'Its inhabitants are a reading people': from Cork city bookshops and voluntary libraries to the Cork Public Library, c.1792–1920

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dc.check.chapterOfThesisChapter 3, Figure 12. Image Copyright National Library of Ireland, EPH C455 (Membership card, Soldiers' Home). Chapter 3, Figure 21. Image Copyright Irish Capuchin Franciscans, FM/RES/9/1/11 (CTAS membership card of Con Boyle (1841)). Chapter 3, Figure 22. Image Copyright Irish Capuchin Franciscans, Descriptive List, Fig. 1 (The Father Mathew Record (Feb. 1913)). Chapter 4, Figure 24. Image Copyright British Library, Maps GOAD.MSS, 'Insurance Plan of Cork', No 7, Goad insurance maps. Chapter 4, Figure 25. Image Copyright Libraries Development, LGMA / Kilkenny County Library, Cotgreave Library Indicator (detail. Chapter 4, Figure 26. Image Copyright Libraries Development, LGMA / Kilkenny County Library, Cotgreave Library Indicator. Chapter 4, Figure 29. Image Copyright National Library of Ireland, L_ROY_08822.en
dc.check.date2033-09-30
dc.contributor.advisorO'Halloran, Clareen
dc.contributor.advisorRoszman, Jayen
dc.contributor.authorLantry, Margaret
dc.contributor.funderUniversity College Corken
dc.contributor.funderHigher Education Authorityen
dc.date.accessioned2023-05-02T09:08:38Z
dc.date.available2023-05-02T09:08:38Z
dc.date.issued2022
dc.date.submitted2022
dc.description.abstractThis thesis investigates the local reading culture of Cork city over the long nineteenth century, focusing on bookshops, libraries and reading rooms. It considers the question of the affordability of reading material and the ways it was accessed by the city’s population. It begins by looking at the city’s bookshops and book auctions and, by analysing booksellers’ catalogues, establishes what was available to purchase. The high cost of books and journals put these beyond the means of most of the city’s population. Borrowing from voluntary libraries was cheaper, which was reflected in the high, if fluctuating numbers of such libraries throughout the course of the century. The thesis establishes that this patchy provision was due to funding difficulties in what was a very small market of readers who could afford the borrowing fees. It was also because access to such libraries was stratified along class and sectarian lines. For the first time, a full picture is provided of the scale and range of voluntary libraries and reading rooms established over the long nineteenth century in Cork, including commercial circulating libraries, subscription or institutional libraries, as well as some standalone reading rooms; extant catalogues have been used to assess the range and changing nature of their holdings. An important milestone in Irish library history is the passing of the Public Libraries Act in 1855, although it was to be almost four decades before the Cork Public Library opened. This delay, which was not unique to Cork, is fully investigated in this thesis as are the reasons why eventually it was decided to open the public library. Although no archive survives relating to the pre-1920 public library, fortunately the printed annual reports do and excavating these provides a wealth of data from which to ascertain the services and reading material supplied to the people as well as how much use was made of the Cork Public Library. The advent of this facility resulted in an information store that was open to all, of any religion, class, gender or economic background. Furthermore, research shows that the Cork Public Library responded to the changing demands of the society in which it was embedded. During the nineteenth century increased educational provision enabled citizens to expand their economic prospects but, as this thesis highlights, the Irish public library in particular played an, up to now, under-investigated role in the self-improvement and autonomous development of citizens. This study principally aims to demonstrate the value of focusing on libraries and reading rooms in general so as to draw attention to their key role in providing intellectual stimulation and an educational resource for people over and above that which the state was prepared to furnish for much of the long nineteenth century.en
dc.description.statusNot peer revieweden
dc.description.versionAccepted Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationLantry, M. 2022. 'Its inhabitants are a reading people': from Cork city bookshops and voluntary libraries to the Cork Public Library, c.1792–1920. PhD Thesis, University College Cork.en
dc.identifier.endpage351en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/14417
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherUniversity College Corken
dc.relation.projectUniversity College Cork (CACSSS Excellence Scholarship from 2017–20); Higher Education Authority (COVID-19 Fund for the year 2020–21)en
dc.rights© 2022, Margaret Lantry.en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en
dc.subjectLibraries and societyen
dc.subjectReading roomsen
dc.subjectBooks and readingen
dc.subjectIrelanden
dc.subjectHistoryen
dc.subject18th centuryen
dc.subject19th centuryen
dc.subject20th centuryen
dc.subjectPopular cultureen
dc.subjectPublic librariesen
dc.subjectCorken
dc.subjectCarnegie librariesen
dc.subjectBooksellers and booksellingen
dc.subjectBookstoresen
dc.subjectPublishers and publishingen
dc.subjectSocial aspects of librariesen
dc.subjectPolitics and cultureen
dc.subjectSocial changeen
dc.subjectLibrariesen
dc.title'Its inhabitants are a reading people': from Cork city bookshops and voluntary libraries to the Cork Public Library, c.1792–1920en
dc.typeDoctoral thesisen
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoralen
dc.type.qualificationnamePhD - Doctor of Philosophyen
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