Subscription Libraries of Launceston by Kelli Schultz

 

Launceston gained its very first library in 1825.   It was located in Cameron Street in the home of John Fawkner, who placed advertisements in the local papers in June of that year to let the community know he had opened it.  This followed a European trend of subscription libraries that dated back to the first known one in 1725 that was opened by Scottish poet Allan Ramsay. Fawkner’s was the first of many such libraries.

Subscription libraries, also known as circulation libraries charged a fee for loaning books.  Some had an annual fee and some charged both.  Fawkner’s library continued until 1831 when it was moved to the home of Mr Gooch in Charles Street.

There were 11 known libraries to advertise regularly in the local papers.  It seems it must have been thought to be a good money maker at the time.   Hill’s library in St John Street opened in 1835, moving to Brisbane Street the following year then disappearing the year after that. Mr Riva’s circulating library boasted over 400 books in 1848 with a fee of 2 guineas a year. You could also borrow as a non subscriber for 3 shillings per item, the standard borrowing fee.  Again this was a short endeavour and his contents were being advertised to sell by 1852.

Others opening during the late 1800s were Tegg, Blake, Thomas Birch, Fitzgerald Bros, Hopwood & James, Rich, Bastin and more famously Mayhead.  Many of these were attached to stationary sellers or private homes.  Many continued under new names when sold, Hopwood & James became Hood & Co in 1895 after trading for five years, eventually closing in 1899.

Not all subscriptions were profit driven.  Community groups also opened libraries.  The Holy Trinity Church committee met in 1829 to vote on starting a library and later in 1888 the Convent Schools were fund raising for a library.  In 1909 the Northern Law Society library had a membership of 61 people. In 1925 the Launceston Hospital put a call out for a library for its patients.

Subscription libraries continued through to the mid 1950s.  Birchall’s, one of our well known institutions had a subscription library for many decades and actually had to close their doors in 1903 for a month due to the small pox epidemic and in 1919 the health officer allowed all circulating libraries to re-open with a maximum of three customers at a time after the Influenza epidemic. 

The Launceston Mechanics’ Institute remains our most famous subscription library and the precursor to our modern library.  In 1935 memberships were dwindling and complaints were being received that a subscription was still required when Hobart library was free. A decade later subscription was wiped and the Launceston Public Library was declared free of charge and would remain so to this day.

(This article first appeared in The Examiner on 5 July 2020 as one of the Launceston Historical Society's 'Our History' Series.)

From Wilderness to World Heritage by Catherine Pearce, 29 July 2020

 Ninety nine years ago on Friday 29 July 1921 an important meeting took place at the Launceston Mechanics Institute. Held under the auspices of the newly formed Northern Branch of the Royal Society of Tasmania, its object was to push for the establishment of a national park in the vicinity of Cradle Mountain.

 

A reserve had been proposed for the area in the years leading up to World War One, but during the conflict and its aftermath momentum had been lost. Although marked on the map as ‘proposed scenic reserve’ the area had not been gazetted, and several speculators had taken up land.

 

In 1920 Launcestonians Dr Ray McClinton, Charles Monds, Alderman Frank Heyward, Frederick Smithies and H J King made several trips to the area. Discussions with their host Gustav Weindorfer at Waldheim Chalet led to a plan to make a concerted effort to have a national scenic reserve gazetted in the high country around Cradle Mountain.

 

To this end the meeting at the Mechanics Institute was called. Those speaking in favour of the proposal included Mr E T Emmett, Director of the Government Tourist Department, and Joseph Lyons, a future Australian Prime Minister, then a member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. Lyons observed that the USA, Canada and many countries smaller than Tasmania had national parks set aside for people to enjoy and to foster tourism. ‘It was simply a matter of getting a number of persons to put backbone into the matter’ he said.

 

A lantern slide show was screened to illustrate the magnificence of the area. A reporter in attendance wrote ‘the rugged beauty of Cradle Mountain from the surrounding country, and of Crater Lake, with its precipitous sides, rivals America’s best scenery.’

 

At the conclusion of the evening a special committee comprising Alderman Heyward, Dr McClinton, Fred Smithies, George Perrin, Stephen Spurling and Tas Shields MLC, was formed to continue the crusade. In the months that followed, while Weindorfer wooed politicians at Waldheim and Emmett talked up tourism, the committee championed the cause, taking photographs, holding slide shows, rallying the public and lending support to Weindorfer and Emmett.

 

Today the Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park is at the heart of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, meeting seven out of the ten criteria set down by UNESCO. Only one other place in the world – Mount Taishan in China – qualifies on as many levels. The meeting at the Mechanics Institute was a significant moment in the campaign that led to the establishment of one of Australia’s most celebrated national parks.

 

         

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[1] Examiner (Launceston) 29 July 1921, p.4.

[2] Examiner 30 July 1921, p.8.

[3] Ibid

[4] Weekly Courier 17 February 1921, p.17

BookCollectorZ

Our catalogue is now available through an online service BookCollectorZ. You can search this catalogue to discover our holdings. Check it out here: https://cloud.collectorz.com/folmi/books

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club

One of the most interesting stories about Tasmania’s early history is the publication of a pirated edition of Charles Dickens’ the Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club in 1838-9. It seems that the Launceston Mechanics’ Institute once had a copy in its collection. (https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/780675?lookfor=pickwick%20papers%20dowling&offset=1&max=2)

 The publisher was Henry Dowling (1810-1885), son of the prominent Baptist minister of the same name, and brother of artist Robert Dowling. In his lifetime he was a printer, publisher, bank manager and philanthropist. In 1831, at the age of twenty-one, he became the editor and publisher of the Advertiser, previously the paper of John Pascoe Fawkner.

The original Pickwick Papers had been published (with illustrations) in London in 20 instalments between March 1836 and October 1837. The illustrator (from number 4 onwards) was ‘Phiz’.  The publication quickly became very popular and obviously a copy found its way to Van Diemen’s Land fairly promptly.

Dowling’s version of the text was published in twenty-five instalments from August to October 1838 and was available from his stationery warehouse in Brisbane Street. Illustrations for this pirated publication were made available to subscribers towards the end of this time. The illustrations, copies or adaptations of those in the English publication, were said to be by ‘Tiz’. The story was later published in book form with twenty lithographic illustrations.

The identity of the illustrator ‘Tiz’ has always been a mystery. Jack Briggs, said to be a servant of Dowling’s, is usually credited with the illustrations, although he is not known to have had any artistic training.  However, an obituary for Henry Dowling in 1885, more than 45 years after his publication of the pirated version, claims the illustrations were done by a draughtsman in the Hobart Survey Office. (https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/9110751)

Very few copies of Dowling’s version remain in libraries in Australia. The State Library of NSW claims to have the only copies of the original instalments version. Libraries Tasmania has a copy of the book form, as does the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery. The National Library in Canberra has two copies and one of those is noted as having the stamp of the Launceston Mechanics’ Institute! To date there is no knowledge of how the LMI acquired its copy, or how it ended up in the National Library. If you have any further information, please feel free to comment on this blog.

'Going to the Mechanics'

                             Stefan Petrow’s history of the                           Launceston Mechanics’ Institute is now available for $10.

Thanks to the generosity of Emeritus Professor Campbell Macknight, who published the book in 1998 as part of the Historical Survey of Northern Tasmania, there are soft cover copies of Stefan’s very readable account of the LMI from 1842 to 1914 for sale through FOLMI.

Going to the Mechanics tells the story of the foundation of the LMI in detail, of the Launceston citizens who envisaged such an important cultural institution, created it, then maintained it for its first 70 years with little support from government. In 1860 they constructed the finest public building in the town to house its book and museum collection, and to provide a venue for most of the worthy scientific, artistic, dramatic and social events in the burgeoning settlement.  

Order copies through this blogspot or contact:                                                                                         Mike McCausland        mmccausl@yahoo.com / 0497 258 761

Price: $10

LMI Furniture Gallery

The Mechanics' Institute Library effectively ceased operation in 1945. The grand old building was demolished in 1971. The books survive, and are celebrated on this blog. And so do a few precious objects – pieces of furniture and equipment.

Our photographer Nienna Fontana captured some of these objects in situ at Launceston Library a couple of years ago. Here are a few of Nienna's images;

Desk Organiser

Document Box

Lectern

Impressed Stamper

Reading Room Chairs

Library Stairs

Wall Clock

Bell's Poets Exhibition

Bell’s Edition 

The Poets of Great Britain Complete, from Chaucer to Churchill 

(109 Volumes).

Further to our previous post, readers of this blog now have an opportunity to see Bell's wonderful edition for themselves – at the University of Tasmania Library, Newnham campus – for a limited time. The Library is open seven days a week (afternoons only on Saturday and Sunday) and our exhibition is opposite the enquiry desk on the ground floor.

There are many remarkable things about this edition:

• Their diminutive size (12.5 x 8cm).
• The quality of the typography, printing, binding and illustrations.
• Their significance in the history of the British publishing industry.
• Their survival intact as a rare complete set after nearly 250 years of use, including 100 years on the shelves of a public library.

And a full appreciation of their beauty can only be gained from seeing them.

As an aside, the Bell's Poets are perfectly suited to display in our handsome travelling cabinet so superbly constructed by Tony Mitchell of TJM Woodturning and Joinery. We thank Arts Tasmania, and particularly the Lynne Stacpoole Caring for Your Collection grants program, for funding the travelling cabinet, which has more than earned its keep over the past three years.

We can enthusiastically recommend this grants program as an invaluable support for cultural heritage groups wishing to purchase capital items for the preservation or display of objects within museums and collections. The 2018 Grants round is currently open with a closing date of 1 October 2018.