Ten Pay Dues for America’s First Lending Library on November 10, 1731

By Elena Vasquez

Lit Hub’s Literary History newsletter records 50 founding subscribers for the Library Company of Philadelphia by November 8, 1731, after its Articles of Agreement were drafted on July 1. The account identifies the institution as America’s first lending library and traces it to Benjamin Franklin’s 1731 proposal. Ten people came to the first collection on November 10.

The subscription terms were:

• 40 shillings contributed by each subscriber.
• 10 shillings promised by each subscriber every year afterward.

What did Franklin set out to build?

Lit Hub’s account begins with Franklin’s economic problem in colonial America. Benjamin Franklin conceived the library in 1731, when books in colonial America were rare, prohibitively expensive for most people, and slow to arrive from Europe. His starting point was the Junto, which he had founded a few years earlier as a “society of mutual improvement.” Members met to discuss what Franklin called “queries on any point of Morals, Politics, or Natural Philosophy.”

They lacked money for the personal libraries they wanted, and some queries went unanswered. Franklin persuaded them to pool resources and buy a communal collection. His initial plan allowed both members and non-members to borrow freely.

The July 1 Articles of Agreement formalized that arrangement. By November 8, the company had 50 founding subscribers. Franklin converted the Junto’s unmet intellectual ambitions into a collection financed by annual subscriptions.

Why did only ten people pay dues?

On November 10, only ten people came to Nicholas Scull’s Bear Tavern to pay dues, according to Lit Hub’s account of the company’s first collection. The newsletter quotes Franklin biographer J.A. Leo Lemay: “funds came in slower than pledges.” Only two of the ten were not already officers of the library.

Soon, the company reached its target of 50 subscribers. By the following year, it had ordered its first set of books from London. The company achieved full subscription strength despite its slow start.

How did the library widen access?

The first London shipment broke with the language mix of most private and university libraries, which Lit Hub says remained predominantly Latin at the time. Most books the company ordered were in English, making them accessible to a wider readership.

When the shipment arrived, all subscribers could borrow the books free. Non-subscribers could borrow them too, but had to provide collateral covering each book’s value. That arrangement widened access while attaching a financial condition to use outside the subscriber group.

The Library Company quickly grew in size and fame. Similar institutions had already appeared across the country. In 1771, Franklin wrote that it was “the Mother of all the N[orth] American Subscription Libraries now so numerous.” English-language books and collateral rules made the library broader than a private collection.

What survives today?

The Library Company of Philadelphia still operates today as an independent research library and keeps its oldest books on the shelves, according to its website. The institution preserves an active scholarly function alongside a physical record of its early history. The company’s oldest books and continuing research service give future researchers direct access to Franklin’s lending model.