[Booklovers Reading Club] The CATALOGUE of Foreign Literature Part I: FRENCH

1323 Walnut Street, Philadelphia: The Booklovers Library, 1901. First Edition. Wraps. Near Fine. First Edition. [12],45, [3] pages. 8vo. Publisher's tan printed flexible wrappers with embossed decorations. An uncut, unopened copy. Minor wear to the extremities, some soiling to the covers, a very nice example. Laid in is a small leaflet noting the German catalog should soon be at the Press. Wraps. Apparently part of an ongoing effort by a very large scale subscription library in Philadelphia to engage readers. This booklet contains a catalogue of books in the French foreign literature portion of the library, with numbers 7001 thru 7093 plus additional items concerning literary criticism of this field. What is perhaps most interesting about this pamphlet is each book listing records author and title, and a paragraph or two about why the reader should be interested in it. But no bibliographic information, not even a publisher is listed. The focus is entirely on the reader and the writers' opinion of the works.

"The Tabard Inn Library of Philadelphia was one segment of a series of entrepreneurial businesses that were the creation of the Canadian-born teacher Seymour Eaton (1859-1919). In Boston, his first American home, he began the Home Study Circle Library, the forerunner of numerous correspondence schools in the United States, and in 1892 he moved to Philadelphia to take charge of Drexel Institute's commercial and financial department. During his five years at Drexel Eaton wrote a column of newspaper articles syndicated in the United States and eventually developed his home study course into a business concern known as the Library Publishing Company, which was located at 1323 Walnut Street, a few blocks south of City Hall in the heart of Philadelphia. This company also established the Booklovers Library and published its companion enterprise, the Booklovers Magazine, from 1902 to until at least 1905. The best description of that subscription library (called "the largest circulating library in the world") is this advertisement: "THE BOOKLOVERS LIBRARY is patronized largely by well-to-do cultured people; people who appreciate clean, attractive books, and who can afford to pay reasonable membership fees."

What began as the Booklovers Library had expanded by March 1902 to become the Tabard Inn Library, with addresses for its company headquarters at 1030 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia (east of City Hall), and 1611 Chestnut Street (west of City Hall)." (Edith Anderson Rights, Libraries & Culture, University of Texas Press, Volume 41, Number 2, Spring 2006).