A couple of quibbles about Dex’s piece (1/13/2006) on libraries.
“We’re not sure what role Franklin had in this venture; his own writings are boastful and probably overstate his contribution.”
Um, and you say this why? In particular, what evidence do you have that Franklin was not, as is commonly believed (particularly here in Philadelphia), instrumental in the creation of the library? Given his track record for innovation – or are you challenging that as well? – it’s not difficult for me (or, evidently, many others, including the LCoP itself) to imagine that he was the mover and shaker here.
Also, allow me to introduce you to Murasaki Shikibu (the author of the Tale of Genji, which was written sometime in the late 10th or early 11th century) and Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (the author of Don Quixote, written starting around 1602 “to mock the popular **novels ** of chivalry which glorified the ideals of courtesy, constancy, bravery and loyalty.”), who were somewhat alarmed to hear you refer to “that 18th century innovation, (gasp!) novels.” They wonder if you meant to say “that 18th century innovation, *English * novels.”
As to the novel, the English novel is older than the 18th century, too (ee.g.,Rosalynde, Euphues Golden Legacie [1590], by Thomas Lodge, on which Shakespeare based As You Like It, and Oroonoko; or, the Royal Slave [1688], by Aphra Behn), and the novel as a form can be traced back to the Roman Empire. But it is generally agreed that in Pamela: or, Virtue Rewarded (1740), Clarissa: or the History of a Young Lady (1748), and The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1753), Samuel Richardson turned a major corner in art, as profound as when Bobbie Koshay, in a sepia dress, backs out of the camera’s view, and Judy Garland, in blue gingham, steps into her place.
There are novels older than Pamela, but in a very real sense, Pamela is nevertheless the first novel.
The educated (multilingual) English were reading novels from other languages by the mid 16th century. That’s when the Italian born French bishop Matteo Bandello’s novel, Giulietta e Romeo, written ca. 1530, was translated no later than the 1550s by Arthur Brooke into the English language poem The Tragicall Historie of Romeus and Juliett, from which Shakespeare (whoever he was) almost certainly got the inspiration for his play (unless Shakespeare also read Giuletta e Romeo).
Trivia about Melvil Dewey: he was one of the first prominent public figures to be sued in court (repeatedly and by different plaintiffs at that) for sexual harassment. By the end of his career his secretaries and staff were usually all male because the word was out and women would not work for him.
It’s surprising how much the position of librarians has turned around over the years. At one point librarians were among the most censorious of people, most refusing to allow anything of great controversy or sexually suggestive material, including birth control or the like or any other thing that would offend nutcases like Comstock, onto library shelves. A wonderful quote from ALA President Arthur Bostwick in 1908:
Today most librarians are militantly dedicated to intellectual freedom and are for likely to be guarding The Joy of Gay Sex or The Turner Diaries from removal than to be complicit in its banning. There are exceptions of course- I’ve known Fundie librarians especially who have expressed major concerns over materials they deemed offensive, but on the whole even the ones who still do have their hair in buns and wear thick glasses and go to church every Sunday are not likely to bat an eyelash when somebody needs to find information on, say, the best sexual positions for getting pregnant or the current trends in Satanism. The funny thing is that they are still usually stereotyped as prudes and tightasses in popular media.
No, I’m not doubting Franklin’s greatness in general. I did credit him with the invention of the social library. He made the first attempt at a social library (in 1731, and it fizzled very quickly.) He wrote about his idea, of course, and others took it up. The first incorporation of such a library was over a decade later. Exactly who played what role during this time is not clear. Once Franklin came up with the idea, many other people got on the bandwagon and played roles in the subsequent development. You’d not guess that, however, from Franklin’s writings, you’d think he did everything single-handedly during that decade of development.
In terms of the novel: sheesh, a guy can’t even make a joke. I was talking about the surge of popularity and the flood of novels (yes, OK, in English) that became available to the public, and that was innovative: pop culture, if you will. Basically, I found it amusing that librarians debates\d whether those new-fangled things should be made available through libraries. The fact that they had their roots in much earlier works wasn’t the relevant point.
Coming soon (probably in about two weeks), I’ve got a second Staff Report on Melvil Dewey and his decimal classification system.
“By tea-time, however, the dose had been enough, and Mr.
Bennet was glad to take his guest into the drawing-room again,
and, when tea was over, glad to invite him to read aloud to the
ladies. Mr. Collins readily assented, and a book was produced;
but, on beholding it (for everything announced it to be from a
circulating library), he started back, and begging pardon,
protested that he never read novels.”
– Pride and Prejudice
Thanks, John, very neat! That’s of course from 1813, and from England. The history and development of publilc libraries in other countries is interesting, but there was a limit… and that bloody report was already too long.
If you’re writing about the Dewey Decimal System, please be sure to include a reference to the Caveman theory, which is the reason I can still recite the major dewey classifications to this day (“100 - Philosophy…200 - Religion…”)
Please also refer to the Library of Congress classification system used by the vast majority of research libraries but which most people are unfamiliar with. I work daily with SuDocs (short for “The Superintendent of Documents Classification System”) which is actually more logical when you get used to it but is only useful for U.S. Government information (of which some libraries have millions of pieces).
And as always a cool nod to Callimachus, the first cataloguer, would be nice, and the curse of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh’s library:
Compared to which, $.25 per day is really quite reasonable as a late fee.
… in the United States. I don’t think anyone has properly researched the question, but I don’t think that any one classification scheme is used in the majority of research libraries in the world.
I live in Franklin, Massachusetts (named for Ben) which claims to have “the first public library in the United States.” Their sign (a fuzzy picture of which appears here ) proclaims that the library was established in 1786 (I think – I’m trying to read this off the picture – at any rate, before 1800), which if true, predates both the Peterborough and Boston Public Library mentioned in SDSTAFF Dex’s article.
Very good article. I would like to have seen more than an offhand reference to female librarians being hired to keep them subordinated to male professors. Also, unless the spelling has since changed, the town mentioned in the paragraph headed “2 - Circulating Libraries” should be spelled “Annapolis.”