Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne
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The Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle Upon Tyne (or the Lit & Phil as it is popularly known) is an historical library in Newcastle upon Tyne, England and the largest independent library outside London[citation needed].
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[edit] Founding
Founded in 1793 as a 'conversation club' by the Reverend William Turner and others - more than fifty years before the London Library - the annual subscription was originally one guinea. The Lit and Phil library contained works in French, Spanish, German and Latin; its contacts were international, and its members debated a wide range of issues. However religion and politics were prohibited[1].
[edit] History
The list of lecturers is a roll-call of the 19th and 20th century intelligentsia. George Stephenson showed his miner's lamp there, and in 1879, when Joseph Swan demonstrated his electric light bulbs, the Lit and Phil building became the first public building to be so illuminated.
The Society received in 1800 the country's first specimens of the wombat and the duck-billed platypus from John Hunter, Governor of New South Wales and honorary member of the Lit and Phil[2][3].
Between 1822 and 1825 a new building was created for the Society on Westgate Road. The new building was designed by John Green, a local architect. The building is still in use today.
[edit] Notable members
- J. Thomas Looney
- William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong
- John James Audubon
- Thomas Bewick
- Sid Chaplin
- John Dobson
- Ruth Dodds
- Richard Grainger
- Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey
- James Losh
- Harriet Martineau
- Robert Stephenson
- Joseph Wilson Swan
- Neil Tennant
- Elizabeth Spence Watson
- Robert Spence Watson
[edit] Current collection
The Lit & Phil houses over 150,000 books and a large comprehensive music library. A wide selection of current fiction and non-fiction can be found alongside historical collections covering every field of interest.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Lit & Phil History - Independent Library Newcastle
- ^ Series 38.11 Copy of a letter received by the Literary and Philosophical Society... 5 August 1798
- ^ Page 270 of Magazine of Natural History, edited by John Claudius Loudon, Edward Charlesworth, John Denson, published 1829 by Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green. (Google's version)
