The reference is undoubtedly to libraries like Boots, etc., on which
there is a literature which people on this list better-informed than I
am tell you about. However, such libraries did indeed exist in "the
colonies" -- even when they weren't colonies any longer. Libraries in
the back of pharmacies and gift shops were a familiar feature of my
childhood here in Toronto (one which called itself "the Bodleian" was
known as "the Bottelina" to the kids in the neighbourhood, not 200 yards
from where I sit at this moment). There were circulating libraries in
the big Toronto department stores (Eaton's and Simpson's, both now
defunct) -- they charged 4 cents a book per day. There was a discussion
about such circulating libraries on either SHARP-L or ExLibris a couple
of years ago.
--
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Germaine Warkentin // [log in to unmask]
English (Emeritus), Victoria College, University of Toronto,
73 Queen's Park Crescent, Toronto, Ont. M5S 1K7, Canada
Fax: (416) 585-4584 (Attn. G. Warkentin)
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