doors, the previous ten libraries being those
of Warrington and Salford (established under the Museums Act of 1845),
Winchester, Manchester, Liverpool, Bolton, Kidderminster, Cambridge,
Birkenhead and Sheffield. The following is a description of the building
which appeared in the _Illustrated London News_, May 16th, 1857:

"The exterior of the lower story of the building is Roman Doric, the
second story Roman Ionic, and the third Italian. The Library and an
adjoining apartment, appropriated to the Museum, are on the ground floor;
and below are spacious vaults, which are devoted to trade purposes, and
from which a considerable annual revenue is expected to be derived. Over
the principal entrance is a well executed head of Homer, and in the
entrance-hall which has a tesselated pavement, are four scagliola columns
with Corinthian capitals. The Museum-room is 54 feet in length and 26
feet wide, and the Library is 44 feet long and 33 feet wide. A broad and
handsome stone staircase conducts the visitor to the second floor, on
which is a lecture-room of the same dimensions as the Library, and two
apartments appropriated to the Literary Institution, which are
collectively of the same size as the Museum beneath. On the third floor
are two large rooms for the School of Art, with domed roofs and ample
skylights, and four smaller apartments for classes are also provided." A
reproduction of a recent photograph of the building, showing to the left
a portion of the Reading Room added in 1907, faces page 56.

The Library proper at first consisted of one room, as stated above, which
combined a news and reading room, and reference and lending departments.
Books were not issued from the lending department until January 1st,
1858, when the books in two classes, "General Literature" and "Voyages
and Travels" were ready for circulation. Regarding rules for the loan of
these books, the Committee provisionally adopted those of the Sheffield
Free Library. By July of the same year all the books were available for
borrowing, and the circulation "reached 500 volumes, always on loan,
every volume being returned or renewed within a week." When the first
report was published in August, 1858, there were 3,354 volumes in the
Library, of which 2,468 volumes were presented, arranged in ten classes:
A, General Literature, 586 vols.; B, Geography, Voyages and Travels, 560
vols.; C, Dramatists, Poets, and Novelists, 454 vols.; D, History and
Biogr