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Bookplate Index by Library or Collector |
Ann Shallus's Circulating Library Contemporaries referred to Philadelphia of the early republic as the
"Athens of America." In 1800 the City of Brotherly Love had the
largest population of any American city and was arguably the industrial,
scientific, and cultural center of the young and vibrant nation. As the
genteel community blossomed, so the number of hotels, restaurants,
theaters, circuses, museums, libraries, and bookstores multiplied. This
was the climate that fostered the growth of Shallus's Circulating
Library, probably the largest circulating library in the city during the
first quarter of the nineteenth century. Decades before
the birth of the free public library, circulating libraries were offshoots
of the earlier "social libraries." Both circulating and social
libraries served the same purpose by providing a growing constituency with
reading materials. But, where social libraries were book collections
jointly owned by discrete groups of individuals who paid a subscription
rate to join, the younger libraries were commercial enterprises owned by
proprietors who rented out
their wares for a small fee to any
member of the community who paid. Though the renting of books is a tradition
that goes hack to ancient Greece, Allan Ramsay of Edinburgh is considered
the first proprietor of a formal circulating library, renting his books in
1725. In the American colonies, William Rind of Annapolis is credited as
being the first to loan books for profit in 1762. The first Philadelphia
circulating library, was begun in 1767 by Lewis Nicola. The end of the
eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries saw the establishment
of dozens of new circulating libraries nationally; these were just
a small part of an international vogue. When the Shallus's library opened
around 1810, there were at least six others in operation in Philadelphia.
For further reading on American circulating libraries see David Kaser's A Book
for a Sixpence (Pittsburgh: Beta Phi Mu, 1980). Francis Shallus, engraver of the Shallus's Circulating Library
bookplates, is first listed in the Philadelphia city directory as an
engraver in 1797. Francis, son of Jacob Shallus (believed to be the
scrivener who engrossed the United States Constitution), was a reputable
craftsman and an active participant in Philadelphia's lively literary and
publishing circles. He is noted for being a principal engraver For Thomas
Dobson's acclaimed 18-volume Encyclopaedia (1798), Benjamin Smith
Barton's ground-breaking Elements of Botany (1803), and numerous
other plate books; he did all forty-one plates for the 1818 Philadelphia
edition of The Voyages of Captain Cook. He engraved city views,
maps, and atlases and also has been identified as the engraver of a number
of medals, including ones for the Philadelphia Typographic Society and the
Masons. He producer innumerable engraved trade cards and bookplates by
fellow Philadelphians. He also executed aquatints and even tried his hand
at publishing. In 1800 Francis married Ann
Peters; and in 1810 Shallus's Circulating
Library first appears in the Philadelphia city directory. The Shalluses
advertised in an 1810 newspaper: "Just published, Shallus's
Catalogues for the year 1810, of his new and increasing Circulating
Library, Containing Upwards of 9,000 volumes of Modern Publications (With
criticisms Occasionally Annexed)—No. 89, — South Front . . .
Philadelphia General Catalogue 218 pages price 25 cents. Select catalogue
84 pages, price 12 1/2 cents. . . . " The library
started out in a central location on Front Street, but in 1811 advertised
its move to the more fashionable vicinity of 3rd and Chestnut Streets.
There its neighbors included another circulating library, the posh Mansion
House Hotel, the First Bank of the United States, and the marbled and
brick homes of the wealthy. In 1814 the name of the library, was changed
to the Ann Peters Shallus's Circulating Library, suggesting that Francis's
wife, who may well have been managing the library previously, was now the
sole proprietor. Contemporary advertisements confirm this, originally
referring to "his" catalogues but soon changing their references to
"Mrs. Shallus's'' library. As a female proprietor of a circulating
library Ann Shallus was unusual, though not alone: at least a dozen other
circulating libraries in this country were being successfully managed by
women during the first quarter of the nineteenth century. In 1818, with
her business obviously prospering, Ann announced the opening of a
branch: "Northern Library. Mrs. Shallus Presents her compliments to
the Ladies and Gentlemen of the Northern part of the City, and begs leave
to inform them that she has opened a library, for their accommodation . . . where,
she hopes, by strict attention, to merit a share of patronage, sufficient
to support the undertaking. . . . The Library, No. 90 South Third Street,
will also be continued as usual." Like most other circulating libraries, Ann Shallus's was located in a
bookstore and "books bought, sold, and exchanged" were
advertised along with the rental library. (Other, more unusual, locations
for early-nineteenth-century circulating libraries included a riverboat,
an outlet for Saratoga Spring water, and a doctor's office.) At
Shallus's, those inclined could browse the shelves, rent or purchase a
volume or two, and mingle with those if both like and opposite sex: for—unlike most of the coffee-houses and social libraries of earlier
centuries—circulating libraries were places where women, too, were
encouraged to congregate. In fact, proprietors of these libraries (both
female and male) often targeted women specifically. Ann Shallus was one of
these proprietors and made a concerted effort to attract the female
audience—by publicizing in the library under her own name, by renting
books of interest to women, and, not coincidentally, by marketing a
variety of fancy goods. Alongside the books and magazines for rent, she
advertised bonnets, turbans, fans, and fabric for sale. So what did
the men and women frequenting the Shallus establishment read? No catalogs
of the Shallus's library survive, but advertisements in local papers and
the catalogs of other circulating libraries can be used to gauge
their stock. The large female readership previously mentioned did much to
define the popular literature of the time and no doubt heavily influenced the Shallus inventory. There would have been a distinct
emphasis on literature and fiction, with such British classics as the
works of Shakespeare, Richardson, and Fielding, and the Idler and Spectator
well represented. However, even more in evidence would have been the
newer British and American fiction: as Shallus's advertised repeatedly, the
library specialized in ''principally the most modern publications."
These would have included the works of such female authors as Susanna
Rowson, Hannah Foster, and Sally Sayward Wood; the many titles by James
Kirke Paulding, Charles Brockden Brown, and Washington Irving; and,
beginning in the 1820s, the novels of James Fenimore Cooper and the
ubiquitous Sir Walter Scott. There would probably have been a
significant assortment of popular biography, history, travel, essays,
plays, and poetry. Newspapers and magazines were soaring in popularity and
no doubt claimed a good piece of shelf space. Circulating libraries
catered to the interests of a cosmopolitan clientele more interested in
reading for its entertainment value than for its educational
possibilities, and stocked very little in the way of philosophy or
religion or anything of a scholarly nature. The Shallus library, still
''new and increasing'' in 1811, boasted over 14,000 volumes. Thus it was
much larger than most circulating libraries of the time, but was only half
the size of the renowned one owned by Hocquet Caritat of New York, which
claimed more than 30,000 volumes in 1800. Prices for rentals fluctuated
somewhat from year to year (and from city to city), but the average cost
was about $6.00 for a year's use, $3.50 for 6 months, $2.00 for 3 months,
or a weekly rate of 12½ cents for an octavo volume and 6½ cents a
duodecimo. Francis Shallus died in 1821 and the branch closed soon after. In that
same year Ann Shallus advertised a new service in the newspapers:
"Mrs. Shallus informs Gentlemen going on Voyages, that she can
accommodate them with select Libraries of the most approved and
interesting works, for the small sum of one or two dollars per month, or
by the voyage." Curiously, in 1822 and 1823, while Shallus's Circulating Library
continues to be listed in Philadelphia directories, Ann Shallus's
Circulating Library is also listed in the New Orleans city directory. The
early 1820s were a troubled economic time for Philadelphia, but
New Orleans was growing rapidly as a port and cosmopolitan center; Ann
Shallus may well have been trying to tap into this market by opening a New
Orleans library as a depot for both overland and seafaring travelers. It
is unknown whether Ann moved to New Orleans to open her library, but an
1822 advertisement in Poulson's American Daily Advertiser indicates
that she was spending at least part of her time in Philadelphia trying to
deal with a shrinking clientele: "Mrs. S. informs her friends and the
public in general that she continues her establishment at No.94 South
Third Street, where may be had, all the latest English and American
publications. In consequence of the present scarcity of money, all
subscriptions commenced after the first of February, 1822, will be at $5
per year, $2.75 for 6 months, and $1.50 per quarter—Payable in advance.
N.B. Catalogues of the Library are just published." The last mention of Ann Shallus's Circulating Library is in the
Philadelphia city directory of 1824. (In 1828, seven years after her
husband's death, Ann Shallus filed a certificate of intestacy in
Germantown.) Clearly though, during the library's fourteen-year history,
it had been one of the city's most popular social amusements. Recently the
Library Company of Philadelphia acquired a collection of plays that served
as prompt copies at the celebrated New Chestnut Street Theater beginning
in the late 1820s. Of those, nine bear an earlier Shallus provenance,
containing a total of fourteen bookplates and one book-stamp. Three of the
bookplates are letterpress, advertising location and rates for the library
and "engraving executed as usual." The eleven engraved bookplates
are the work of Francis Shallus; three of those are iconographic, while
the others are calligraphic. More on Francis and Ann Shallus (including
more examples of Shallus bookplates) can be found in Mary E. Holt, "A
Checklist of the Work of Francis Shallus, Philadelphia Engraver," Winterthur
Portfolio 4
(1968): 143-158. The bookplates that Francis engraved for his wife's
bookstore, while a bit weak in their execution and certainly not up to
the caliber of other work he did, are charming in their lack of artifice.
Those featured in this cover story are typical of engraving of the time
with their floral arrangements (cover plate; 2 inches x 2¾) inches),
well-rounded women and stylized views (2¼ inches x 3½ inches), and
fanciful embellishments (2¼ inches x 3
1/8 inches). Francis's delight in ornament and Ann's enthusiasm for her library speak out clearly in these
small tokens of the trade. Karen Nipps Library Company of Philadelphia
[Originally published in Journal of Library History, vol. 26, no. 4 (Spring 1991): 608-610.] |
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