The Singapore Library (1845-1874), a subscription library with 32 founding proprietary shareholders, opened on 22 January 1845 in the North Wing of the Singapore Institution. It inherited the holdings of the Singapore Institution Library (1837-1844), of which the 1838 and 1843 catalogues are listed in this archive, as well as some additional loans and donations from some of its proprietors. The library opened with an initial stock of approximately 404 titles or 895 volumes (including periodicals). The library’s stated focus in 1846 was on ‘new Novels, Voyages, Travels and other popular new works of General Literature’.
By 1863 the library contained 1,842 titles, with novels and tales amounting to 588 titles (32%); histories, voyages, and travels 576 titles (31%); biography 311 titles (17%); general literature 257 titles (14%); poetry and drama 65 titles (4%); and divinity 45 titles (2%). As in the 1860 catalogue, the holdings here reflect the management committee’s desire that ‘any valuable new publications on India, China, or other Eastern British Settlement’ are ‘to have the first consideration on all occasions’, suggesting that the library was attempting to build up a collection of popular ethnographic and geographic works on the region. The best-represented fiction authors by number of titles are Bulwer Lytton, Charles Dickens, G. P. R. James, and Walter Scott. Despite a limited number of female subscribers, female novelists are well-represented in the library, especially Catherine Gore, Anna Maria Hall (S. C. Hall), Frances Trollope, Anne Manning, and Margaret Oliphant.
PF
