The library of King's Inns was founded, pursuant to a bequest of books and legal MSS. under the will of Mr Justice Robinson in 1787, to form the nucleus of a library for law students. It is partly supported from the funds of the benchers, but partly also by a treasury grant in lieu of the copyright privilege.
It is needless to describe the other society libraries, as most of them are described in annuals like the _Literary Year-book_ and similar publications, with statistics of stock, issues, &c., brought up to date.
Proprietary and subscription libraries were at one time more common than now, as, owing to the steady advance of the municipal library, the minor subscription libraries have been gradually extinguished. A striking example of this is furnished by the mechanics' institutes which used to flourish all over the country. In most cases these have been handed over to the local authorities by the owners to form the nucleus of the public rate-supported library, and in this way the older libraries have been preserved and valuable aid has been given to the popular library movement. Somewhat akin to the mechanics' institutes are the libraries established in connexion with various co-operative societies in the north of England. Together with working men's club libraries, there must be nearly 100 libraries of the class just mentioned, ranging in size from a few hundred vols. to 30,000 or 40,000 vols. The affiliated clubs of the Working Men's Club and Institute Union possess among them over 100,000 vols.
Among subscription libraries, the London Library stands first in order of importance. It was founded in 1841 as a lending library for the use of scholars, and Dean Milman, Sir G. C. Lewis, W. E. Gladstone, Thomas Carlyle, Henry Hallam and other eminent men took part in its formation. By means of a moderate subscription, funds were raised for the purchase of books on general subjects, which now amount to about 250,000 vols. Of these elaborate and excellent author and subject catalogues have been printed. The last is valuable as a classified guide to the contents of the library.
Some mention should be made also of the more important subscription or proprietary libraries, which were formed for the most part in the latter half of the 18th century. The earliest circulating library in the metropolis was established about the middle of the 18th century. The first in Birmingham was opened by Hutton in 1757. The idea of a proprietary library appears to have been first carried out at Liverpool in 1758. The library then formed still flourishes at the Lyceum, and possesses a collection of 55,000 vols. and an income of £1000 a year. In 1760 a library was formed at Warrington which has been merged in the Warrington Museum. The Leeds library was established in 1768, and now has 64,000 vols. In 1772 the Bristol museum and library was formed, and numbered Coleridge, Southey and Landor among its earlier members. It has now been merged in the reference collection of the Bristol public libraries. The Birmingham (old) library was formed in 1779, and its rules were drawn up by Dr Priestley. The library has now about 80,000 vols.