History
The Leeds Library was founded in 1768. It is the oldest surviving example of the ‘proprietary subscription library’ in the British Isles - a kind of library created, owned and run by its members. Libraries of this kind were a feature of many towns in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. They appeared along with other important privately funded schemes such as cloth halls, assembly rooms and canal companies. Others examples still flourish in Belfast, Exeter, Manchester, Penzance, Plymouth and Tavistock. They were the internet of their day providing information, education and entertainment as well as bringing like-minded people together.
This image shows Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) - scientist, theologian, political radical and first secretary of the Leeds Library – who was probably the prime mover towards the library’s foundation in 1768.
