OLD library index

I picked up an odd old book today -- It's a Catalogue of the Books in the Manchester (England) Public Free Library, Index of Names and Subjects published in 1881. Basically it is what it says it is -- a list of books in the Manchester library indexed by subject, giving the publishing date, name, author and size (e.g., 8vo) of each book.

My question is, other than as a curiosity (the reason I pulled it off the free shelf) would anyone want this book? Perhaps as a historical record? Does it have value? I've never come across anything quite like it, but maybe it's a really common sort of thing and I've just never seen one. It's in very good shape for its age -- perhaps it wasn't used much!

To me, it sounds absolutely fascinating. A window into the bibliographic past.

Yes, for anyone interested in the history of libraries (and there are a few of us out here) such a book would be of great interest. Printed library catalogs speak volumes (bad pun entirely intended) about who held what books and when.

I would contact Manchester Library themselves... you know, just in case!

Cool!

It's in Google Books.

Thanks! I googled it but must have mistyped something. Harvard's copy is older than mine and I only have the subject index, but it's still fascinating.

Most catalogues of public libraries aren't worth much. Some of them are good reference sources while others may have a sentimental value. I have a small collection of catalogues of public libraries, auction catalogues of private libraries and bookseller catalogues, as well as a collection of books about libraries.

In the days before the Internet, published catalogs were quite common and very valuable tools for inter-library loan (ILL) and others. Public library catalogues usually were one to three volumes, but there's a few monsters as well -- the National Union Catalog ("NUC of Pre-1956 Imprints") for example counts 754 volumes. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Union_Catalog

Many libraries are culling their NUC Pre-1956 nowadays; if you really want one, you could get lucky ;-) but as the Wikipedia article mentions, you'll need 130 feet of shelves...

I seem to recall a news story a few months ago about someone buying a copy of the NUC in order to keep them from being discarded, but having no place to keep them all. It seems like a Nicholson Baker kind of thing, but I don't think it was him.

NUC is also sometimes nicknamed the Green Dragon.

If you were doing research about what kind of literature people were reading around that time period, it would probably be a great resource. For instance, I was excited when I found a list of resources on pre-1851 English literature that included such catalogs. My research period is pre-1865.

I have several books of this kind in my library. Perhaps the most valuable of these is Catalogue of the Lending Branch - Free Public Library, Sydney, for 1883. It is a book of 525 pages octavo, and consists of an author (or editor, or if neither of these known, by title, subject or name of place), which ends on page 272, and this is followed by a subject index. The subject-headings are often what today we would call key-word entries. The book is bound in boards.

Another such book is from the City and County of Bristol Public Libraries and is, specifically, Catalogue of Non-Fiction Additions to Lending Libraries, 1964. It is in a square octavo format, bound in boards and has 472 pages. It has been set on a typewriter. It is a dictionary catalogue

The State Library of South Australia produced regular catalogues of recent additions, designed mainly for other libraries, but they disappeared around 1972. They were published under titles such as "Children's and Young People's Books," and "Adult Books," etc., with each being in two parts (separate volumes) for 'Author and Title' and 'Subject.' The samples I have are printed on foolscap. Glen Ralph, Wilmar Library, Lockleys, S. Australia. 5032