Eighteenth-Century Private Subscription Libraries and Provincial Urban Culture: The Amicable Society of Lancaster, 1769-c. 1820

England in the eighteenth century saw a remarkable increase in cultural provision throughout the provinces, including libraries. Although the history of private subscription libraries in large cities is well known, those that existed in the smaller towns are not as well documented. Describes the Amicable Library, a subscription library founded in Lancaster in 1769 largely through the encouragement of wealthy, local businessmen. It developed into a major social institution, existing up to the very beginning of the twentieth century, and many of its records survive.