About the Library
James Winston, the first Secretary and Librarian of the Club, was one of the principal early benefactors and his gifts included minutes from the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, as well as his own "Theatric Tourist". These presentations formed the nucleus of the Library which now holds well over 10,000 items, including plays, manuscripts, prints (bound into numerous extra-illustrated volumes), and many photographs. The Library continues to grow today, both by bequest and by purchase. It also holds most of the bibliographic and biographic reference works that are relevant to its collections.
Chief amongst the collections, and perhaps the most obvious upon entering the main library, is the playbill collection for the Theatres Royal, Drury Lane and Covent Garden, virtually complete for the years 1798 - 1840. These have been bound into 96 half morocco volumes, thanks to a legacy left by Sir Julian Hall, who was at one time Chairman of the Library Committee.
A typical collection is the nine volumes that make up "Original Letters of Dramatic Performers, Collected and Arranged by Charles Britiffe Smith" c.1850 Although little is known about Smith, this collection was passed to and presented by Sir William Augustus Fraser. Smith also compiled five volumes of "Original Letters from Drinkwater Meadows" and extra-illustrated a copy of "Theatrical Sketches, Drawn from Life" by Richard James Lane 1840, all of which were uniformly bound and bear Sir William Augustus Fraser's book-plate. Sir William was a great collector of extra-illustrated books and autographed inscriptions; he published several loosely compacted volumes of anecdotes, such as "Words on Wellington" 1889 and "Disraeli and his Day" 1891. His proposed volume on the stage never appeared.
By the far the largest collection of engravings [both in number and physical size] is the seven elephant folios that comprise "A Collection of Theatrical Portraits, with notices from contemporary prints" from the library of Sir Charles Ibbetson. A project is currently underway to include these prints in the on-line catalogue of art works, with the first two volumes "Shakespeare to Garrick" and "Garrick & his Contemporaries" already completed.
Perhaps one of the most delightful collections is a large folio volume bound by Robert Riviere containing an extraordinary assemblage of material illustrating the history of Vauxhall Gardens. Compiled at the time of their demise in 1859, it came from the library of Sir William Augustus Fraser.
There are twenty-two volumes devoted to Henry Irving collected by his biographer Percy Fitzgerald; five volumes devoted to William Charles Macready; a large volume devoted to Charles Mathews's "At Home" one man shows; a series of John Philip Kemble's Covent Garden prompt books; there are also a number of manuscript plays, including "The Will" by James Barrie and "Love à la Mode" by Charles Macklin, a copy specially made for King George II.
There is an important collection of books relating to David Garrick, including Garrick's own time books (which give times for each act of every major play he put on at Drury Lane) as well as books from his Library. John Nixon's three volume collection on the London theatre contains numerous rare prints and original drawings. The collections also include theatrical ephemera, such as photographs and tickets. There are eight extra-illustrated volumes relating the history of early London theatres and works such as Ackerman's "The Microcosm of London" 1808-11.
Of the numerous photo albums by far the most important is that containing 72 photographs of Charles Kean and his company at the Princess's Theatre, many showing them in character with elements of stage scenery. These were taken by Martin Laroche whose studio was only a few yards from the theatre on Oxford Street, and date from 1856-58, making them the earliest examples of theatrical photography, and as a collection of this size, unique.
There is a large archive of material relating to the playwright Arthur Wing Pinero, which includes manuscripts, stage settings and photographs etc. A large selection of periodicals includes a complete run of "The Era" from 1858-1939. There is also of course, a wealth of information documenting the Garrick Club's own history, and that of its past members. In fact the treasures of the Library, just as with the art collection, are too numerous for such a brief introduction as this.
Various card catalogues and indexes are accessible on site, complementing the online catalogue: the cataloguing programme is ongoing.