subscription library

[kjc0123]

What is "subscription library" in the following sentence?

Benjamin Franklin contributed even more to the intellectual activity of Philadelphia. He formed a debating club that became the embryo of the American Philosophical Society. His endeavors also led to the founding of a public academy that later developed into the University of Pennsylvania. He was a prime mover in the establishment of a subscription library, which he called "the mother of all North American subscription libraries."

[Alphil_72]

Think "book club". All members pay a certain subscription which enables the library to purchase books...I had a similar thing running at school (all boys boarding) with a really good set of magazines. Once these got too tatty they were sold at huge markup to 4th and 5th formers, thus funding a whole lot more new quality publications.

[Peter Pedant]

A lot of the libraries in the eighteenth century were businesses. You paid money (the subscription) to the Library and in return had access to the Books. A lot of the books were handed around and read and this means that most of the books were read until they fell apart.

This means that a lot of eighteenth century first editions are rare and very expensive. A Jane Austen comes in just under �10 000. I have a subscription copy of Walter Scott's Anne of Geierstein 1835 with the signatures of the all the subscribers (no-one interesting) which is just about in pieces (as one would expect).

Book production changed in the early nineteenth century along with universal education. The first big seller with the 'new' technology was Dickens.