How Books, Reading and Subscription Libraries Defined Colonial Clubland in the British Empire

Examines three colonial subscription libraries-the Penang Library in Malaysia, the General Library of the Institute of Jamaica and the Lagos Library in Nigeria-during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. 

Contents: 

• The rise of the British colonial book trade
• Colonial clubs, clubland and clubbability
• Crises in the British metropolis and colonies
• The Penang Library: a survivor in paradise
• The General Library of the Institute of Jamaica: a road paved with good intentions
• The Lagos Library: a book club by any other name
• Shifts in the British metropolis and colonies