| AdminHistory | Birmingham Shakespeare Memorial Library (BSML), which eventually came to be known as the Birmingham Shakespeare Collection was founded in 1864 by the local Shakespeare club, who donated a small number of books to form the nucleus of the collection. The aim, as stated by George Dawson, the President, was that the library should contain, as far as practicable
"every edition and every translation of Shakespeare, all the commentators, good bad and indifferent"
This foundation statement determined the management and collection’s development for the next 100 years.
In the initial, building stage of development, two main methods of financing were prevalent:
• Donation of books
• Voluntary private subscriptions
Our Shakespeare Club donated a small number of books to form the collection. There were individual gifts from prominent local figures such as Joshua Allen, a Birmingham printer who donated a copy of Hamlet he printed, William Bragg and Robert Galloway. James O. Halliwell, local antiquarian and literary collector donated a series of facsimiles of 18th century Shakespeare quartos. Foreign material also was sent, notably a gift from Prof. A F Leo – a highly ornated album of famous German Shakespeareans.
At a dinner in Knowle, June 1863, members of the club pledged to donate £30. That sum was raised quickly to £100 in the run to establish the new collection in 1864. In total, the initial fund rose to £450.
The subscriptions fund was used to purchase a comprehensive working collection rather than unusual items and the rarities came into the collection as gifts. After the initial rush, the number of subscriptions dwindled in 1871 and the library wasn’t able to buy a copy of the First Folio from Bernard Quaritch when it was offered for £520.
A new and important step in the financing of the collection was announced in 1874. After the BSML was accommodated in the Free Reference library in town, a step was taken to involve the Free Library Committee in purchasing books for the collection. 1/10 of all books that year were bought with Birmingham’s taxpayer money.
1879-1913
After the catastrophic fire at the library in 1879, when the BSML lost 6500 out of 7000 volumes of books, the focus continued to be on raising the subscriptions and book donations. The subscriptions became the main focus in the campaign to collect funds for rebuilding the accommodation and the collection. Joseph Chamberlain committed £10 000 from a private fund at his disposal and £5000 of his own money towards it. Many of the subscribers were workers – factories in town raised so called Penny subscriptions. The final amount raised was £15 197.
Book donations continued to be a good source in re-building of the collection, and they came in great numbers. Many of them came from Germany, from various Shakespeare clubs and the Weimar Shakespeare society where a public appeal was announced to help replacing the German stock in the collection. Also, America, where the campaign was initiated by J Parker Norris. Indian government donated all the Shakespeare translations published in India in 1887. In total, 1/5 of the books in the year after the fire were donations. Our Shakespeare Club donated a copy of the Second Folio.
During the period 1879 – 1913, the importance of the public subscriptions and donation was still important, but no money were used from the Subscriber’s fund with the intention to reduce debt to the banks and build the amount for more valuable purchases.
The role of the Free Library Committee in the financing of the collection grew further in securing copies of most standard Shakespeare editions.
This balance was maintained afterword with the majority of library acquisitions paid from the rates and the Subscriber’s fund becoming a source for purchasing exceptional and valuable items. The Public Free Library’s Chief Librarian Mullins suggested in 1885 that it won’t be desirable or popular to use money from the rates for ‘curiosities’. At the same time, rare copies of the 1637 quarto of Romeo and Juliet were bought from the Subscriber’s fund, as well as 18th and 19th century Playbills.
The Subscriber’s fund was greatly reduced by the end of the century and despite all efforts and with great disappointment, the BSML wasn’t able to purchase James O Halliwell- Phillip’s collection of Shakespeare books that was bequeathed to the Birmingham Corporation at his death. By 1913, BSML was funded not by a group of liberal reformers in the city, but mainly from the taxpayer's money.
1914-1938
The Subscriber’s fund lost its active financial role for the collection and most books were purchased by the Free Library Committee.
1939-1974
The Subscriber’s Fund was left untouched in hope to accumulate resources but remained low in funds. In 1973, a decision was taken to close the fund and from there on, the collection continued to be financed by the taxpayer. There were several attempts to raise the profile of the BSML and campaign for central government support, but without success. |
Collecting policies
After the initial surge of book donations and purchases from the Subscriber’s fund. Our Shakespeare Club, Samuel Timmins and the Free Library Committee started to employ innovative, varied and in some cases – unusual practices to continue the process of building the first and oldest Shakespeare library in the world.
1864-1879
Samuel Timmins showed a shrewd business instinct when he used the system of ‘bookseller’s catalogues method’ to order Shakespeare books ‘on approval’. This system allowed him to bulk order Shakespeare books before they disappear from the market and have enough time assessing them. All books that were found unsuitable, were returned to the booksellers under this system. He also marked in the catalogues which books were wanted for the collection.
The ‘exchange method’ was also used allowing some duplicate copies in the collection to be exchanged for new material. Samuel Timmins was very active internationally, sending letters to prominent public figures abroad asking them to exercise their influence for the benefit of the collection. He wrote to Richard Grant in the USA with an appeal for Shakespeareana.
The main aim at this first stage of the collection development was building a comprehensive collection of Shakespeare’s work and criticism rather than acquiring rarities. The BSML acquired, however, copies of the Second and Fourth Folios, as well as some other rare editions, as a way of donation.
1879-1913
After the big fire of 1879, the stream of donations continued with a renewed vigour, this time in the light of increasing awareness of the importance of the Shakespeare collection, standing on its own from the rest of the free public library. As well as using the Subscriber’s fund for book purchasing, this period marks an increased importance of the purchases made by the Free Library Committee paid for by the local ‘rates’. This tendency will strengthen into the beginning of the 20th century and become dominant way of financing new acquisitions.
In 1899, a new system of ‘blanket orders’ allowed the management of the collection to place authorised orders with various booksellers for a fixed price. This was applied to orders with Mr Cornish bookseller on the Italian book orders since they were unable to provide individual book prices.
The initial collecting policies allowed BSML to become, by 1913, not just a Memorial to Shakespeare’ but a place for learning and education for all, used by the general readers and students alike.
1914-1938
There were a great deal of difficulties in acquiring foreign language editions between the two wars so the collection management adopted a more pro-active approach in the search for Shakespeare material. The ‘new system’ included:
• Writing directly to booksellers abroad
• The involvement of the Foreign Office Librarian who wrote to staff at the embassies to be on a look-out and obtain suitable material. The staff was also encouraged to connect to local Shakespeare/literary societies. This strategy resulted in some donations.
• The Chief Librarian at the time, Mr H M Cashmore, travelled extensively around Eastern Europe. He made arrangements with Moscow’s leading bookshop, for supply of Russian Shakespeareana.
1939- 1974
The newly employed Shakespeare Librarians had to show even more inventive collection strategies during and after the end of the Second World War, especially in regard to stock from countries behind the ‘Iron Curtain’. They included writing directly to the librarians of the National libraries in Eastern Europe and the system of ‘Exchanges’. Political and tax barriers (import restrictions) after the war made it very difficult to continue with direct purchases. But the ‘exchanges’ system cleverly allowed for travel of books in both directions with countries behind the Iron Curtain as a way of gifts, avoiding payments and financial obstacles.
The role of the British Council abroad widened with its representatives involved in the search for Shakespeare material. By late 1950s, a review of acquisition policy was suggested by the then Shakespeare librarian Waveney Payne (later Fredrick) and application of more selective approach to book buying and emphasis on quality of material.
Staffing numbers
Up to 1932, the BSML didn’t have staff employed specifically to work on the collection. As part of the Public Free Libraries in Birmingham, the collection was managed by the Chief Librarian and other library managers and served by whatever staff was available. The first Chief Librarian was J D Mullins.
In 1932, a post of Shakespeare librarian was created. Some of the first librarians employed for the collection were Mr James Revie, Mrs Manton, Miss W R N Payne (later Fredrick), Miss B M Hancock etc. The Shakespeare Librarian never had a team assigned for the collection but continued to use other library staff when needed. Niky Rathbone was the last Shakespeare librarian to serve the collection until 1980s when the post was deleted. Since then, various library staff have been supporting the growth of the collection on ad hoc basis.
Usage statistics and user profile
Since his election as a chief librarian to the Birmingham Corporation in May 1865 and until the end of 19th century, Mr Mullins has produced annual reports on the management of Birmingham public libraries, including BSML. They record typical library usage data such as the growth of libraries stock, number of active borrowers as well as occupational profile of these users and number of issues of library books.
Mullins annual report for 1887 for the first time gives user profile by occupation. It is obvious that the majority of users are working class people. There is a record of two nurses but no doctors registered. Most of them work in the local industries, including the jewellery making.
From 1900, the issue figures increased with 1903 recording the issue of 2258 books to 1049 readers and 1909 with 3299 volumes borrowed by 1268 readers.
During the First World War, the issues have reduced dramatically down to 700 a year. But in 1925 they were higher than before the war – 3132 readers consulted 3980 volumes. By 1927, the reader profile, however, has changed with university students becoming the main user of the BSML.
This trend continued well into the rest of 20th century. During the period 1958 – 1971, the number of volumes consulted by the Shakespeare library users stabilised at between 2500 to 3200 volumes a year. |