Qualla: London Library https://qualla.com/london-library en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:15 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/london-library-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: London Library https://qualla.com/london-library London Library: Introduction https://qualla.com/london-library/ Photo credit mattbuck (category), CC BY-SA 3.0. Thomas Carlyle suffered, on visits to the British Museum reading room, what he called a 'museum headache.' He couldn't find a seat. He sometimes had to perch on ladders. He found the enforced proximity of his fellow readers physically oppressive. He developed an intense dislike for the Keeper of Printed Books, Anthony Panizzi — despite the fact that Panizzi had quietly given him privileges denied to other readers — and he was particularly outraged that the books couldn't be borrowed. In 1841, Carlyle and a group of influential friends decided to do something about it. They founded their own library. They put it at 14 St James's Square. It is still there.

Read more: London Library on Qualla

Image: mattbuck (category) | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/london-library-wp/gcpv-london-library-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full London Library: An Eccentric Founders' Committee https://qualla.com/london-library/ Photo credit Sdrawkcab, CC BY-SA 3.0. The first president of the London Library was George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon. The first auditor was the novelist William Makepeace Thackeray. William Gladstone — the four-time Prime Minister — sat on the first committee. The Belgian freedom fighter Sylvain Van de Weyer, f...

Read more: London Library on Qualla

Image: Sdrawkcab | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/london-library-wp/gcpv-london-library-an-eccentric-founders-committee.mp3 0:06 2 full London Library: The Times of Crisis https://qualla.com/london-library/ Photo credit Ricardalovesmonuments, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1957 Westminster City Council suddenly demanded business rates from the library, despite its charitable status. The Inland Revenue piled in. A final appeal was lost in 1959, and on 5 November of that year T. S. Eliot and the Chairman Rupert Hart-Davis wrote a letter to The Tim...

Read more: London Library on Qualla

Image: Ricardalovesmonuments | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/london-library-wp/gcpv-london-library-the-times-of-crisis.mp3 0:06 3 full London Library: A Million Books You Can Touch https://qualla.com/london-library/ Photo credit GrindtXX, CC BY-SA 3.0. The London Library now holds over a million items, with around 8,000 new books and periodicals added each year. Ninety-five percent of the collection sits on open shelves — anyone can walk in, find a book, take it down, take it home. Most of the other five percent is rare-book st...

Read more: London Library on Qualla

Image: GrindtXX | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/london-library-wp/gcpv-london-library-a-million-books-you-can-touch.mp3 0:06 4 full London Library: The Building Behind the Square https://qualla.com/london-library/ Photo credit Bill Johnson, CC BY-SA 2.0. Number 14 St James's Square started life as Beauchamp House, built in 1676 — described in 1895 by the architectural historian A. I. Dasent as 'admittedly the worst house in the Square.' The library rented it from 1845, bought the freehold in 1879, and rebuilt it almost entirely b...

Read more: London Library on Qualla

Image: Bill Johnson | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/london-library-wp/gcpv-london-library-the-building-behind-the-square.mp3 0:06 5 full London Library: The Reader Who Was Caught https://qualla.com/london-library/ Photo credit John W. Schulze from Tejas, CC BY 2.0. In the 1990s, an English serial book thief named William Jacques targeted the London Library along with other academic and specialist collections. Several rare books from the library kept turning up at auction. The police, alerted, investigated; Jacques was prosecuted and convict...

Read more: London Library on Qualla

Image: John W. Schulze from Tejas | CC BY 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/london-library-wp/gcpv-london-library-the-reader-who-was-caught.mp3 0:06 6 full