Printed 'Proof of a Report - never issued' regarding 'the right of the Liverpool Library to the occupation of a certain part of the Lyceum', with a long manuscript memorandum and an Autograph Letter Signed from attorney John Robinson to John Abraham.

The subscription Liverpool Library within the Lyceum, founded in 1757, is believed to have been the first circulating or lending library in Europe, and the first two of these items provide a valuable insight into its status at the time when the advent of the public library system was undermining its position. The first item gives a valuable and unpublished 'concise account of the origin, the joint constitution, and the proceedings of the Proprietors of the Lyceum, and of the Liverpool Library', in order to settle the question of the status of the library within the club, ending with six points setting out the 'result of the sub-Committee's consideration of the whole matter'. The second item appears to be a setting out of the facts of the case, for handing over to a lawyer. It gives specific details regarding such matters as rents and the activities of shareholders, ending 'What are the respective rights of these parties?' The third item is apparently unconnected with the other two, and from a later date. ONE. Printed galley proof, in two columns, 10 cm wide and a total of 55 cm long, comprising 144 lines of small type. Docketed in pencil on reverse: 'Proof of a Report - never issued'. In manuscript at head: 'J. Perris'. Begins: 'The subject of the right of the Liverpool Library to the occupation of a certain part of the Lyceum, and the nature of that right and occupancy having engaged the attention of the Committee for several years past, and a Sub-Committee having been appointed to confer with the Committee of the Lyceum respecting such right and occupancy - the Sub-Committee, in the prosecution of their duties, agreed to the following minute, which is a concise account of the origin, the joint constitution, and the proceedings of the Proprietors of the Lyceum, and of the Liverpool Library - so far as the Library itself is concerned.' The first of the subcommittee's six conclusions following the account is that 'the proprietors of the Library, who are also proprietors in the Lyceum, are the only legal proprietors of the Lyceum', and the fifth urges the resumption of 'the individual occupation of the small Library, [...] as the large Library is now crowded, to an inconvenient extent, with books'. TWO. Undated manuscript memorandum, apparently setting out the case for legal consideration. 12mo, 6 pp. Comprising six numbered points relating to the status of the 'News Room & Library' within the 'building called the Lyceum'. THREE. Letter signed by 'J. Robinson' of Coburg Terrace [John Robinson, attorney-at-law]: 12mo, 3 pp. 32 lines. Bifolium. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Reporting to Abraham (described in an obituary as 'an active member of numerous scientific and philanthropic societies') the resolutions of a 'Committee of the Lyceum' held that day on the subject of a petition to Parliament. Names and details of individuals are given, and the letter concludes: 'Please desire them to do whatever is necessary to enable us to appear as opposers of the Bill before the Lords Committee'. From the Abraham archive.