tomers, and the profit to himself; it tends to
frustrate the very establishment, and, instead of
a Circulating, to render it a Stagnated Library.1

At the end of August, 1786, Mr. Martin lost his patience and announced that several books to the "great disappointment of the Subscribers and disgrace of the establishment" had been absent above two months, among them Clarissa Harlowe, Peregrine Pickle, Gil Blas, and the Adventures of a Valet. It is very evident that the lax habits of his customers were a constant annoyance.

In March, 1787, Martin still advertised his Circulating Library,3 although a rival, Mr. Benjamin Guild, who had taken over E. Battelle's Boston Book Store in March, 1785,5 now advertised a "constantly increasing" Circulating Library at 59 Cornhill, later Washington Street. In the autumn Martin sold what remained of his books or exchanged them for West India goods and continued business as a merchant.7

Little is known of Martin's personal history. He was, perhaps, of the family represented a generation or so earlier in Boston by Captain Michael Martin. In 1778 a William Martin of Boston and Michael Martin of Brookfield were declared banished from the Province. On January 29, 1787, the Selectmen recommended 8 William as a person of good character and on March 2 he and Elizabeth Martin were naturalized. 10

Mr. Benjamin Guild died October 15, 1792, and the same year Mr. William P. Blake, who was administrator with the widow and 1 Independent Chronicle, May 25, 1786, p. 2/3.

2 Ibid., August 31, 1786, p. 3/4.

Independent Chronicle, March 15, 1787.

✦ Benjamin Guild (H. C. 1769).

5 Independent Chronicle, March 10, 1785. Guild is said to have purchased the business of Ebenezer Battelle of Marlborough (now Washington) Street. Battelle gave Guild a note, dated April 21, 1780, for £204 18s 5d. In the settlement of Guild's estate, in 1792, this is mentioned as "bad, Sundry sums endorsed" (Suffolk Probate Files, no. 20,030).

• Ibid., May 10, 1787.

Ibid., October 18, November 8, 1787.

8 Sabine, Biographical Sketches of Loyalists in the American Revolution, ii. 549; Massachusetts Province Laws, v. 913, 915.

• Boston Record Commissioners' Reports, xxvii. 4.

10 1 Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, iv. 360.

John Guild, took over the Boston Book Store.1 In May, 1793, he issued a catalogue of books "for sale or circulation at the above STORE, presented to Customers gratis."2 This Circulating Library was at 59 Cornhill (on the west side of the present Washington Street a few doors north of School Street), where it acquired a reputation and soon inspired imitators. 3

In 1796 Mr. Blake advertised that he had moved the Boston Book Store from No. 59 Cornhill to No. 1 Cornhill, at the northern corner of Spring Lane. When his new catalogue appeared, in 1798, Lemuel Blake had been associated with him for about a year. The firm enjoyed a period of prosperity and published some famous books, including the Junius Letters in 1804. Financial reverses soon came, and in 1805 the Circulating Library was offered for

1 Independent Chronicle, October 25, 1792; Suffolk Probate Files, no. 20,030.

2 Independent Chronicle, May 16, 1793. The Boston Public Library has a copy with the title:

...

A/CATALOGUE / OF / BOOKS, / For Sale or Circulation, / By WILLIAM P. BLAKE, AT THE BOSTON BOOK-STORE, / No. 59, CORNHILL. / . BOSTON: /PRINTED FOR WILLIAM P. BLAKE, / AT THE BOSTON BOOKSTORE, No. 59 CORN/ HILL, MDCCXCIII. Pp. 47.

The terms of subscription to the Circulating Library are announced on reverse of title, and the catalogue itself fills p. 3-42, followed by five pages of advertisements. Dodd, Mead & Co. offered a copy for sale in 1904 for $18.00.

This was the William Price estate, on the southerly corner of Washington Street and Court Avenue, which was the cause of long litigation between King's Chapel and Trinity Church. It is now occupied by Thompson's Spa. See the William Price Fund, Trinity Church in the City of Boston (1883); Foote, Annals of King's Chapel, ii. 417-442; New England Historical and Genealogical Register, xxvi. 400. I am indebted to Mr. Henry H. Edes for this and for part of the following note.

4 William Pinson Blake, long associated with Boston as bookseller, publisher, and owner of a circulating library, was born in Boston, January 9, 1769, and baptized at the New South Church, January 23, following, the eldest child of William and Rachel (Glover) Blake (Registers of the New South Church; Boston Record Commissioners' Reports, xxi. 230, xxx. 296); and died unmarried in New York City June 5, 1820 (Records of the New York Department of Health). His brother Lemuel Blake died in Boston, March 4, 1861, also unmarried, having been a bookseller, publisher, and proprietor of a paper warehouse. He was born in Dorchester August 9, and baptized at the First Church August 13, 1775 (Registers of the First Church in Dorchester; J. H. Dexter's Manuscript Memoranda in the Cabinet of the New England Historic Genealogical Society).

In the New York City Directory for 1818, William P. Blake and Co. appear as booksellers at 249 Broadway.

sale.1 The firm's creditors sold the business about 1806 to William Andrews, a bookbinder whose house and shop were at 32 Summer Street. The new proprietors at No. 1 Cornhill, Andrews and Cummings,2 probably retained both books and Library.

In 1809 Mr. Cummings had retired, leaving in control Mr. Andrews, who at the same time continued the bindery on Summer Street as Andrews and Goodwin. William Andrews died April 4, 1812, at the age of forty-three. His brother Ebenezer, one of the administrators of the estate, may have removed the Library to rooms over his office (Thomas and Andrews, the well-known publishers at 45 Newbury Street), for a label of the "Ladies Circulating Library" bears the address 45 Newbury Street. The firm name appears in the Directory as late as 1821.

When Mr. Blake left the familiar stand at 59 Cornhill, in 1796, Mr. William Pelham continued the traditions of the place with a bookstore and Circulating Library. In the Independent Chronicle for July 7, 1796, Pelham offered for sale new books and "an uncommonly fine proof of Mr. Copley's celebrated plate of the Death of Chatham."

Subscribers to the Library paid at the rate of five dollars a year, and received three books at a time, to be kept a month. Non-subscribers paid by the week "for each duodecimo or smaller volume, one sixteenth of a dollar; and after the third week, one eighth of a dollar per week, until returned," etc.

Besides the many unheard-of titles of books there are a few of note: Clarissa Harlowe, 8 volumes; Castle of Otranto; Camilla, a Novel of Miss Burney; Evelina, 2 volumes; Humphrey Clinker, 2 volumes; Peregrine Pickle, 4 volumes; Joseph Andrews, 2 volumes; also Don Quixote, Paul and Virginia, Pilgrim's Progress; books of poetry, biography and travel; and for variety, Alvarez or Irresistible Seduction, Female Jockey Club, and Fille de Chambre. Many of these titles appear in a sale catalogue which Pelham issued in 1802,4

1 Independent Chronicle, March 28, 1805.

2 Boston Directory for 1807.

* Independent Chronicle, June 20, 1796.

The title-page of Pelham's second catalogue reads:

CATALOGUE of / PELHAM'S / Circulating Library, 59, Cornhill, / BOSTON: consisting of a chosen Assortment of /BOOKS/ In the various Branches of / LITERATURE/ Boston: / Printed by Samuel Etheridge. [About 1798.]

Title, 1 p.; Conditions, pp. 3-4; Catalogue, pp. 5–22.

Pelham was born at Williamsburg, Virginia, August 10, 1759, the grandson of Peter Pelham of Boston, who married Mrs. Mary Copley. She was the mother of John Singleton Copley, whose portraits are heirlooms in Boston families. Pelham's store was a resort of many men of influence in letters, art, and affairs. In the Independent Chronicle of October 22, 1804, Mr. Pelham announced that he had transferred his Circulating Library from 59 Cornhill to No. 5 School Street under the charge of William Blagrove; but he continued in business as a bookseller until about 1810. He removed to Zanesville, Ohio, and died at New Harmony, Indiana, February 3, 1827. His wife Penelope was also a Pelham.1

Mr. Blagrove was the son of Pelham's sister Sarah, and one of a large family. In 1805 he renamed Pelham's library the Union Circulating Library; and under this designation it continued its honorable service for many years. He promised a new catalogue, and with great enterprise provided boxes with lock and key to accommodate out-of-town subscribers who wished to convey their books back and forth. The fee was seven dollars a year for four duodecimo or two octavo volumes at a time.

In 1808 or 1809 Blagrove moved to 61 Cornhill (Washington Street, north of School Street), and in 1810 to No. 3 School Street. He was soon succeeded by Samuel H. Parker as proprietor of the Library, which as late as 1817 was the foremost of its kind. In its quarters "at the head of Water-street," there was an extensive Reading Room.2 Mr. Blagrove left Boston about the year 1811; and was a resident of Washington, D. C., in 1821.3 His sons lived in Brooklyn, New York.

1 I am indebted to Mr. Charles P. Greenough for information relating to the Pelhams and Blagroves. Pelham's cousin Helen or Helena Pelham, who married Thomas Curtis, was the ancestor of several well-known Boston families. Henry B. Blagrove, in a letter from Baltimore, dated May 4, 1848, to Charles Pelham Curtis and James Freeman Curtis, gives many details of family history. Pelham's nephew, in a letter from Santa Fe in 1857, added some data. See Publications of this Society, v. 193–211; Heraldic Journal, iv. 175–182; New England Historical and Genealogical Register, xxvi. 399–401; Foote, Annals of King's Chapel, ii. 420-425; S. C. Clarke, Records of Some of the Descendants of William Curtis, pp. 18, 19.

2 Independent Chronicle, October 7, 1805. Mr. Parker opened a music store in connection with his Library in 1833, and soon gave up or sold the books. 8 J. H. Dexter's Manuscript Memoranda in the Cabinet of the New England Historic Genealogical Society.

An early imitator of Blake was Joshua Thomas, whose advertisement appeared in the Independent Chronicle 1 for June 27, 1793: Joshua Thomas,

Opposite the Treasurer's Office, in Boston,
HAS opened a

CIRCULATING LIBRARY,

Which will be constantly supplied with the
newest and most approved Publications.
Great pains will be taken to render

this LIBRARY worthy the patronage of the
LADIES of Boston, and its vicinity.

A pleasant indication of the literary interest in town is shown by a contemporary advertisement of "The Deserted Village, a Poem By Dr. Goldsmith," just published, and offered at "half a pistareen" a copy. Another indication is to be found in the notice of Bowen's Columbian Museum, where, pictured in oil or wax, Charlotte wept again at the tomb of Werther, and Baron Trenck sat in his prison chains.

The desire for circulating libraries grew apace. Miss Mary Sprague added a Circulating Library to her millinery shop, in 1802, and her announcement promised so well that the opening lines are given here:

New Circulating Library.

ISS M. SPRAGUE informs her Friends and the Public, that she

M has opened a New Circulating Library, at her Shop,

No. 9, MILK-STREET.

Having been careful in selecting Books, she hopes to meet encouragement. She has spared no pains to make her collection deserving circulation, by mingling the useful with the amusing. In selecting volumes, she has not confined her choice to Romances and Magazines - Philosophy, History, Biography, valuable Travels, useful Miscellany, Moral Essays, the various productions of the Muses, and whatever instructs while it pleases, have portions of her shelves alotted to them.2

Not to be outdone by Miss Sprague, Miss or Mrs. Kezia Butler announced May 2, 1804, in the Columbian Centinel that she had

1 I am indebted to Miss Mary Honoria Wall (now Mrs. John Henry Gill) for many references to contemporary newspapers, and also for frequent and helpful suggestions during the preparation of this paper.

2 Independent Chronicle, May 17, 1802.