La Lecture Publique au Québec de 1850 à 1900: Vers la Démocratisation du Livre

The period from 1850 to 1900 was crucial to the development of public reading. The first secular, francophone, public library in Montréal was founded in 1844 and enjoyed considerable success by the 1870s. Literary associations attempted such experiences on a smaller scale elsewhere in Québec. The creation of secular literary associations encouraged religious communities to create their own associations. At that time, public reading was almost certainly limited to books deemed to be above moral objection and the dissemination of the book to a wider public was considerable.