As you know, I love libraries of all kinds (public libraries, church libraries, 
university libraries, etc.). In my latest book, The Ladies of Ivy Cottage, Miss Rachel Ashford (a gentlewoman in reduced circumstances), is determined to earn her own livelihood…somehow. Her friends encourage her to open a circulating library with the many books she’s inherited. As villagers donate additional volumes and Rachel begins sorting them, she discovers hidden mysteries.
There’s a lot more to the story, but hopefully that whets your appetite. I am receiving encouraging reviews and emails, and many readers (including some librarians) are commenting that they are enjoying the setting of this novel in particular. Clearly I’m not alone in loving libraries!
Today, we take free public libraries for granted. But in England during the early 19th century where my novels are set, libraries were far different. I am not an expert or historian, but I enjoyed researching circulating libraries—forerunners of today’s public libraries—to write this book.
During the Regency era, books were very expensive, often beyond the means of the average person. Circulating libraries made books more accessible and affordable to many people. For a fee, which varied from library to library (I’ve read figures from a half a guinea, to one pound six, to two guineas per year), a person could become a subscriber, which allowed him or her to borrow a certain number of volumes, sometimes at no additional cost, sometimes for a small additional fee (a penny or two pence) per volume.
Former circulating library still visible in Bath, England
Circulating libraries carried nonfiction, poetry, novels, as well as magazines and newspapers. Some also offered “Reading Rooms” where people could peruse London newspapers, journals, and magazines, or discuss books.
According to Lee Ericson in The Economy of Novel Reading: “By 1800, most copies of a novel’s edition were sold to the libraries, which were flourishing businesses to be found in every major English city and town…”
Here’s how British History Online describes one such library: “Fellows’s 
Circulating Library was a subscription library of modern books—histories, novels, travels, plays, and magazines—and by 1798 it possessed over 1,200 volumes. Books could also be borrowed by non-members on payment of a deposit and a small fee…and provide[d] a reading room for newspapers and ‘ephemeral publications’.”
Jane Austen was a circulating library subscriber and mentioned them in her letters and novels. For example, in Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Collins refuses to read a book “for every thing announced it to be from a circulating library,” protesting that “he never read novels.”
And about Fanny Price in Mansfield Park we read: “Wealth is luxurious and daring, and some of hers found its way to a circulating library. She became a subscriber…amazed at her own doings in every way, to be a renter, a chuser of books!”
In her letters to her sister, Cassandra, Jane mentioned visiting a circulating 
library in Southampton, and another in Basingstoke: “I have received a very civil note from Mrs. Martin, requesting my name as a subscriber to her library… As an inducement to subscribe, Mrs. Martin tells me that her collection is not to consist only of novels, but of every kind of literature. She might have spared this pretension to our family, who are great novel-readers and not ashamed of being so…”
Were you already familiar with circulating libraries, or was this information new to you? Hope you enjoyed it. And I hope the next time you borrow a book from your local library at no charge (well, not including the taxes we pay 🙂 ), you will take a moment to appreciate the pleasurable privilege.
Latest posts by Julie Klassen (see all)
- What a Regency Lady Carried in her Reticule - March 25, 2025
- 12 Perks of Being Married to an Author | guest post by Julie Klassen’s husband - February 25, 2025
- Seven Ways to Bless an Author - February 11, 2025
Julie, thank you for this interesting post. I didn’t know about circulating libraries. I am grateful for my local library and amazing librarians. 🙂
You’re welcome, Caryl. And thanks for being such a loyal reader of the IBL blog!
Thanks for the additional information about circulating libraries. I finished reading The Ladies of Ivy Cottage about a week ago and enjoyed reading about Rachel’s circulating library. I read this with two friends and we really enjoyed discussing it online as we read. Thanks for another wonderful installment in this series. We are imagining what will happen next, and it will be hard to wait until December.
Highly recommend this book!
Thanks so much, Betty. Glad you and your friends enjoyed the new book. Greet them for me!
I am on my way to the library today to pick up some books I ordered. Thank you for the information on the history of libraries, this is an informative and interesting post.
Perfect timing then, Cheri. Happy hunting at the library!
Loved this post, Julie. Libraries are such a gift. They fill me with wonder and anticipation whenever I enter one, no matter how big or small it may be. The trip we took the Library of Congress last year was one library visit I’ll always treasure.
Wasn’t it something, Karen? That library was impressive indeed.
Fascinating history! Thanks for the peek in libraries during the Regency period, Julie.
Thanks, Becky!
Loved this post! Not really new information to me, except for the price-points for subscription to the library. So fascinating! My WIP has a library scene at the beginning, so this was fun to read and think of my character. 🙂
Thanks, Sarah. Glad you enjoyed it.
My library Day is Wednesday. I love the library, my daughter works in a library. Yes I did know about lending libraries but did not know about the subscription. Thanks for a great post. Looking forward to these two novels about Ivy Cottage and Ivy Hill!
You’re welcome, Paula. Hope you enjoy the library visit AND the books. 🙂
I love all the backstories to your novels. It makes the reading that much richer. I just finished “The Ladies of Ivy Cottage” and loved every page. I passed the book on to my 86 year old mother-in-law and she is enjoying it to no end! We are both looking forward to the next book.
Wow; love hearing that, Jeanne! Thanks so much, and please greet your mother-in-law for me.
Thanks for this bit of historical information on how we started to have libraries and how people received books back in the Victorian era .
Dear Julie,
I volunteer in the church library and have for almost 40 years. People have come into the library to check out books and this is what they are saying. “I’m so glad to see you have this book”. It is so expensive that I can’t afford it”. So even today’s books are out of reach for most people.
I recently finished your latest book and loved learning about circulating libraries in this post! My local library is a treasure that I appreciate even more now. I have so enjoyed my trips to Ivy Hill and am looking forward (somewhat impatiently) to revisiting again later this year!
Julie, we just finished The ladies of Ivy Cottage for our book group at church and loved it. Our moderator, a retired librarian for the city, said she really enjoyed learning about the circulating libraries and so did I. I think many readers were unaware of the system so many thanks for this blog and for featuring the libraries in Ivy Cottage.
I learned a lot from your post! I’ve read both of the Jane Austen books you mentioned, but I guess I didn’t understand what they meant about the circulating libraries. It was really a smart idea to do that! Last year I joined a Library Love challenge for bloggers and it gave me incentive to start to use the library on a regular basis. It’s been really wonderful for our whole family. Hoping to read the Ladies of Ivy Cottage soon!
I am a regular at our local library but had not heard of circulating libraries. I found your info very interesting! Thanks for enlightening us!
I hope you are doing well,
regards,
beautiful…