman, some have said, with a quiet, dignified air, very
shy and reserved. He would have made a good nineteenth-
century Niccolo de' Niccoli had he possessed the wealth
of the Florentine scholar. Ed wards talked little of himself,
and bore his poverty in secret as long as it was possible
212 EDWARD EDWARDS.
to hide it from those around him, but when it could no
longer be concealed, it was with the utmost mental agony
that he was driven to make confession.
In the absence of an authentic portrait, the following
description of his appearance, as given by those who
remembered him, may have some little interest.
He is described by those who knew him at Niton as
being above middle size, but neither stout nor slender.
His head was bald at the top, and the hair, perfectly white,
was bushy round the lower part of the head, and he had
long whiskers. He had a florid complexion, and must
have had a remarkably strong constitution. He had the
scholar's stoop, and always wore a frock coat and a silk hat,
with neckties of a blue or green colour. A blue necktie
was possibly to harmonise with cold steel-blue eyes.
The frock coat and the silk hat ultimately turned very
shabby, and became a mark for the fun of the village
boys. As one of the boys, now a grown-up man, said to
the writer : "I was no better than the rest, and the old
man used to scurry away from us as fast as he could.
But he always took our fun in a dignified way." During
these days at Niton, it is said, he would often sing himself
to sleep with the hymn " Abide with me ". He lived almost
wholly alone. His deafness had increased, and he is still
remembered in Niton as a peculiar old man, fond of
wandering about the roads, and over the Down by him-
self. He would walk all alone to many distant places,
and during these rambles he talked incessantly to himself.
In several of the shops in the village, where he would
occasionally go for small purchases, he would joke with
those in the shop and make compliments to the ladies.
Edwards felt that he had touched in his zeal for libraries
the core of one great public need. He rarely ever spoke of
his work. At Niton some were sure that there was distinc-
tion attaching to him, but they did not find out what it
was during his few years of residence there. As he
worked in his sitting-room, which was crowded with his
books and papers, he would draw down the blind should
LAST YEARS AND DEATH. 213
there be any one at work in the garden in front ot his
window. He could not bear to be observed. For one
year there must have been possibly a peacefulness and
rest such as he probably had not known for many
years. Gaunt poverty did not stalk across his path so
nakedly as it did in the later stages. But ultimately his
payments for board and lodging with his landlady, although
not large, could not be kept up, and when the September
quarter of 1883 was reached, she modified the terms,
charging but the modest sum of one pound a week. He
signalised this event by writing to her the following
letter:
agth Sep. '83. (" S. Michael and all Angels.") It is my wish
with your permission to mark " S. Michl' day" with some little
humble token of my regard for you on our entering to-day into a
sort of different relation to each other (D.V.). Will you accept this
small volume ? The book (in a somewhat different sized form) was,
for many years, the delight of my dear lost wife a loss which makes
loneliness so sad, and the more sad because stony-hearted people who
could a little relieve it, and easily, won't and her copy of the book,
since her death has been my almost daily companion. To many
thousands of better people than either of us, it has been an almost
priceless consolation in days of sorrow. For you I hope, and pray
that many days of comfort and by God's mercy days of health and
strength are yet in store. With kindest wishes.
The book mentioned above was the Christian Year.
The word "loneliness" is underlined twice, and "could"
and " won't " italicised. It was during his stay in her
house that he was found by Mrs. Dunford, his landlady,
pasting in his books a leaflet bearing the printed inscription
given below. He hastened to inform her that this bequest
was only to take effect after her debt was paid. The leaflet
is six inches by four, and printed in two colours. It reads :
Except the Lord build the House, they labour in vain that build it :
except the Lord keep the town, the watchman waketh but in vain.
Bequeathed to the Mayor and Corporation of . . . , Isle of Wight,
as a very Humble but Most Willingly Offered Nucleus (in anticipation
and hope), of their future Free Town Library, to be hereafter (as Testa-
tor humbly trusts) supported by a Library Rate, under the " Public
2i 4 EDWARD EDWARDS.
Libraries Acts," 1866, seqq. : with the earnest prayers for its speedy
foundation, steady growth, and permanent usefulness (D.V.), of
Edward Edwards. Sea View, Niton, 188 . . . .
It is singular that there is not one single adoption of
the Acts in the Isle of Wight up to the present date.
He was made as happy and as comfortable as possible
in his lodgings, but nothing ever seems to have drawn him
out of his shell of reserve. Upon one topic he would launch
out into invective, and that was when anything called forth
an expression of his political convictions. A great question
of national importance was then beginning to loom very
large on the horizon, and Edwards held very pronounced
views upon the subject, and was ever ready to express
these opinions. He never forgave the Premier, whom he
held responsible, for making his pension but "80 a year.
Often was he drawn gently by the arm away when his
disputations with other visitors in the house would be-
come troublesome. He became alienated from some of
the working men of the village who held different political
views from his own. It was balm to a disappointed spirit
to thunder forth his likes and dislikes. The time came
when he could not pay his bills, and had run several
quarters into arrears. Several times he had been told
that it would be necessary for him to make room for
other guests, but on he remained. The whole of the
house had been let for some months, and it became im-
possible for him to stay longer. He reads in his Bible,
Revelation vii., and underlines in red ink verses four-
teen, sixteen and seventeen. The words " They shall
hunger no more, neither thirst any more," touch him, and
he dates them aoth July, 1885, 9.30 A.M. It is likely that
he had not actually hungered and thirsted up to then,
although he had certainly pinched himself. The outlook
was unpromising. On that same day the Rev. John
Harrison, then the Baptist minister in Niton, met him
near the manse gate, looking very wearied and distressed.
He scarcely knew Edwards, but stopped him and asked if
he could be of service to him. Then came a pathetic
LAST YEARS AND DEATH. 215
story that he had nowhere to lay his head, and it was
already eventide, and pleaded to be taken in, or shelter
found for him. Niton is only a small place, and lodgings
could not be had for him, and Mr. and Mrs. Harrison ar-
ranged to take him into their house until the end of the
season. A cosy bed sitting-room was prepared for him,
and everything was done to minister to his comfort that
could be done. The manse stands raised above the road,
and a high hedge hides the lower part of the house from
the road. He loved its seclusion and revelled in its
garden. It was here that Mrs. Harrison wrote her book
Mackay of Uganda, a worthy record of her brother's pioneer
work in that new British territory. One evening in the
third week in August, says this good lady, " I was in the
drawing-room and had my infant in my arms. Mr. Edwards
came in from the garden and saw us, as he passed the
door on his way to supper in the dining-room. The old
man looked astonished and then came forward and spoke
to me. Then he knelt down on one knee and blessed the
child in quite a patriarchal way, that he might become a
great man and be an influence for good in the world."
Why Edwards did not make known the extreme poverty
from which he suffered, and which clouded his last days,
is hard to understand! There was one relative at least
who would have helped him gladly. But while letters
passed between them, none ever gave the least indication
of the straits in which he lived at Niton. To no one does
he appear to have appealed. A little would have sufficed
to lift him out of his slough of despair. The merest few
pounds which a stockbroker can make in as many minutes
would have paid all his debts and lightened his heart.
But, too proud to make his needs known, either to relative
or the charitable, he wore out his hope, till despair laid its
icy grasp upon his soul. These were dark days for him.
Possibly a hundred pounds would have paid every one of
his debts, and left a small fund in hand. Whatever may
be the number of those able and willing to help the
deserving, it is impossible for them to go about with open
2i6 EDWARD EDWARDS.
purse in hand to grant the necessary succour. Everybody
knows what would be the ultimate result of such indis-
criminate charity. But here the reader is face to face
with Edwards' circumstances. A sister needing monetary
help, and receiving it to the last of his days, and to the
utmost of his means, often to his own impoverishment.
A liberal expenditure in printing and postages. And to
these must be added the considerable sum for which he
was in debt to his landlady, and some other small debts.
Some few subscriptions were paid him in advance for the
second edition of Memoirs of Libraries. There is trace
of four cases where he, in his poverty, asked for prepay-
ment. In two of these instances the friend to whom he
wrote paid for several copies. The people at Niton knew
of his pension, and naturally asked why he could not
maintain himself upon the sum granted. They knew
nothing of his contributions to his sister. Even his
landlady was not told. Of the liabilities for printing she
knew nothing. The old man's joy at the prospect of
setting everything right when his book was out was like
the joy of a child anticipating the gift of a marvellous toy.
But this hope was to be dashed away from him. Nature
is as pitiless as iron in her methods. She spares not
any one, and the weak and the sensitive suffer most from
the blast of her storms. Darkness at last drew around
this troubled old man, battered and worn in life's fierce
struggle, and he was beginning to see the hopelessness
of an impossible future before him. He had reached
absolutely the end of his resources, and all avenues
seemed closed to him for such help as his great pride
would enable him to accept. Life had become a burden,
hope, that stay of the heart and soul, had flown, and even
that sweet consolation which aforetimes he derived from
Keble's Christian Year had now lost some of its power.
Despair had enveloped him like a mighty fog, and he saw
no turning, and no escape. Thus have others of the
world's benefactors gone to their rest. Nature claims
their work as her own, and the worker must take his
LAST YEARS AND DEATH. 217
chance in the storm and stress of life. The long story
of the world's truest and best men and women is naught
but a record of broken hearts, disappointed hopes, and an
eternal battling with the rude shocks of life.
This busy life of ours is full of such martyrs to the
commonweal, and every hermit spirit will go out to
Edwards in his terrible loneliness, torn to pieces with the
thought that he had been neglected, and that the world
had not dealt kindly with him. The fate of nearly all
true souls who carry the burdens of humanity on their
hearts is that their personality becomes absolutely merged
in their work. No true labourer in the great field of public
usefulness wishes it otherwise.
In a letter to the present writer received from the Rev. G.
W. Jeudwine, M.A., Rector of Niton at the time, under date
of 2ist June, 1901, he says : " Edwards was very shy and
avoided society at Niton, and I had little intercourse with
him. I had known him before when he was engaged in re-
arranging the library at Queen's College, Oxford. I under-
stood that he was engaged in some literary work which was
to be a magnum opus, but was long in coming off, and
that disappointment about this preyed upon his mind. . . ."
Out of the furnace comes the pure gold. Mother earth
hides her methods and secrets. The diamond sparkles as
it is worn, but there is still ignorance of how it is formed.
All the strivings under the sun will not alter Nature's
methods. Humanity has to bow to the yoke and yield with-
out question to her relentless forces. That is pretty theory
where it does not touch the individual, but the individual
whom the experience has touched on a raw place, is often
none the worse if he can manage to scramble through into
a place of safety.
A crisis in the life of this anchorite has now to be chron-
icled, which is full of pathetic interest, though pitiful in
the extreme. His monetary troubles, the weakness of old
age, acute disappointment at the tardy fruition of his
labours on his book and other depressing circumstances
all tended to -encourage counsels of despair, and it is
2i8 EDWARD EDWARDS.
probable that with these promptings he took the step
which nearly resulted in a tragedy.
The days and nights were getting cold, and he had a
fire constantly in his room, which he kept so closely that
there was some difficulty in getting him out of it when it
had to be tidied. One day early in November, 1885,
Edwards said to Mr. and Mrs. Harrison " I am going to
Freshwater and may not be back for several days ".
Nothing was thought of this at the time, as he had often
gone away on the top of one of the coaches, and remained
away a few days. For some days afterwards nothing
more was heard of him, till word was brought that he had
been found in a perishing condition on St. Catherine's
Down, and was being brought home in a cart. By-and-by
the cart drew near, and in it, covered with clean straw to
screen him from the curious eyes of the children on their
way to school, was Edward Edwards, utterly broken down,
with eyes looking wild and streaming with tears, but
conscious of all that was going on around him. They
lifted him out as gently as if he had been a monarch,
dressed in purple and fine linen, and put him to bed at
once. There he lay for a full fortnight, nursed with the
tenderest care, fed and tended like a child, and during night
and day his nurses had to apply all necessary remedies to
restore animation to his almost frozen limbs. Edward
Edwards had been found in what is known as the Round
Tower on the Down. He had been out on the Down with-
out food for three nights and days in inclement weather,
and a bitterly cold winter was that of 1885-6. The Round
Tower is roofless, and in it he was found, lying on the
ground, by a shepherd who was taking provender for the
sheep. His hands were stained with dirt, and he had
manifestly gripped the earth in an agony of spirit, while
crying for death to come and release him from his misery
and troubles. During the night the sheep on the Down)
make for the Round Tower for shelter, and Edwards had
been kept warm by them, as his clothes showed. They
had evidently kept him warm enough to preserve his life.
LAST YEARS AND DEATH. 219
He must have suffered much during that time of exposure,
and he was brought back more dead than alive. His
hands and feet were in a terrible condition with the frost,
and two of his fingers were gashed to the bone. He got
over this awful exposure much better than was expected.
During this time he was as docile as a child ; and was by-
and-by able to get up again and resume his work. " As
I saw you and your wife and children I felt that I could
not live, and paced the Down and slept under the stars,"
was nearly all that he said of this sad experience. A bill
for a comparatively few pounds had become due on the
day he went to the Down, and this he could not meet.
The absorbing needs of a very young family made it
necessary to form some plan with regard to their lodger,
and Mr. Harrison arranged with Mrs. Wheeler of St.
Catherine's Lodge, almost immediately opposite the
manse, to take the old man in and board and lodge
him. For the expense the kindly Baptist minister and
his wife undertook to be responsible.
For two weeks Edwards was in Mrs. Wheeler's house,
attended to and cared for as an honoured guest by herself
and companion, Miss Drayson. During most of that fort-
night Edwards worked in his sitting-room, and his table
was constantly covered with papers.
On the Saturday night, 6th February, Edwards had a
simple dinner at five o'clock, and Dr. Holman, his medical
attendant (now deceased), called during the progress of the
meal. " I cannot see him," said Edwards. " He should
call upon a gentleman at a time when he is not dining,"
and he would not see the doctor. He complained of his
feet hurting him, and about nine o'clock on that Saturday
night his landlady brought basin and towels, and bathed
his feet, and as she left the room he stood up by his
arm-chair, which was near the fire, and with a gratitude
in his eyes which is remembered to-day, said, " I am
much obliged to you very ". These were his last words
spoken to any one. He went almost immediately to
his bedroom. On the Sunday morning about half-past
220 EDWARD EDWARDS.
seven his hot water was taken up to his room. He did
not answer the knock, but was distinctly heard to cough.
When nine o'clock came, and he had not come downstairs,
the two women began to be concerned. Mrs. Wheeler
went into the room, and Edward Edwards was found lying
on his back quite dead, with his hands folded across his
breast, and the placid calm of death on his face.
He was almost penniless, and the kindness of a few
neighbours provided him with decent burial. Rumours
spread in the village that Edwards had taken poison, but
of this there is not one shred of evidence. During -his
exposure on the Down or afterwards, there was not, says
Mr. Harrison, one jot of evidence that Edwards had
attempted self-destruction. Edwards' own words, already
given, show his state of mind. He wished to lie down
and die. In order to aid in clearing up these misconcep-
tions Mr. Harrison referred to Edwards' death in a sermon,
and preached from the text " A broken and a contrite
heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise". There is no
doubt that the intense cold, at the time of the exposure,
had affected Edwards' heart, and the registrar's entry of
death gives debility and atrophy of heart as the cause of
death.
On roth February, 1886, Edward Edwards was buried
in the churchyard of Niton. The three ladies previously
named, Dr. Hemsted and his sister (relatives on the wife's
side), and the late Dr. Jollirfe were present at the funeral.
Mr. Harrison had taken cold in looking after Edwards'
affairs, and was not able to be present. Dr. Jolliffe was a
retired naval medical man, and had a kindly regard for
Edwards. A few obituary notices appeared in literary
and other journals at the time, but beyond this no special
notice was taken of his death, and the grave remained
unmarked from 1886 till 1902, when a granite monument
was erected. This was inaugurated on the -jth of February,
1902, the sixteenth anniversary after his death, in the
presence of a number of librarians and many villagers.
The inscription on the monument is as follows :
LAST YEARS AND DEATH. 221
"Cinis non finis " (on the Urn). In Memory of Edward Edwards.
Born in London Dec. 14, 1812. Died at Niton Feb. 7, 1886. Man
of Letters and Founder (with William Ewart and Joseph Brotherton)
of Municipal Public Libraries. This Monument has been placed over
his grave in recognition of his work on behalf of Public Libraries
by Thomas Greenwood. Inaugurated on Feb. 7, 1902, by Richard
Garnett, Charles W. Button, William E. A. Axon, John J. Ogle.
Thus ends the life-record of one who grudged neither
labour, time, nor self-sacrifice on behalf of an educational
movement, which he helped to inaugurate, and, by his
splendid talents, energy and knowledge, carried to a
triumphant conclusion. It has been interesting to survey
his long life, from the days of his fiery enthusiasm in the
cause of public libraries, to those of his pathetic old age,
when, in spite of crushing difficulties, he still laboured at
his beloved cause, as long as he could use a pen. While
all kinds of minor lights have come before the public view
as benefactors, deserving of applause for their work on
behalf of libraries and librarianship, Edwards, who towered
above everybody in the magnitude of his contributions to
the cause, has not received the recognition which was his
just due. A considerable amount of this seeming neglect
was doubtless due to the general ignorance of Edwards'
whereabouts and personality, which was owing partly to his
own retiring disposition and the public belief, which had be-
come fixed, that Mr. Ewart was the sole father of the library
movement. Again, up to 1886 only about 130 towns had
adopted the Libraries Acts, and of these a considerable
number had not been organised, so that there was not a
very large constituency likely to be interested in the public
library movement. Indeed, the subscription, university
and professional libraries looked down in those days
upon the municipal library with no very kindly feeling,
and, till the public library movement grew in strength
and influence, there were very few who had any sym-
pathy for, or interest in, Edward Edwards as a pioneer
of this important work. There is no doubt that he
received a good deal of encouragement and kindness
222 EDWARD EDWARDS.
from librarians of all kinds while he was at work on the
new edition of his Memoirs, but as no one knew of the
straits to which he had been reduced, the apparent apathy
on this head is pardonable. Viewed as a man he was
not a success, and his career is a striking example of how
persistently a man may stand in the path of his own ad-
vancement. His efforts on behalf of libraries will bear
fruit through countless years to come, and generations of
readers unborn will have cause to bless his name.
APPENDICES.
CHRONOLOGICAL NOTE of Edward Edwards' chief Labours and
Writings on the History, Organisation, Diffusion and Improvement,
of Libraries, Public and Private and other subjects. Many of these
entries are given as Edwards recorded them in his several prospectuses
of his Memoirs of Libraries. In these cases the items have been
given as he left them.
1836. A Letter to Mr. Hawes, M.P. (afterwards Sir Benjamin Hawes,
Under-Secretary for the Colonies), on the Management and
Affairs of the British Museum. Second edition. Niton,
January, 1839. Originally printed in 1836. 8vo.
,, Remarks on the Ministerial Plan of a Central University
Examining Board. 8vo.
,, June. Evidence respecting Deficiencies in British Museum
Library, and respecting desired improvements in its Cata-
logues ; given before the Select Committee above named,
upon its reappointment in Session of 1836. Printed in App.
to the Committee's Report.
The Great Seals of England. Engraved by the process of
Achille Collas. With a Preface, Historical and Juridical.
1836. Fol.
1837. New South Wales : its State and Prospects. [Written in Con-
junction with the late James Macarthur, of Camden, N.S.W.]
1837. 8vo.
The Napoleon Medals. With 40 Plates, engraved by the process
of Achille Collas. 1837. Fol.
,, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Medals of France, contained in
the " Medal Room " of the British Museum, with the de-
ficiencies noted. Margate, Nov., 1837. 8vo.
1839. Feb. to April. Preparation (under direction of the late Sir A.
Panizzi, and in conjunction with the late J. Winter Jones,
Thomas Watts, and J. Humffreys Parry) of the " Rules of
Compilation" for an Alphabetical Catalogue of the Printed
Books in the British Museum. Printed by J. B. Nichols
& Son. Lond., 1841. Fol.
.,, Letter to Sir Martin Archer Shee, on the Reform of the Royal
Academy, pp. 44.
(223)
224 APPENDICES.
1840. Revision of the press of the Article " Academies," and of other,
but minor, Articles in the Catalogue above named.
The Fine Arts in England, their state and prospects considered
relatively to National Education. Willesden, 1840. 8vo.
1841-1844. A complete " Catalogue of the Thomason Collection ot
Civil War Tracts (King's Pamphlets) in the British Museum ".
MS. This catalogue embraces more than 54,000 separate
titles and references. It has not been printed separately, but
all the articles are incorporated in the General Printed Cata-
logue of the Library.
1843. A Letter on the Present Position of the Question of National
Education. 1843. 8vo.
1845. Feb. 28 to Oct. 15. Continuation of the Class " Theology" in
the late Wm. Thomas Lowndes' British Librarian (after that
Author's decease). 8vo. Lond. : Edw. Lumley. 1847.
1847. Feb. "Public Libraries in London and Paris"; in British
Quarterly Review, vol. vi., pp. 72-114. 8vo. Lond., Aug. r
1847.
Aug. " Statistical View of Public Libraries " ; Europe and
America ; read to the Statistical Society of London, March
2Oth, 1848 ; printed in its Journal. 8vo. Lond., Aug.,
1848.
Sept. Reprint of the above (with some additions ; including
suggestions for building within the British Museum Quad-
rangle, in order to an extension of the Library). 8vo. Lond. :
Savill & Edwards. For private circulation.
Letter to the Rev. Thomas Binney on the Present Position of the
Education Question.
1848. Statistical View of Public Libraries. Second edition : in
Naumann's Serapeum. 8vo. Leipsic.
April 10. A Letter to the Earl of Ellesmere on the Paucity of
Libraries freely open to the Public in the British Empire.
8vo. Lond. For private circulation.
Oct. 9. Circular Letter to the Librarians of England and Wales
for additional information, in view of an intended Select
Committee of the House of Commons, " on Public Libraries,"
to be moved for in the following Session (1849).
1849. Feb. 13 and 23. Evidence (on British Museum Catalogues,
and on the nature, extent and value of the great Collection
of King's Pamphlets, presented by George III.) given before
the Royal Commission (Earl of Ellesmere's) on the British
Museum.
April 19 and 24 ; and June 5 following. Evidence on the great
need of" Free Town Libraries " in England, given before the
Select Committee, of which the late William Ewart, M.P.
for Dumfries (formerly for Liverpool), was Chairman.
APPENDICES. 225
1849, June 25. " A Letter to William Ewart, M.P., on the Impor-
tance of Printing and Publishing the Catalogues of Public
Libraries." Printed in Appendix to Report of Select Com-
mittee on Public Libraries. Fol.
Aug. Statistical View of Public Libraries in Europe and
America. Third edition with large additions. Fol. London :
Hansard.
1850, Feb. "Libraries, and the People." In British .Quarterly
Review, vol. xi., pp. 61-80. 8vo. Lond. : Savill & Ed-
wards.
March 7, n and 21. Further Evidence (on Defective Provision
of Public Libraries, freely accessible in the British Empire)
before Select Committee on Public Libraries. Session II.
Sept. Report (written in conjunction with Mr. John Plant) to
Edward Ryley Langworthy, Mayor of Salford (afterwards
M.P. for that Borough), on the means of improving the Free
Library at the Peel Park in Salford. MS.
October and November. Catalogue of the Parochial Library at
Whitchurch, Hants, founded by Dr. Bray's Trustees. MS.
Public Libraries in Europe and in America. With Remarks
on the Comparative Budgets of France, and of Britain, re-
spectively, so far as relates to the public support of Schools,
Museums, and Libraries, in the financial year 1849-1850, and
in several previous years ; and also with a lithographed dia-
gram, exhibiting, approximately, the extent of the National
provision of Public Libraries, in the several States of Europe ;
together with Plans of the chief Capital Cities, showing the
respective Sites of the Libraries accessible to the Public.
Third edition. 1850. The first edition was printed in
London, 1847. The second edition at Leipsic, 1850. Fol.
1851, Draft Lists of Books. Suggested for the Manchester Free
Library. March, 1851. 410.
Jan., to 1852, August. Formation and Organisation of the first
"Free Library" in Britain, founded under " Ewart's Act"
by a municipal rate.
1852, August 14. " An Address to the Burgesses of Manchester "
(on the Adoption of the Library Rate). (Drawn up and
circulated to the extent of 10,000 copies, by the desire and
at the cost of the late Sir John Potter, afterwards M.P. for
that city.)
1853, March 3. Evidence on the working of the Public Libraries
Act, and on the claim of Free Town Libraries to the receipt,
gratuitously, of all Publications printed at the public charge
(whether for Parliament, or for Government Departments) :
given before the " Select Committee of the House of
Commons (Mr. TufnelPs) on Distribution of Parliamentary-
15
226 APPENDICES.
Papers ". Printed in Appendix to Committee's Report, pp.
64-89. Fol.
1853, Oct. 6. First Annual Report to the Council of the City of Man-
chester on the working of its Free Public Libraries. 8vo.
Manchester : Cave & Sever.
,, Oct. 6. Three Reports on the Formation, Arrangement, and
first year's working of the Manchester Free Libraries. With
Suggestions for the Improvement of the " Public Libraries
Act ". 8vo. Manchester : Cave & Sever.
1854, March. " Humphrey Chatham, and his Library at Man-
chester " ; in the New York Literary Gazette (July and Sept.).
,, Oct. 19. Second Annual Report to the City Council of Man-
chester. (As above.)
1855, Jan. Report to the Committee of the St. Helens (Lancashire)
Free Library, on the Formation of their Collections for
Reference and for Lending ; with copious Book-lists sub-
joined. MS.
,, Aug. 4. Special Report to the City Council of Manchester on a
Classed Catalogue for their City Library. Fol. Manchester :
Cave & Sever. For private circulation.
,, Aug. 10. Manchester Worthies and their Foundations. ( I.
Thomas La Warre, and the Old Church ; II. Hugh Old-
ham, and his Grammar-school; III. Humphrey Chetham,
and his Library; IV. William Hulme, and his Exhibitions
at Brasenose College, Oxford.) 8vo. Manchester : James
Gait & Co.
Sept. Third Annual Report. (As above.) 8vo. Manchester :
Cave & Sever.
Oct. 8. A Comparative Table of the Principal Schemes which
have been proposed for the Classification of Human Know-
ledge . . . with reference especially to the Arrangement and
Cataloguing of Libraries. Fol. Manchester : Charles Simms.
Printed for private circulation.
1856, Oct. 31. Fourth Annual Report. (As above.)
Nov. Catalogue of the ancient Library at Compton-Verney,
Warwickshire, belonging to the Right Hon. the Lord
Willoughby de Broke. MS.
,, Dec. 24. A Letter to Sir John Potter on the proposed Catalogue
of the " Free Library " of Manchester, and on the lately
printed Catalogue of the " Portico Library " in that City.
With Specimens. Fol. Manchester : John Harrison &
Son. For private circulation.
1857, March n. " Notes on the Classification of Human Know-
ledge " ; read to the Historic Society of Lancashire and
Cheshire, and printed in their Transactions, vol. x., pp.
61-96. 8vo. Liverpool : T. Brakell.
APPENDICES. 227
1857, June- Articles : " Libraries," in the Encyclopedia Britannica,
vol. xiii., pp. 373-434- Eighth edition. 410. Edinburgh :
A. & C. Black. (Two articles : I. Libraries (Formation
and Classification of) ; II. Libraries (History of), founded on
an article in the previous and seventh edition (1836) of that
Encyclopedia, written by the late James Brown, LL.D.,
Advocate ; but almost entirely by me rewritten in 1857.)
1858, Jan. 30. Fifth Annual Report. (As above.)
,, Dec. Report to Sir Francis Crossley, Bart., M.P., on the pro-
posed Formation of a " Workpeople's Library " at Deane-
Clough Mills, Halifax, Yorkshire. MS.
1859, Memoirs of Libraries: Including a Handbook of Library
Economy. 1859. 2 vols. 8vo. With 8 steel plates ; 36
woodcuts ; 16 lithographic plates ; and 4 illustrations in
chromo-lithography. 483.
1860, July 10, to 1863, Sept. 25. Catalogue of the Library of the
Right Hon. Thomas Augustus Wolstenholme Parker, sixth
Earlof Macclesfield, at Shirburn Castle, Oxon. 6 vols. Folio.
MS. With printed Titles, printed Preface and printed
Synoptical Groupings of the Contents. Lond. : J. E. Adlard,
1862-3.
Sept. Articles on " Newspapers," " Police," " Post Office,"
" Savings Bank," " Tea and the Tea Trade," " Trade
Museums," " Woollen and Worsted Manufacture " in the
Encyclopadia Britannica, vols. xvi., xviii. and xxi. 410.
Edinb. : A. & C. Black.
Paper on Libraries contributed to the Social Science Congress
at Glasgow.
1864. February. Report to His Grace the Duke of Marlborough,
K.G., on a proposed rearrangement and re-cataloguing of the
" Sunderland Library " then at Blenheim ; and on the classi-
fication of the " Marlborough MSS. " and " Sunderland
MSS.," still preserved at Blenheim. MS.
,, Chapters of the History of the French Academy, etc. 8vo. 6s.
Libraries and Founders of Libraries. 8vo. i8s.
1865. Dec. 14. Synoptical Tables of the Public Records of the Realm.
With a Historical Preface. Fol. Lond.: J. E. Adlard.
1866. Liber Monasterii de Hyda; comprising a Chronicle of the
Affairs of England from the Settlement of the Saxons to
Kanute: and a Chartulary ; A.D. 455-1023. Edited by the
Authority of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's
Treasury, under the Direction of the Master of the Rolls.
8vo. IDS. 6d.
1867. Commons, parks and open spaces near London : their history
. . . 1867 (still in MS.) in the Guildhall Library.
1868. Diocesan Registries and Historical Searchers; A Correspon-
228 APPENDICES.
dence with the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Salisbury ; with
his Lordship 1 s Registrar and with the Registrar of the Chapter.
24 pages. 8vo. Lond. : Clay, Son & Co.
1868. The Life of Sir Walter Ralegh; based on Contemporary Docu-
ments preserved in the Rolls House, the Privy Council Office,
Hatfield House, the British Museum and other Manuscript
Repositories, British and Foreign. Together with his Letters,
now first collected (and chiefly from the Marquess of Salis-
bury's Library at Hatfield). 2 vols. 8vo. With Portrait
from Lord Bath's Collection : engraved by Jeens. 323.
Exmouth and its Neighbourhood, Ancient and Modern; being
Notices, Historical, Biographical and Descriptive, of a Corner
of South Devon. [Anonymous.] Printed at Exmouth, 1868.
Crown 8vo. 55.
1869. Free Town Libraries, their Formation, Management and
History, in Britain, France, Germany and America ; Together
with Brief Notices of some Famous Book Collectors and of
the respective places of deposit especially when in Town
Libraries (ancient or modern) of their surviving Collections.
1869. 8vo. 2is.
,, July, August. Calendar of part of the Trevor (Diplomatic) MSS.
preserved at Hampden House, Bucks. MS.
1870. March. A Catalogue of the Free Library of the Borough of
Doncaster. 8vo. . Leeds: J. Y. Knight & Co. 1870.
June 27, to 1876, April. A Classified Catalogue of the Library
of Queen's College, Oxford. (I. Theology; II. History,
Philosophy and Literature of Ancient Greece; III. Do. of
Ancient Rome ; IV. Latin Literature of the Revival ; V.
History, Philosophy and Literature of Modern Continental
Europe; VI. Do. of the United Kingdom; VII. Political
Economy and Sociology; VIII. Arts and Sciences; IX.
Polygraphic Collections.) MS.
Lives of the Founders of the British Museum ; (viz.: Sir Robert
(Bruce) Cotton ; Henry Stuart Prince of Wales ; Thomas
Howard, Earl of Arundel, K.G. ; Robert Harley, Earl of
Oxford and Mortimer, K.G. ; William Courten (the Fleming) ;
and Sir Hans Sloane, Bart., M.D., President of the Royal
Society.) With Notices of its chief Augmentors, etc. 1570
to 1870. 2 vols. 1870. 8vo. 363. A few large paper
copies at 4. 45.
1872, March 6. A Report to the Ven. the Provost of Queen's College,
Oxford, on a plan of printing the catalogue, whilst in progress.
With printed examples and specimens of the Catalogue
proposed.
Lithographic Diagrams, showing the new and classified arrange-
ments of the College Libraries (upper and lower). (With
APPENDICES. 229
printed Tables of the Classification which 1 had adopted
upon an entirely novel plan.)
1873. A Scheme of the Classification adopted in the Rearrangement
of the Library of Queen's College, Oxford (1870 to 1876).
With printed Specimens of the Catalogue in the form sub-
mitted and recommended to the Ven. the Provost (the late
Archdeacon Jackson, D.D.). Oxford, 1873. Privately printed.
1874, January 10. Second Report to the Ven. the Provost of Queen's
College, Oxford, on the progress of the new Catalogue ; and
on the plan of classification and shelf arrangement pursued
in reorganising the Library.
1877, May. Report to the Curators of the Bodleian Libiary, Oxford,
on a proposed Calendar of the " Carte Manuscripts," belong-
ing to the University (and comprising : I. The Correspon-
dence, political collections and State Papers of the two
Dukes of Ormond, successively Lords Lieutenants of Ireland ;
II. Correspondence, State Papers and political collections of
the family of Hastings (Earls of Huntingdon) ; III. Corres-
pondence, State Papers and political collections of the family
of Wharton (Lords Wharton ; Earls and Dukes of Wharton) ;
IV. Correspondence and political and juridical papers of Sir
John Davys (Attorney-General in Ireland, and author of
Nosce Teipsum) ; V. Correspondence and State Papers of Sir
William Fitzwilliam (Ancestor of the Lords Fitzwilliam),
Lord Deputy of Ireland in the reign of Queen Elizabeth ;
VI. Collections of State Papers, relating as well to the
history of the British Empire, as to the history of France and
of Spain, made in France by Thomas Carte (the historian),
early in the eighteenth century; VII. Literary Correspon-
dence and Literary and Miscellaneous Papers of (a) Samuel
Carte, M.A., Vicar of Clifton, Warwickshire, and Master of
the Free School in Leicester; of (b) Samuel Carte, jun.,
LL.B., of Symond's Inn, a distinguished antiquary; of (c)
John Carte, LL.B., Vicar of Tachbroke, Warwickshire, etc.;
and of (d) Thomas Carte, the historian.)
,, May, to 1880, February. A Chronological Catalogue of the
historical, economical and political collections of books and
tracts in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.
(Arranged as to the archaic and historical works, and where
practicable in the order of time, of the latest of the events
narrated in each of them respectively, and as to the politico-
economic works in the order of time of their composition
respectively ; or, if that be undiscoverable according to the
dates of first publication.) MS.
June, to 1882, August. A Calendar of the Carte Manuscripts
(above named), contained in the Bodleian Library (Latin,
23 o APPENDICES.
English, French, Spanish, Italian and German ; from the
eleventh to the eighteenth century) ; arranged chronologically.
1881, February 5. Report to the Curators of the Bodleian Library,
on the progress of the above-named Calendar of Carte MSS.,
and more especially on that portion of it which contains the
Ormond Papers (dr. 1638 to dr. 1710), relating to the History
and especially to the great Land Settlement (1660-66) of
Ireland.
1884. Letters of a Hampshire Conservative (loyal to Church and
Queen), addressed to the Editor of the Isle of Wight Adver-
tiser, on certain points of the " London Government (rather
'Mis-Government') Bill". Niton, May and June, 1884.
Printed for private circulation only, in its separate shape.
Nos. i to 4. 8vo.
,, " Researches for Manuscripts in the Levant, and more especially
in the Monasteries of Mount Athos " : Giovanni Aurispa to
Spyridion Lambros (A.D. 1425 to 1880). Printed in The
Library Chronicle for May, June and July, 1884, vol. i.,
Nos. 3, 4 and 5. Royal 8vo.
1884-5. Articles in ninth edition Encyclopaedia Britannica, " News-
papers," " Post Office ".
1885. Handbook to the Literature of General Biography. Written
in conjunction with the Rev. Charles Hole, B.A., with intro-
duction by Edwards. The first part only issued.
,, Memoirs of Libraries of Museums ; and of Archives ; (public and
private), and of some of their chief founders, collectors,
keepers, and benefactors. Second edition, revised, continued
to 1885, and (in great part) re-written. Vol. i. only printed,
and this left incomplete.
ADDRESSES DELIVERED AT THE INAUGURATION OF
THE "EDWARD EDWARDS" MEMORIAL.
ADDRESS BY DR. RICHARD GARNETT, C.B.
AT the instance of one among ourselves we are met to-day to enjoy
a pleasure long deferred, and to fulfil a duty long delayed. The
gratification with which we find ourselves here is inseparable from
the consciousness that we are well and honourably employed. Of
this, therefore, I need say nothing: but, rather for the sake of those
at a distance whom these words may reach than of ourselves to whom
I can state little that is not already well known, I comply with the
invitation which I have received to say a few words.
" Honour to whom honour." This is an important precept whether
regarded in the abstract or in its practical influence upon mankind.
In the abstract, the due reward of desert is an injunction of natural
justice. Practically, the same law, sometimes apparently evaded, but
in the long run infallible, which ordains that where there is no work
there shall be no pay, equally prescribes that where there is no pay
there shall be no work. It is only by honouring the benefactors of
humanity, especially when circumstances have deprived them of material
recompense, that society insures that the stream of benefaction shall
be kept up. This is a duty not always ill performed. When we think
of the great movements and beneficent inventions which have done
so much for our country during the last century, we find that they
generally occur to our minds in connection with some one eminent
man. We associate Stephenson with railways, Wheatstone with tele-
graphs, Darwin with natural history, Wakefield with colonisation,
Rowland Hill with cheap postage, Cobden with free trade. In the
majority of cases, these distinguished men and others like them would
feel themselves sufficiently rewarded by the success of their inventions
or ideas, and the connexion of their names with these, even did no
substantial advantage to themselves ensue. But hard is the fate of
the benefactor of mankind who reaps neither profit during his life
nor honour after his death. If this were the general rule benefactions
would cease, and mankind at large would be the chief sufferers. It is,
therefore, useful to the community, as well as gratifying to individual
feeling, to seek out instances of such unintentional injustice or negli-
gence, and to endeavour to repair them. In a certain measure, unjust
(230
232 APPENDICES.
neglect has been the lot of him whom we are now assembled to honour,
and it is the consciousness of this that brings us here.
If we cast our eyes over Great Britain at present, we behold it
covered with free libraries, the property of the various municipalities,
supported by funds derived from all classes of the community, open
impartially to all these classes, filled with books available for use
either in the building or at the homes of the ratepayers, ably organised,
efficiently officered, and, with whatever drawbacks, in the main vehicles
of invaluable knowledge, inspiring ideas, and healthy mental recrea-
tion. Fifty years ago, there was hardly one. Whence the change ?
Doubtless, if one looks to the very bottom of things, to the community's
conviction of its necessity. But who awoke that conviction ? Ideas
must incarnate themselves in persons, or they remain ineffectual. I
do not for a moment overlook the fact that the Free Library movement,
important as it was, was but a minor feature of that great general
movement for the elevation of the people by means of education which
had been progressing in one shape or another ever since Robert Raikes
established Sunday Schools, and which had been aided from various
motives, sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously, by men of
the most dissimilar character and of the most dissimilar classes. Doubt-
less most of these men would have agreed that the wide dissemination
of books was a good thing, and important steps had already been taken
to promote it by the diffusion of cheap publications by the Useful
Knowledge Society, and the well-selected libraries of mechanics' in-
stitutes. But these were private undertakings, and although we might
probably find expressions of opinion that the matter was one for the
community at large, I hardly think that we shall find any systematic
attempt to bring this principle into practical operation until between
1840 and 1850, when it is brought forward and, with a rapidity most
unusual in the case of great reforms, realised under the guidance of
two Lancashire members of the House of Commons, William Ewart
and Joseph Brotherton, whose participation in this great work we
record this day, and of him whom we are more especially met to
honour, Edward Edwards.
The circumstances which made Mr. Edwards, in an especial degree,
the apostle of Free Libraries, and the history of his life in general,
are well known to us here, and will become known to the public upon
the publication of the comprehensive memoir of him prepared by Mr.
Greenwood, which is already in the press. I need not, therefore,
dwell upon these circumstances at any length. I may claim for the
British Museum the credit of first directing his attention to the subject,
not, however, by its excellences, but by its deficiencies. The par-
ticulars of Edwards' early education are obscure, but we find him in
London at the age of twenty-three with a considerable amount of
knowledge and an ambition to make himself useful to his fellow-men
in some department of literature, art, or politics. He naturally
APPENDICES. 233
resorted to the library of the British Museum as the chief repertory
and arsenal of knowledge, and found it in that pre-Panizzian era
lamentably behind the times. The accidental coincidence of the
appointment of a committee of inquiry into the general administration
of the Museum gave him the opportunity of stating his views both as
a witness and as the author of a pamphlet. This procured him the
notice of many eminent public men, gave his mind that bent towards
library matters which it otherwise would not have received, and
induced him to seek an appointment in the library of the British
Museum. This engagement proved, indeed, satisfactory neither to
him nor to the Institution, but its very failure proved instru-
mental in directing him to a wider field of usefulness. Finding
himself, from whatever cause, disqualified from taking a conspicuous
place at the Museum, he, as Emerson says of the man whom social
defects throw upon himself for companionship, and who profits by
meditation and introspection, " mended his shell with pearl ". He
took up the question of libraries generally, and especially devoted
himself to showing how lamentably, in respect of facilities provided
by libraries for the education of the bulk of the people, England was
behind most continental countries. If in preparing his statistics he
was guilty of many errata, this is comparatively immaterial, the one
unpardonable erratum would have been to have left the matter alone.
He was fortunate in exciting the attention and gaining the sympathy
of one of the most useful members that ever sat in Parliament, William
Ewart, then representing a Scotch constituency, but a Liverpool man
and formerly member for Liverpool, whom, along with Joseph
Brotherton, member for Salford, we are also honouring to-day. Mr.
Ewart procured the committee on public libraries which prepared the
way for the Free Public Libraries Act of 1850, which he drew up,
introduced, and actually got passed into law the same session,
an achievement which in these days I fear we should think almost
incredible for a private member. Edwards appears as the leading
and moving spirit, alike in the proceedings of the committee and in
its copious appendixes. It is as much his epic as the report of the
British Museum Commission of 1848-50 is Panizzi's.
I think that we are fully justified in awarding to Edwards the
leading part in the inauguration of that Free Library movement in
which we are all so deeply interested, which has accomplished so
much for the country already, and which is destined to accomplish
so much more. But it is not to be inferred that his coadjutors were
ciphers. In my connexion with public business I have occasionally
been reminded of a circus procession I once chanced to see entering
a provincial town. The Queen of Beauty towered enthroned upon
a car drawn to all appearance by two elephants, two buffaloes and two
dromedaries. But the six stately quadrupeds were in reality drawing
nothing ; all the work was in fact being done by a little, quiet, patient,
234 APPENDICES.
insignificant horse in the shafts. Many an august body is thus con-
ducted, but such was not the case with the undertakings in which Mr.
William Ewart interested himself. His correspondence with Edwards,
of which Mr. Greenwood's memoir affords examples, shows conclusively
his ardent interest, his unflagging industry, and his responsibility for
every detail. When we turn to Mr. Ewart's own biography we must
feel astonishment at the amount and importance of the useful work
performed by him. What he did for the advancement of knowledge
in 1850 he had already done for the advancement of art in 1836, when
a report drafted by him led to the establishment of schools of design.
Civil Service examinations, the permission of unattached students at
the universities, the annual ministerial statement on the progress of
education, all took their origin from his suggestions. With regard
to Joseph Brotherton it is hardly necessary to say anything. No one
who knew him could imagine his co-operating otherwise than actively
and usefully in any undertaking in which he might be interested. I
cannot claim to have enjoyed Mr. Brotherton's acquaintance, but
I well remember the opinion entertained of him in Manchester and
Salford, and the universal respect entertained by men of every form
of opinion for a member of a small unpopular sect, and a representa-
tive of political views which many then deemed extreme. Manchester
and Salford only reflected the opinion of Parliament. Seldom has
any one, beginning public life under such disadvantages, obtained
such personal influence within the House of Commons as Joseph
Brotherton.
Edwards' services did not go unrewarded. He obtained the chief
librarianship of the first important free library established under Mr.
Ewart's Act, the library at Manchester. The salary was, indeed,
grievously inadequate, but although the public had been taught the
value of libraries they had yet to learn the value of librarians. Never-
theless, the opportunity of his life seemed to have come to him. Alas !
it had not. There was something in the man's nature which dis-
qualified him for harmonious co-operation with superior authorities..
His seven years' service at Manchester, though full of useful work
and highly honourable to him in many respects, terminated in his
enforced resignation. From this time he lived the life of an author,
and of a librarian undertaking special tasks with no binding official
tie. In the former capacity he accomplished important things.. His
Memoirs of Libraries and Founders and Benefactors of the British
Museum are standard works, and his other literary performances have
value. His library work as cataloguer and calendarer was chiefly per-
formed at Oxford. For many years he supported himself gallantly and
honourably by his sole exertions ; but when at last his library services
were no longer required, and the fields of authorship were occupied
by younger men, and he had nothing to rely upon but a most pitiful
pittance of a pension, he found himself confronted by the dread of
APPENDICES. 235
want and the actual presence of debt, most galling to his independent
spirit. For this, let me say, his profession bears no blame. Had his
position been known, aid would have been instantly forthcoming,
tendered in a manner which, far from humiliating, would have
honoured him. It had been actually proposed that he should preside
over the first conference of the Library Association, and although his
deafness and other circumstances rendered the proposal inexpedient,
it showed that the Free Libraries did not forget to whom they were in
a measure indebted for their existence. But he was living in this remote
village, beyond which little respecting his circumstances could trans-
pire, and so it came to pass that one winter's night, alone and despairing,
he almost perished in the snow, not far from the spot where we are now
standing. Yet he rallied, and closed his eyes in peace ; and we are here
to-day discharging a duty towards his memory ; in so far as we are
librarians honouring our profession, andin any case honouring ourselves.
Some of the reflections thus aroused are too obvious to be dwelt upon ;
others too serious; in either case I pass them by. Yet I cannot
forbear remarking that many years have passed since it has been
possible to erect a memorial to Edward Edwards, and that if the pos-
sible has become the actual, and if this quiet churchyard no longer
affords an illustration of the too true proverb that " everybody's
business is nobody's business," we owe this to one of whom, as he is
now among us, I will make no particular mention, but through whose
disinterested exertion it is that the Preacher's saying, so often appli-
cable, is applicable no longer to Free Libraries and their founder :
" There was found a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered
the city ; yet no man remembered that same poor man ".
MR. WILLIAM E. A. AXON, LL.D., F.R.S.L.
(of Manchester).
IN proposing the toast of " The Memory of Edward Edwards "
there is the satisfaction of knowing that those whom I address
appreciate his worth so truly that there is no need to elaborate his
claims to grateful remembrance. We do not honour him as a " fault-
less monster," though his failings were not such as would embarrass
even a Puritan biographer. We recognise in him the qualities of
the pioneer, clearing the way and making the path smoother for
those who follow. Edward Edwards was a man to whom there
came the inspiration of a great thought, and who devoted himself to
its realisation with all the energy and enthusiasm of his nature. At a
time when the provision for popular education was scanty and imperfect,
Edwards was impressed by the waste of talent that lay sterile for lack
of culture and opportunity. Then there came to him the thought of
bringing the fruits of learning and the inspiration of genius to the homes
of the people. By the institution of public libraries, freely accessible
236 APPENDICES.
to all, he desired to bring not only the wealthy and the learned, but
also the masses of the nation under the influence of the best teaching
of all ages. The precepts of Religion, the speculations of " Divine
Philosophy," History's long record, the " fairy tales of Science," the
weighty thoughts of the Statesman and Economist, the varied glories
of the Arts, the myriad inventions of " men, the workers, ever
reaping something new," the travellers' tales of far-off and wondrous
lands, the parables of the novelist and the dramatist, the song of the
poet in short, all that Learning and all that Literature can give for
recreation, for reproof and for inspiration this he desired to make the
heritage of the whole English people. It was a lofty thought, and not
easy of accomplishment, yet much of it was realised in his lifetime.
Few men without the advantages of patronage, position or fortune
have made so great an impression upon the age as Edward Edwards.
He has enlarged the possibilities of thousands of poor students, and
has brought into myriads of cottage homes the moulding influences
of the great minds of all time. This generation is reaping where
he sowed, and the end of the harvest is still far off nay, is increasing
in richness year by year. We all honour and appreciate the pious
feeling which has led our friend and colleague, Mr. Thomas Green-
wood, to place a memorial over the resting-place of Edward Edwards.
It is fitting and appropriate that this should be done, and that pilgrims
from far and near standing by the grave of the pioneer of the free
library movement should see the memorial erected by one who has
inherited the love of literature and the enthusiasm of humanity which
animated Edward Edwards. But there are in reality many other
Edwards' monuments. The great municipal collections of Man-
chester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield and other large
towns, the marvellous development in this direction which London
has witnessed in recent years, the noble library benefactions of Mr.
Andrew Carnegie and Mr. J. Passmore Edwards, the hundreds of free
libraries that have come into existence, east, west, north and south,
though they do not bear his name are not less the fruits, direct and
indirect, of his labour. The free libraries have given the possibility
of wider culture, exacter knowledge, purer pleasures, loftier ideals,
and greater usefulness to those who avail themselves rightly of the
proffered opportunities. Hundreds and thousands have seized the
boon, and it is the resulting gain to the community from these better
and brighter lives that gives us the strongest cause for cherishing and
honouring the memory of Edward Edwards.
MR. CHARLES W. BUTTON, M.A. (Chief Librarian,
Manchester Public Libraries).
A FEW words are expected from me on this interesting occasion, on
account of my having for so many years held a position that was filled
APPENDICES. 237
by him whose memory we are met to honour. Edward Edwards had
retired from the Manchester Free Library seven years before I entered
it as a junior assistant. He left Manchester and did not return to it,
and I never had the opportunity of meeting him, although in his later
years I not infrequently exchanged letters with him. One of my first
duties on entering the Free Library was to arrange a mass of official
correspondence which Edwards had left behind him, and I well re-
member being astonished at is copiousness and diversity. But it was
only in after years, when I had become accustomed to the evidences
of Edwards' operations everywhere around me, that I was able to
appreciate, I dare hardly say fully appreciate, the amount of work
which he got through in connection with the establishment and early
years of that institution. He had, as we know by his numerous writ-
ings, long been drawing attention to England's paucity of educational
facilities, especially in regard to public libraries ; he had inspired Par-
liamentary action and had foreseen the result of the measure which
at his instigation was introduced by Mr. Ewart and backed by Mr.
Brotherton. When he became librarian of the first library to be
established under the provisions of that legislative measure, he was
obliged to accept a salary miserably out of proportion to his deserts ;
but poverty was ever the badge of the librarian tribe. He laid down
schemes and drew up rules which have been followed by all subsequent
town libraries. He compiled a wonderful list of books to be acquired,
and he purchased the volumes wisely and economically. These books
he then classified and catalogued in a way that proved him to be as
great a master in practical librarianship as he was in the literary
advocacy of libraries. The success of the library was immediate and
has been lasting, and its novelty brought inquiries from many quarters,
far and near, and Edwards' correspondence must have taken up no in-
considerable portion of his time ; but his enthusiasm and willingness
to spare no trouble in extending the benefits of libraries doubtless
lightened his task. Amidst these engrossing official duties he found
time to work at his monumental Memoirs of Libraries, and to write
sundry smaller contributions. Edwards is said to have been a proud
man, who did not always find it possible to forget that he was in
mental endowments and professional attainments a little above certain
town councillors who were placed in authority over him. Friction not
unnaturally was the result. He was probably rather too scornful of
their attempts to teach him his business. It is pleasant to know that
by his assistants and personal friends he was regarded as one of the
most chivalrous and warm-hearted of mortals ; and that the few sur-
vivors of those who knew him intimately look with cordial approval
upon the proceedings in which we are engaged to-day. It should not
be forgotten that the first Public Libraries Act did not fully satisfy
Edwards. In its passage through Parliament it had suffered changes
that were in his eyes objectionable. Some defects which he pointed
238 APPENDICES.
out in 1853 were subsequently remedied, but one of them still remains,
namely, the limit of the library rate. He suggested " the omission of
the limit affixed to the rate, leaving it to be settled by Town Councils,
according to the circumstances of each town, at their own discretion
and upon their ordinary responsibility ". There must now be few
people who would say that Edwards was not right. I shall attempt no
eulogy of Edward Edwards as the pioneer of rate-supported libraries,
as the historian of libraries, or as a man of letters ; nor try to define
his place among the educational reformers of the nineteenth century.
It must be enough for me to express the delight I have taken in follow-
ing the pious labours of our friend Mr. Greenwood, and my satisfaction
in being permitted to play a small part in the ceremonies of this day,
which in more senses than one we may call a memorable day.
MR. JOHN J. OGLE (Director of Technical Instruction,
Bootle).
THE generous instincts of Mr. Thomas Greenwood have put within
our reach an occasion of happy pilgrimage to the shrine of one of
the illustrious dead, whose monument stands in every town in Great or
in Greater Britain possessed of a municipal public library. Yet there
was no reason why the mosses should creep over the soil of Edwards'
grave for lack of stone whereto to cling. The memorial to-day un-
veiled may safely be left to the keeping of posterity. May it never
need the attentions of an Old Mortality of the future to clear away
the encrusting vegetation ! May it be a sacred place of pilgrimage
for book-lovers of unborn generations, a shrine of gratitude to the
father of municipal public libraries, and the discoverer of that bene-
ficent profession, the municipal librarian.
Notwithstanding the now popular cry " things not words " in the
educational world, the word which stands for spirit and life must
continue to be accounted for in educating our youth. Laboratories
let us have by all means, kindergartens and workshops, school
journeys and surveys, but the educational institute is incomplete
without the library. Edwards pre-eminently took the educational
view of the public library he was not led away by the thought of
its recreative function, important as that function is. The recreative
must be tolerated for the advantage of the educational uses. The
many must be pleased after a wholesome fashion that students, few
or many, in obscurity or in the light, poor as well as rich, may have
books wherewith to make of them scholars for the public good.
Twenty years before the date of Forster's Elementary Education Act,
Edwards and Ewart had scored a victory for popular education, the
full significance of which, in the history of British Education, has not
yet been realised by his compatriots.
APPENDICES. 239
But this was not all : the public library being won, it was necessary
that some one should show the way to build and furnish and administer
it. This Edwards did at Manchester. In the midst of distressing
discouragements he laboured on, and left the fruit of his experience
for others' use in the practical part of his great work, Memoirs of
Libraries. This surely was work enough for one, but Edwards was
a scholar as well as a practical man, and ever hungry for work. He
took the history of libraries |for his province, and collected with un-
daunted industry the materials for the first part of his Memoirs of
Libraries from a field of reading of vast extent. Every later worker in
this field must be greatly indebted to Edwards. How keenly every lib-
rarian regrets that he did not live to complete his revision of this work !
After all, the great achievement of Edwards from the national or
international point of view was that he not only did more than any
other man for the municipalisation of the public library, but he set the
pattern of the well-founded and well-governed town library ; he real-
ised its educational importance, he made possible the correlation of
the public library with the different parts of our public educational
system ; he made the use of books, other than school text-books, an
integral part of the training of every educated citizen. As an educator
Edward Edwards deserves to rank with Comenius, Froebel, Herbart
and Horace Mann. Like these he worked assiduously in the planting
and fostering of a fruitful idea.
I cannot claim to have known Edwards in the flesh, but I have
spent hours among his papers ; I have dipped into his diary, his
note-books, his huge commonplace books ; I have perused many ot
his friends' letters to him, and seen the reflection of his heart and
purpose, his character and feeling, in a more intimate way than any
reader of his published writings alone. And by these experiences I
claim to have had some contact with the soul and spirit of Edward
Edwards. He was not a perfect being ; but his ideas were noble, his
affections were pure, his disinterestedness was exalted, his foresight
was considerable, his work was sound. He builded not of hay and
stubble, but of enduring brass ; he sacrificed not to popular applause,
but to conscience, to duty, to God.
Speaking as one of the younger generation, I add my pebble of praise
to the cairn of his memory. Before I sit down may I be permitted to add
a note of admiration for the generous work on behalf of the same cause
as Edwards', which for many years has characterised our host of to-
day. Since the publication of the first edition of Public Libraries in the
year of Edwards' decease until now, Mr. Thomas Greenwood's labours,
generosity, zeal and sacrifice have been unremitting and exemplary.
The Rev. William Sells, the present Rector of Niton, and the Rev.
R. Allen Davis, Congregational Minister, Ventnor, took part in the
simple service held at the grave.
2 4 o APPENDICES.
The following letter has been received by Mr. Greenwood :
" 68 ALBERT HALL MANSIONS, S.W. ,
" 2snd February, 1902.
" DEAR SIR,
" I have been unavoidably prevented, by much correspondence,
from writing sooner to you to say with what great interest I and my
sister read the account in the Times of the monument erected by you
at Niton, in the Isle of Wight, to Mr. Edward Edwards, and the most
well-described and well-merited details of his life, devoted to the cause
of Public Libraries, as well as of our father's constant work with the
same end in the House of Commons. If we are ever again near
Niton we shall certainly go to see the memorial.
" I remain, Dear Sir,
" Yours truly,
" MARY A. EWART."
[The italics are Miss Ewarts'.]
INDEX.
[Compiled by Mr. JAMES DUFF BROWN, Borough Librarian, Finsbury
Public Libraries.]
ABBOTT, Edwin, 9.
Edwin A. , 9.
Alfred the Great, 156-57.
Allnutt, A. H. H. , 177.
Alphabetical catalogues, 133.
American libraries, 73.
Anti-Corn Law League, 23.
Armorial bearings of Edwards
family, 195.
Art Union of London, 13.
AthencBum, 60, 93, 100.
Atlas, contributions to, 108.
Axon, W. E. A., 124, 221, 235.
Baber, Rev. H. H., 32, 40, 50, 54.
Beaconsfield, Earl of, 164.
Berlin libraries, 60.
Bibliotheque Nationale, 101.
Binney, Thomas, 7, 21, 23, no, 117,
202, 203, 224.
Biographical sketch of Edwards,
7-25, passim.
Biography, Literature of General,
165, 184, 191, 230.
Birmingham libraries, 59, 117.
Birth of Edwards, 7.
Black, A. and C., 182.
Blenheim Library, 153, 201, 227.
Bodleian Library, 58, 164, 229-30.
Bolton "Subscription" Library, 135.
Bond, Sir E. A., 164, 172.
Book collectors, brief notices of, 160.
Book-plate, Edwards', 195.
Books, Edwards' notes on, 185-191,
208.
Borrowers' tickets, illegal charges for,
Brannon, G. A. , printer, 177.
Bray, Dr., 18, 90, 225.
Bristol Library, 59.
British Librarian, 55, 224.
British libraries, table, 76.
British Museum, catalogue rules,
223.
Committee, 8.
Cottonian Library, 77.
Edwards a reader in, 8.
foreign literature, deficiencies, 9.
Grenville Bequest, 56.
letter to Hawes on, 223.
open access to shelves, 57.
Parliamentary Inquiry, 1835, 27-
35- 22 .3-
accessibility, 29.
officers' salaries, 30, 32.
book supply and deficiencies ,.
3i-
catalogues, 32.
organisation, 32.
antiquities, dept., 33.
natural history, 33.
Sunday opening, 34.
Parliamentary Inquiry, 1836, 39-
46, 223.
foreign literature in, 40-41.
cataloguing, Edwards' criti-
cisms, 41.
accessibility, 43.
Thomason Civil War Pamphlets,
52, 224.
British Museum, Lives of the
Founders, 46, 54, 55, 161, 228, 234.
British Quarterly Kevie-w, 56, 105,
147, 224, 225.
Brotherton, Jos., M.P. , 14; (notice
of), 17, no, 221, 232-39.
Brougham, Lord, 37, 199.
Brown, Jas. Duff, 128.
Brown, W., Itinerating Libraries ,
68,79.
Browning, Robt., 189.
Bullen, George, 53, 107, 208.
Campfield Library, HI.
(241) 16
2 4 2
INDEX.
Carlyle, Thos. , 56; (on catalogues)
129, 189.
Carte MSS., 164, 229-30.
Carter, Mr. John, 204.
Cataloguing, (British Museum) 32,
41 ; 85, 90 (classified) : 122
(cheapness) ; 128-134 (principles).
Cecil Papers, 45, 160, 228.
Chadficld, Benj., 113.
Chadfield, John, 113.
Chapman, Mrs., 182.
Chapters . . . French Academy, 151,
227.
Chartist agitation, 63.
Chttham Library, 60, 72, 78, 147,
226.
Christian Year, 183, 185, 213, 216.
Circular letter re libraries, 96-97, 224.
Classification (systematic], 126.
(principles), 128-134.
tables, 226.
Coins, French, 8.
Coleridge, S. T., 143.
Collas, Achille, 223.
College Library arrangements, 228.
Collins, Arthur, Peerage of England,
191.
Commonplace books, 192.
Comparative Tables . . . Classifica-
tion, 127, 226.
Compton Verney Library catalogue,
118, 226.
Copyright Act, 83.
Corpus Christi College catalogue,
229.
Cottonian Library, 77, 161.
Cowell, Peter, 174.
Cowtan, Robert, 104, 108.
Coxe, Rev. H. O., 164.
Credland, W. R., 125.
Crestadoro, Dr., 133, 182.
Crossley, Sir Francis, 227.
Crossley, Jas. , 114, 123.
Dalmeny, Lord, 27.
Dante, Longfellow's trrnslation, 189.
Davis, Rev. R. Allen, 239.
Davy, Sir Humphry, on British
Museum, 28-29.
Death of Edwards, 219-220.
Degrees, university, 37.
De Quincey, Thos., 190.
Descriptive Catalogue of the Medals
of France, 8, 223.
Devonshire, 158.
Diaries of Kdwards, 21 and Preface.
Dibdin, Thos. F., 153.
Diocesan Registries, 158, 227.
Disraeli, Isaac, 71.
Donations to libraries, 56, 77, 140.
Doncaster Free Library, catalogue,
228.
Dovercourt, 202.
Dowse, Henry A., 184.
Drayson, Miss, 219.
Dunford, Mrs., 213.
Dury, or Durie, John, 171.
Ear and Throat Infirmary, 184.
Education, 36, 80, 224.
Edwards, Anthony T., 7, 25, 26.
Mrs. A. T., 7, 26, 197-201, 205.
Charlotte, 7, 26, 196, 201. 205.
Edwards, Edward, armorial bearings,
195-
Art Union, Hon. Sec., 13.
associates, 8-25.
Bible, entries, 7, 25, 185.
birth, 7.
book-plate, 195.
British Museum employ^, 50-55.
evidence, 39-46, 224.
pamphlet, 27-35, 22 3-
cash statements, 24, 215-216.
character, 1-6, 14, 24-26 and
passim.
children, love for, 24, 192-93.
Christian Year marginalia, 185-
188.
Church of England sympathies,
7. I92-93-
classification scheme, 127-34, 226.
commonplace books, 192.
correspondence, passim.
death, 219-20.
diaries, preface, 21.
Ewart and Edwards, 108, passim.
friends, 8-25.
godfather to E. Abbott's children,
9-
habits, 211.
letters, 5, passim.
library of books, 176.
spirit, 14.
work, summary, 140.
Literary Union, editor, n.
literary work, 142-79, 223-30.
Manchester work, 107-25.
marginalia in books, 185-91.
marriage, 14, 181.
memory, 24.
monument, 220-21.
Niton, residences at, 36, 46, 50,
92, 116, 165, 171, 172, 183,
2IO-2O.
Nonconformist training, 7.
INDEX.
Edwards, Edward, numismatic
studies, 8-9.
Oxford work, 162-64, 182, 217,
228-29.
pension, 164, 211.
pioneer of municipal libraries, 20,
63.
political views, 214.
portrait, 182, 212.
professional work, summary, 140.
Public Libraries Inquiry, evidence,
65-106.
reading, record of his, 189-91.
works, 142-79, 223-30.
Edwards, Mrs. Edward, 14, in, 180,
181, 206.
Elizabeth M., 26, 196-209.
Ellesmere, Earl of, letter to, 59, 62,
224.
Ellis, Sir Henry, 29, 32, 161.
Emerson, R. W. , 63.
Emigration Home for Girls, 184.
Encyclopaedia Britannica articles,
148. 153.
Espinasse, F., 13.
European libraries, 58, 60, 72, 73, 99.
Ewart, Mary A., 240.
Wm., M.P., 14 (notice of), 15,
20, 27, 65-106, 107, no, 116,
124, 1^6, 221, 225, 232-40.
Exmouth and its Neighbourhood, 157,
202, 228.
Felixstowe, 202.
Fenter, Mr. G., 204.
Finding catalogues, 129.
Fine Arts in England, 145, 173, 224.
Fox, Wm. ]., 22, 23, in.
Free Town Libraries, 128, 135, 136,
139, 144, 160, 173, 228.
French Academy, Biographical His-
tory, 151, 227.
French libraries, 72, 94.
Froude's History of England, 190.
Garnett, Richard, 121, 162, 171,
172, 221, 231 and Preface.
German libraries, 60, 74, 94.
Gibbon, E., 71.
Gifts to libraries, 56, 77, 140.
Gladstone, W. E., 164, 177, 214.
Godwin, George, n.
Goethe's Works in British Museum,
40.
Government inspection of libraries,
137-
Gowing, Thos. S., 13.
Grants to libraries, 88.
Grasmere, 180.
Great Seals of England, 144, 223.
Guildhall librarianship, 123.
Guizot, 68, 69, 101.
Halifax, Deane Clough Mills Lib-
rary, 227.
Hampden House MSS., 228. . :
Handbook to the Literature of General
Biography, 165, 184, 191, 230,
Harrison, Rev. John, 214, 218, 220.
Mrs., 215.
Hatfield House Library, 45, 160, 228.
Hawes, Sir Benj. , 27, 28, 223.
Hayward, Henry, 13.
Margaretta Frances, 14, 180-81.
Hemsted, Dr. Henry, 184, 220.
Heylyn, Peter, 190-91.
Hibbert, Jas., 175.
Hole, Rev. C., 165.
Holman, Dr. , 219.
Houghton, Lord, 96.
Hume, Joseph, M. P. , 13, 47.
Hunt, Leigh, 190.
Hyde, Book of the Monastery of,
144, 151, 155, 227.
Imray, John, engraver, 13.
Inscriptions in books, 182, 185, 191,
208.
Inspection of libraries, 137.
Irish libraries, 79.
Irving, Edward, 190.
Isle of Wight Library, 213.
Itinerating libraries, 68, 80.
Jeudwine, Rev. G. W., 217.
Jolliffe, Dr., 220.
Jones, J. Winter, 223.
Kay, I. Taylor, 125.
Keble, John, 172, 185, 188.
Kenilworth, in.
Kensal Green Cemetery, 181.
Kershaw, Jas., in.
King, John, 113, 122.
Kinglake, A. W., Crimea, 191.
King's Weigh House Chapel, 7, 21,
203.
Lancashire Readers, 17.
Lawford Churchyard, 181, 201.
Lending libraries, 72, 79, 87, 135.
Letter on . . . National Education,
224.
Letter to Mr. Haiues on British
Museum, 223.
Letter to Sir Martin Archer Shee,
46, 223.
Letter to the Earl of Ellesmere, 59,
224.
Letter to the Rev. Thos, Binitev,
224.
244
INDEX.
Letters of a Hampshire Conservative,
165, 230.
Liber de Hyda, 144, 151, 155, 227.
Librarians, training of, 139.
Libraries and Founders of Libraries,
153, 22 7-
Libraries and the People, 105, 225.
" Libraries," article Ency. Brit., 148,
227.
Libraries, paper. Social Science
Congress, 199, 227.
Libraries, Public, Inquiries (1849-50),
65-106.
Library Association, 170.
Library Chronicle^ 171, 230.
Library rate, 74.
reports, 121.
Life of Sir Walter Ralegh, 159, 227.
Lines in the Christian Year, 186.
Literary and Scientific Institution, 8.
Literary Union, n.
Lives of the Founders of British
Museum, 46, 54, 55, 161, 228, 234.
Local collections, 91, 139.
London libraries, 60, 78.
University, 36.
Lowndes' British Librarian, 56, 224.
Lyra Apostolica, 188.
Macarthur, James, 13, 144, 223.
Macclesfield, Lord, 123, 152 ; (Lib-
rary), 153, 155, 227.
Macray, Rev. W. D., 175.
Madan, Falconer, 177.
Management of Popular Institutions,
n.
Manchester, Bishop of, 114.
Manchester Guardian, 125.
Manchester libraries, 60.
public libraries, 107-125, 148,
225, 226-27, 237.
Manchester Worthies, 147, 226.
Manningtree, 181, 106-209.
Maps of libraries, 74.
Marginalia on books, 185-191.
Marlborough Library, 153, 201, 227.
Marriage of Edwards, 14, 181.
Marsh's Library, 72, 79.
Martin's Handbook of Biography, 7.
Mechanics' Institutions, 79.
Medals, French, 8, 223.
Memoirs of Libraries, ist ed., 3, 5,
96, 127, 128, 136. 144, 149, 227,
234-
Memoirs of Libraries, 2nd ed., 20,
143, 156, 163, 164, 166-179; (account
of its design and history), 178 ;
(presentation copies), 216, 230.
Merivale, Dean, 201.
Miller, Hugh, 190-91.
Milnes, Monckton, 96.
Mistley, 204.
Mitford, John, 124.
Moll Library, 32.
Monastic libraries, 154.
Montalembert, Count de, 151.
Monument at Niton, 220-21, 231.
Municipal libraries. See Public
Libraries.
Museums Act of 1845, 18, 82.
Napoleon Medals, 144, 223.
Newcastle-on-Tyne libraries, 171.
New South Wales, 144, 223.
" Newspapers," article in Ency. Brit.,
149, 227, 230.
Newton, Henry W., 171. .
New York Literary Gazette, 226.
Nicholson, E. W. B., 163, 170.
Night Refuge, 184.
Niton, 36, 46, 50, 92, 116, 165, 171,
172, 183, 210-20.
North, Brownlow, Records, 192.
Notes on the Classification of -Human
Knowledge, 127, 226.
Numismatic studies, 8-9.
Obituary notices of Edwards, 125,
220.
Ogle, John J., 125, 221, 238.
Oldys' British Librarian, 56.
Oliphant, Mrs., 189, 195.
Open access to shelves, 57, 135.
Ormond papers, 229-30.
Oxford life of Edwards, 162-64, 182,
217, 228-29.
Panizzi, Sir A., 50, 51, 53, 54-5, 69,
99 ; (Serapeum), 161, 223.
Paris libraries, 57, 60, 74, 78.
Parks near London, 227.
Parliament, members of, their obliga-
tions, 19.
Parliamentary Inquiry on British
Museum (1835), 27.
(1836), 39.
Parochial libraries, 81, 90.
Parry, John H., 10, 53, 223.
Paucity of Libraries, letter, 59,
224.
Paul, Wm. J., 113.
Peerages, Edwards on printed, 191.
Perceval, Spencer G. , 177.
Philological School, 9.
Plant, John, 171, 225.
lanta, J., 45, 161.
3 lummer, Rev. Chas., 164-65.
Poem by Edwards, 186.
INDEX.
245
" Police," article in Ency. Brit., 149,
227.
Portico Library, Manchester, 226.
Portrait of Edwards, 182, 212.
" Post Office," article in Ency. Brit.,
149, 227, 230.
Potter, Sir John, in, 114, 115, 119,
225, 226.
Public libraries, accessibility of, 86-
88, 135-
(1850), no, 117.
catalogues, 85, 90, 122, 128-
34-
classification, 126, 127-34, 226.
Government inspection, 137.
Parliamentary Inquiry (1849-
50), 65-106, 224.
policy of, 1-2.
rules, 135.
State Papers, gifts, 140.
in Europe and America, 225.
in London and Paris, 56,
224.
Publishers, Edwards' opinion of,
191.
Pye, John, engraver, 13.
Queen's College, Oxford, 217, 228-
29.
Ralegh, Life of Sir Walter, 158,
228.
Rate for libraries, 74.
Rawson, Harry, 113, 119.
Records of the Realm, 154, 227.
Remarks on Evidence . . . British
Museum, 27-35.
Central University Examin-
ing Board, 36, 223.
Reports, library, 121, 225-27 (Man-
chester).
Researches for MSS. in the Levant,
230.
Roscoe, Thos., 71.
Rouen Library, losses, 94.
Royal Academy, letter on, 46, 223.
Rules and regulations, library, 135.
Russell, Lord John, 27, 37.
St. Catherine's Down, 210, 218-19.
Lodge, 219.
St. Helen's Library report, 226.
Salford, 17-18, 225.
"Savings Banks," article in Ency.
Brit., 149, 227.
Saxons, 155.
Scott, Sir Walter, 194.
Scottish libraries, 79.
Sells, Rev. Wm., 239.
Serapeum, letters, 99-100.
Seymour, Lord, 94, 98.
Shee, Sir M. A., letter to, 46, 223.
Shirburn Castle Library catalogue,
153, 155. 227.
Sion College Library, 57, 60.
Smiles, R. W., 120. '
Social Science Congress, Glasgow,
199, 227.
Society of Wranglers, 12.
Soul-Squeezers, 12.
South Place Chapel, 22.
Southey, Robert, 190.
Spencer Library, 153.
Stanley, Lord, 27.
State Papers, distribution to lib-
raries, 140, 225.
Statistical View of Public Libraries,
58, 89, 98, 224, 225.
Stirling's Library, 72.
Subscription depts. in public lib-
raries, 135.
Sunday opening of institutions, n.
Sunderland Library, 153, 201, 227.
Sutton, Chas. W., 173, 221, 236.
Synoptical Tables of the Records, 154,
227.
"Tea," article in Ency. Brit., 149,
227.
Tenison's Library, 45, 56, 60.
Thomason Civil War pamphlets,
52, 224.
Thoughts on Management of Institu-
tions, ii.
Times, 146.
' ' Tocqueville," article in Ency. Brit.,
149, IS 2 -
Torquay, 118.
"Trade Museums," article in Ency.
Brit., 149, 227.
Training of librarians, 139.
Trevor MSS., 228.
Turner, Sharon, History of England.
190.
United States libraries, 73.
University Examining Board, 36,
223.
University libraries, 62.
' Verificator " letters, 93, 100.
W. (P.S.), letter in Athenceum, 101.
Wanstead Orphan Asylum, 183.
Watt (R. ), Bibliotheca Britannica,
42.
Watts, Thos., 52, 54, 101, 223.
'Weaving," article in Ency. Brit.,
149.
Wedgwood, J., 143.
Wheeler, Mrs., 219, 220.
246
INDEX.
Whitchurch Parochial Library, 225.
Wife of Edwards, 14, in, 180181,
206.
Williams', Dr., Library, 56, 60.
Willoughby de Broke, Lord, letter,
179.
Willoughby de Broke, Lord, Library,
118, 226.
Wimbledon, residence at, 184.
1 ' Wool Trade," articles in Enty.
rit., 149, 227.
Wyon, E. W., 13.
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