King's Library facts for kids
The King's Library was a very important collection of books. It had over 65,000 books and pamphlets! This amazing library was put together by George III, who was the King of Great Britain. Later, his son, George IV, gave the entire collection to the British nation.
For many years, from 1827 to 1997, the King's Library was kept in a special gallery at the British Museum. Now, these books are part of the British Library. The gallery at the British Museum where the books used to be is now called the "Enlightenment Gallery." It shows many cool objects from a time called the Age of Enlightenment.
Contents
How the King's Library Started
King George III's Amazing Collection
When George III became king in 1760, he didn't have a big library. His grandfather, George II, had given his old books to the British Museum. But George III loved learning! His teacher, the Earl of Bute, helped him develop this love.
So, King George III decided to start a brand new library. He wanted it to be full of scholarly books. In 1762–1763, he made a huge purchase. He bought the entire library of a man named Joseph Smith. Smith had collected books in Venice for many years.
This collection included 6,000 books. It also had 260 "incunabula." These are books printed before 1501, which are very old and special! Many of them were from Venice and had beautiful pictures and covers. The king's librarian marked each of these books with the word "Smith."
The king kept buying more books after 1766. He spent about £1,500 each year on new books. This was a lot of money back then! From 1768 to 1771, one of his librarians, Frederick Augusta Barnard, traveled all over Europe. He bought many important books for the king.
Other big purchases came from the libraries of famous collectors. These included James West, Anthony Askew, Richard Farmer, and Grimur Jonsson Thorkelin. Some people also gave books to the library. For example, Jacob Bryant gave 27 incunabula in 1782.
The library was kept at the Queen's House. This building later became Buckingham Palace. The books filled four special rooms. They even had a place in the basement to bind books. The books had "fine, but not extravagant" bindings.
Frederick Augusta Barnard was the main librarian for a long time. He made many decisions about which books to buy. Even famous writer Samuel Johnson gave advice on what books to add. The library was open to anyone who wanted to study. People like John Adams (who later became a US President) and Joseph Priestley visited. It's cool that the king let scholars like Priestley use the library, even if he didn't agree with their ideas!
The Library Moves to the British Museum (1827–1997)
When George III died in 1820, no one was sure what would happen to his amazing library. Was it his son's, George IV's, personal property? Or did it belong to the country?
In 1823, George IV decided to give the library to the nation. He wrote to the Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool, offering the collection. There were rumors that he might sell it to the Tsar of Russia, but we don't know if that was true. By giving the library away, the king saved money. It cost over £2,000 a year to keep it! He also wanted to rebuild Buckingham Palace, and this helped with that plan. He asked that the library be kept together and separate from other collections.
Within a few months, Parliament agreed that the British Museum would be the library's new home. Some people wanted a brand new library building in a different part of London. But the museum needed more space for its own collections.
The architect Robert Smirke had already drawn plans for a big new building for the museum. The government had not wanted to pay for it. But now, they needed a place for the King's Library. So, they agreed to fund the building work! The King's Library helped the British Museum become the grand building we see today.
The east wing of Smirke's new building became the library's home. It was built from 1823 to 1827. This gallery is 300 feet (91 meters) long. It has been called "one of the noblest rooms in London."
The King's Library was a huge addition to the museum's books. It added 65,000 volumes to the 116,000 they already had. Only about 21,000 of these were duplicates. The King's Library was especially strong in subjects like geography, religion, and Spanish and Italian literature. These were areas where the museum didn't have many books yet. George IV kept 33 books for himself. These included a rare Mainz Psalter and a Shakespeare First Folio.
In the 1840s, many people used the King's Library books for their studies. About 13% of all books looked at in the museum were from this collection. Even as the museum's collection grew, the King's Library remained popular. From 1857, the gallery also showed off special books from the museum's entire collection.
During the First World War, there were more air raids. So, the museum moved its most valuable books out of London. Many went to the National Library of Wales. They did this again before the Second World War.
On September 23, 1940, a bomb hit the museum. 261 books from the King's Library were completely destroyed. Another 17 books were badly damaged. The rest of the collection was moved to a safer part of the building. In 1943, they were moved to the Bodleian Library in Oxford. The gallery was finally repaired in 1950–1951.
The Library Today at the British Library (1997 to Present)
In the 1970s, plans began to move the museum's book collection. They were going to a new place called the British Library. The museum wanted the King's Library to stay where it was. But they couldn't stop the move.
Now, the collection is in the King's Library Tower. This is a tall glass and bronze building inside the British Library's entrance hall. The architect, Colin St John Wilson, designed it specially. You can still read books from the collection if you visit the British Library.
The old home of the King's Library at the British Museum was restored. It reopened in 2003 as the Enlightenment Gallery. It has a permanent exhibition about the Age of Enlightenment. This celebrated the museum's 250th birthday!
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King's Library Tower, 2008
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King's Library Tower, 2008
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King's Library Tower, 2008
What Kinds of Books Were in the King's Library?
Historians agree that George III wanted his library to be a complete resource for scholars. It wasn't just a collection of rare books. It was a "working library" for people to use for research. But it did have some very rare items!
These special books included a Gutenberg Bible. This is one of the first books ever printed using movable type. It also had many early English books. One was Caxton's first edition of The Canterbury Tales. The library also had over 2,000 books about Scandinavian languages and literature. Plus, it had the first four Shakespeare folios.
The oldest known list of the library's books was made in 1769. A bigger list, called the Bibliothecae Regiae catalogus, was published later. It came out in five volumes between 1820 and 1829.
By the time it moved to the British Museum in 1827, the library had grown a lot. It had 65,000 printed books. It also had 17,500 pamphlets and 446 manuscripts.
About 44% of the books in 1820 were about history. Another 16% were different kinds of literature. The library had books on many other subjects too. It didn't have many recent novels. For example, there were no books by Jane Austen. It seems they only collected novels once the author was very famous and respected.
The library had 260 different editions of the Bible. Many books were from other European countries. For instance, 57% of the history books were published outside Britain. There were also good collections of other library catalogs. And it had official publications from Parliament. It even had a lot of periodicals (like magazines), which was unusual for a library back then. But it didn't collect newspapers.
See also
- King's manuscripts, British Library
- The Battle of the Books, a short story by Jonathan Swift from 1704. It describes a funny battle between books in the King's Library!
