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On 17 January 1810 a group of prominent citizens of Toronto Town of York) met to establish the Toronto (then the Library, in all likelihood the first public library in Toronto. To fund the library £100 sterling was allocated, presumably money raised from members, to the library’s secretary, John McDonell, to purchase through their agent in London, a list of titles that would provide the basic collection of this new library. In February of 1810 McDonell sent the list of suggested titles reproduced here (see sidebar) to a Rev. Mr. Walker in London. Mail: 260 Adelaide St. E., E-mail: fofy@sympatico.ca / Phone: 416-860-6493
This library, unlike the public, tax-payer supported library that we know in Toronto today, was a subscription library, a model in which a group of individuals joined to purchase books in common and then paid an annual fee to sustain its operation. Being that most of the subscribers to the Toronto Library were British migrants they would have been familiar with the subscription libraries started before the mid-18th century in English cities such as Leeds, Liverpool, Norfolk, and Norwich, all of which survive to this day. The Toronto Library had a brief but remarkable history. There is little record of its success. We do know from long time Toronto librarian and local historian Edith Firth’s account in The Town of York (1962, 1966) that the library was kept in Elmsley house, former home of the late Chief
Sources & Further Reading
Johnson’s Dictionary, Quarto. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 volumes Rapin’s History of England, Folio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Doctor Henry’s History of Great Britain, Octavo ……. 12 Robertson’s Works, Octavo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Laings History of Scotland ………………………. Leland’s D’ of Ireland, Quarto …………………….3 Biographia Britannica. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Rol[l]ins Ancient History, Octavo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Russell’s D’ and Modern D’ Octavo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Annual Register for 1809. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Blairs Lectures ………………………………..3 Johnson’s Works. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Spectator, Guardian, and Tatler ……………………. The Mirror and Lounger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Looker on ………………………………… Pa[y]ley’s Moral Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Blair’s Sermons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Sherlock’s Sermons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 The Bishop of London’s Lectures ………………….2 Fordyce’s Sermons to Young Men & Women…………2 Milton’s Poetical Works. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Thomson’s Poems ……………………………..1 Goldsmiths Works, Octavo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Smollets Works. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Fieldings Works. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Drydens Works ……………………………….. Popes Works………………………………….5 Swifts Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Sully’s Memoirs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 The Gentlemans Magazine beginning 1800 . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Plutarch’s Lives. By Langhorn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Middletons Life of Cicero……………………….. Monthly Review for 1809. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Fergusons Roman Republic……………………….5 Gibbon[s]’s Roman Empire………………………12 Gillies Green…………………. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Volney’s Travels thro’ Syria & Egypt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Lady Mary Wortley Montagues Letters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Burrow’s Travels in China. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Blagdens Modern discoveries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Johnson and Stephen’s Shakespeare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Justice of Upper Canada, located on the southwest corner of King and Simcoe Streets. However, the most unusual episode in the library’s history occurred in late April 1813, when, in the midst of the War of 1812, the town of York was captured and sacked by the American forces. Amongst the items looted from the town by the American soldiers and sailors were the books from the Toronto Library. We know this from the correspondence of Commodore Isaac Chauncey, the commander of American naval forces on the Great Lakes, who reported this fact later in 1813: “When the Squadron under my command visited York in April last, much to my mortification I discovered that Some of the Men had pillaged a number of books belonging to the Toronto Library.” Chauncey ordered that the stolen books be gathered and returned to York. It took six months, but two boxes containing the books were returned on a second “visit” by the Americans, a visit conducted under a flag of truce in November of 1813. This may not have been such a benevolent act as it might seem. There is a suggestion that Chauncey’s generosity was perhaps a deception to allow the American officers returning the books to see first hand, what progress had been made in repair to the town. It appears that the library never recovered from the disruption of the War. The books remained boxed and stored with William Allan, one of the original library members and leading merchants of York, who complained about their disposal in 1822, prompting a sale at auction in December of that year.
Justice of Upper Canada, located on the southwest corner of King and Simcoe Streets.
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