\paperw3360 \margr0\margl0\ATXph16380 \plain \fs20 \pard\tx3255\tx6525\tx9780\ATXts240\ATXbrdr0 \f1 \fs22 The first lending libraries sprang up around 1727, and about the same t
ime the first Circulating Library was set up in Scotland. Moreover, many of the libraries collected by scholars and noblemen were united in the \b \cf4 \ATXht11951000 British Museum\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 in 1754. Numerous grandiose new library buildings wen
t up during the Victorian era, when industrial growth made reading an essential prerequisite for anyone who wanted to æbetter his positionÆ. In those days there was a literate population of about six million. However, reading matter was not cheap. Three-
volume novels were the most popular literary form, and these sold for half a guinea per volume; even daily newspapers cost 4 and a half d. To a skilled artisan or a clerk, these were luxuries. Libraries were thus the answer. A further solution was provid
ed by the custom of publishing novels in monthly instalments that could be inexpensively published in literary magazines. Many of the works of Charles Dickens were published in this way.\par
