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| Carlyle and the London Library |
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Although in 1841, the author, historian and biographer Thomas Carlyle was not the sole founder of the London Library, it was in his vision that it had its inception. Carlyle wanted a subscription lending library which would allow its readers to sample some of the riches of a national collection in their own homes. One million books and periodical volumesCarlyle was a Scot who moved to London in 1834, the same year that he began work on his first historical work, The French Revolution. John Stuart Mill - who's illiterate housekeeper unwittingly burned the first manuscript - called it 'not so much a history as an epic poem.' It certainly was radically different from the histories of the eighteenth century. Carlyle insisted on using the present tense, and on the importance of subjective accounts of the past. He made a deliberate attempt to bring to life the personalities of historical figures, rather than merely cataloguing their achievements and failings. The largest independent lending library in the worldPerhaps this new approach to history can be related to the vision Carlyle had for the library he helped to found. During the eighteen forties and fifties, he became a figure of the literary community and made life-long friendships with some of the most revered writers of the age. Charles Dickens, Robert Browning and Alfred Lord Tennyson were all close acquaintances, and William Thackeray became the library's first auditor. Carlyle's next book, On Heroes, Hero Worship, and the Heroic in History, advanced the theory that heroes cure social ills by setting an example, and that those examples are only followed if the heroes are sufficiently charismatic and engaging. In his personal and his public life, he was committed to extending the community of letters for the moral benefit of society. With books dating from the 16th centuryToday, the library is at St James' Square, its home (with a short interruption) since 1845. The building has a quasi-classical façade, and has undergone several extensions to accommodate the ever-expanding collection. It's reading rooms spacious with high ceilings and more classical design in their plaster-work. They are laid out with plush carpets, mahogany shelving and leather-faced desks, giving it the impression of a private members' club as much as a seat of learning. Over the years, its members have always been members of London's literati. Rudyard Kipling, T.S Eliot, the novelist Rebecca West, and philosopher Isaiah Berlin have all been Presidents of the London Library. Today, under the Presidency of the playwright Tom Stoppard, it remains popular with academics, writers and broadcasters. Novelists David Lodge and Paul Theroux, playwright David Hare, and actor Simon Callow all count themselves among its members. © David Thorley, 2007 'One of the most thrilling places in the city. There is no place I know of in the world that better embodies or promotes the romance of books.' - Simon Callow 14 ST JAMES'S SQUARE • LONDON SW1Y 4LG Hotels near the London Library
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