476 Mr. Charles Welch [Jan. 25, 



Dr. William Sedgwick Saunders, then Chairman of the Li])rary 

 Committee, drew a forcible picture of the inconvenience, danger, and 

 discredit of the existing accommodation in a pamphlet, entitled ' The 

 Ouildhall Library, its Origin and Progress ; being an Appeal to the 

 Corporation of London for its Reconstruction,' a copy of which he 

 sent to each member of the Court of Common Council. 



This enthusiastic and w^ell-considered appeal Avas successful, and 

 the author had the satisfaction of carrying in the Court of Common 

 Council, on July 22, 1869, a motion for the erection of a new 

 Library and Museum at a cost, exclusive of fittings, of £25,000. It 

 was also decided that the Library should be freely opened to the 

 23ublic without ticket or any other formality. The work of super- 

 intending the erection of the building was entrusted to a special 

 Committee of thirteen gentlemen. Dr. Saunders being appointed 

 Chairman, and the public opening of the new Library took place on 

 November 5, 1872. The opening ceremony was performed by Lord 

 Selborne, then Lord Chancellor, in the unavoidable absence of 

 H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. A notable collection of engravings, 

 gems, and other works of art, and of antiquarian drawings and prints 

 of old London, was exhibited on the occasion. Upon the close of the 

 exhibition, the building was handed over by the Select Library Com- 

 mittee to the Library Committee, and was ordered by them to be 

 opened for the admission of readers on March 10, 187;:>. 



The straggling series of apartments in which the Library had 

 been hidden away were avowedly only a makeshift, and yet had to 

 suffice for over forty years. The new building, designed by the late 

 Sir Horace Jones, consists of a Library which will accommodate 

 150 readers, a Newspaper Room for journals and handy-books of 

 reference, and a Committee Room, on the upper floor ; with a Museum 

 and strong-rooms in the basement. The old building occupied the 

 site of the corridor which now forms the approach to the present 

 Library from the Guildhall porch. The Committee's confidence in 

 the futare development of the institution was not misplaced ; the 

 yearly attendance of readers and visitors rose at once from 14,316 in 

 186M, the last year of the old Library, to 173,559 in 1874, the first 

 complete year of the new. It should be stated that the provision of 

 the new building, as well as its foundation and maintenance to the 

 present day, has been at the sole expense of the Corporation of 

 London, no rate for that purpose having ever been imposed upon the 

 citizens. 



In 1873, a great addition was made to the books in the depart- 

 ments of commerce and fine arts out of the bequest of Alderman 

 Sir ])avid Salomons, which I have already mentioned. In the same 

 year the Company of Clockmakers placed their valuable Library and 

 Museum under the custody of the Committee. In 1877, when Sub- 

 Librarian, I was privileged to take part in the International Conference 

 of Librarians held in London. IMany valuable papers and sug- 



