Private membership libraries predated public libraries in most places bt by well over two centuries and often loaned. It was actually more common for people to

Private membership libraries predated public libraries in most places bt by well over two centuries and often loaned. It was actually more common for people to share a library and borrow from than to accrue their own, as the cost of books was considerable. For more on this, I'll cite the following: https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/303 https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/303 Available from all good lending libraries, shadow libraries, and academic bookshops!