In the Library
We have looked at the early days of the Newsroom and now we ascend the elegant horseshoe stairs to the Library. This occupied the two top floors of the building. On the first floor Church Street frontage, over the main door was a large pedimented window with pilasters and swags to decorate it. On either side it was flanked by two plain rectangular sash windows, which in turn had over them decorative panels of scrolls and urns in the best Grecian manner. The Library only occupied part of the first floor, over the front portion of the Newsroom. To the rear was the Librarians Room , this was his living accommodation and include a kitchen and a bedroom, though these are not evident on the plan which shows a single room with a fireplace, perhaps there was some sort of partition.
The larger portion of this area of the building was taken up by the Committee Room, a spacious apartment, lit by three windows, as well as the table and chairs for Committee meetings, it also contained the splendid mahogany book case which still graces the Committee Room today and is often ascribed, probably erroneously, to Gillow. The construction of the case was proposed at a meeting in May 1801 when John Foster was asked to prepare a suitable design; this was presented at the next meeting. In July the case had been ordered from Mr. Henderson, the leading furniture seller and upholsterer of Liverpool at an estimated cost of £80. But by February of 1802 the rising price of mahogany caused the Committee to decided that deal would be sufficient. Shortly after, the decline in the price of the hardwood caused them to revert to the original plan and in 1804 £12 was paid for glazing the cabinet. It was agreed that the Committee Room was not exclusively intended for meetings but also could serve as a reading room. To facilitate access to the books a stairway led from the room to the gallery on the second floor.
A feature of the Library was the fact that it occupied the second and third floors of the building. The highest of these floors had a gallery to give access to the upper stages of the cases [see illustration}. The whole was illuminated by an overhead light, always referred to as the dome, though it was actually a large dormer with a Diocletian window, it is possible that the sides were glazed but that is impossible to determine from the sources available. This overhead lighting was supplemented by a large chandelier presented by Mr Edward Falkener, a principal share holder in the Warrington glass works.
Good lighting was essential as the bookcases, which extended from floor to ceiling, were all aligned along the walls blocking the windows until they were rearranged in 1844.
Stocking the Library was a major task and one that was delegated to sub-committees charged with ordering books in a particular category, the clergymen being responsible for theological works, the doctors for medical books and merchants selecting the works of commerce and geography. Book suppliers of the necessary quality were supposed not to exist in Liverpool and the volumes were mainly supplied by the firm of Cadell and Davies who were major publishers and book sellers in London and who sent the orders by sea. The local booksellers protested vocally, led by a John Jones, who possibly become Librarian in 1822. At this time books were often supplied in an unbound and uncut format to allow for customers to make their own arrangements. The Committee decided to have leather bindings embellished not only with the title on the spine but also with the word Athenaeum stamped in gold. Much of the binding was to be done by the Librarians but some was put out to local craftsmen.
On arrival and after binding the books were shelved. At this time there was no categorisation of subjects and the instruction was that the books were to be shelved in order of size, apparently regardless of subject, starting on the right of the door and working round the room, leaving the bottom shelf unused. This system is still used in the ancient library of Trinity College Dublin, despite its obvious disadvantages.
The Library, under the charge of Harry Gearing, opened for business on the 1st May 1800. In our next instalment we will look at the staff who were in charge of the Library and the Coffee Room.
