Charles E. Mudie Collection, 1816-1897 | Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Title: Charles E. Mudie Collection, 1816-1897

ID: 01/MSS00042

Primary Creator: Mudie, Charles E. (1818-1890)

Extent: 0.3 Cubic Feet

Arrangement: The collection is arranged in two major series: correspondence and mixed materials. Correspondence is arranged in alphabetical order.

Subjects: Libraries

Languages: English, Italian

Charles Edward Mudie (1818-1890) was a British publisher, author, and founder of Mudie's Select Library, a London-based circulating library for members at an affordable subscription rate. With the assistance of his family, Mudie was able to establish a Victorian-era network of publishers and writers to support and maintain the library.

Mudie curated the books of his Select Library in accordance with Victorian morals, limiting titles to subjects such as science, biography, fiction and "adventure" (travel). The lending of books was facilitated by holding multiple copies of particular works. The concept of Mudie's Select Library proved successful with the opening of three branches outside of London, these located in York, Manchester, and Birmingham.

Charles Edward Mudie was born on October 18, 1818 in Chelsea, London, to Margaret Wilson (1781-circa 1862) and Thomas Mudie (1781-1851), a bookseller and stationer. Mudie worked under his father at T. Mudie & Sons (later Mudie & Sons Ltd.) until 1840, when he opened his own shop, selling newspapers and stationery, as well as lending books.

By 1842, book-lending became his primary area of interest and he founded Mudie’s Select Library, a subscription-based circulating library that made books more accessible to a middle class audience. The “Select” of this library’s naming is attributed to Mudie’s role in choosing the materials suitable for the collection, assuming the controversal role of “unofficial protector of public morals.”

Mudie’s Select Library thrived through the 1860s, when he was able to open new branches in Birmingham and Manchester. Much of this success can be attributed to his purchases of newly-released titles from publishers in large quantities, which provided Mudie with a discounted price and eager subscribers with a shortened wait time, subscription rates starting at one guinea per year, and plentiful advertisements in popular newspapers and periodicals. At its height, Mudie’s Select Library serviced approximately 50,000 subscribers and held about one million volumes.

Mudie fully retired in 1884; his son, Arthur Oliver Mudie (1854-1936) had assumed control of the Library in 1879 after the death of his elder brother, Charles Henry Mudie (1850-1879). The Library began its slow decline in the early 1890s, when publishers began to move away from the popular three-volume novel format, and eventually closed in 1937.

Mudie married Mary Kingsford Pawling (1820-1898) on April 20, 1847; the couple shared eight children. He died on October 28, 1890 in Hampstead, London.

Libraries

Repository: Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Access Restrictions: Open to researchers.

Use Restrictions:

The RBML reproductions policies can be found here:

http://www.library.illinois.edu/rbx/ReproductionServices.htm

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials.

Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study scholarship or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement.

This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would damage materials or involve violation of copyright law.

Box and Folder Listing

Series 1: Correspondence

Sub-series 1: Charles E. Mudie Correspondence

Box 1

Folder 1: Ainsworth, W. Harrison, 1860, 18uu

Folder 2: Bentley, George to Mr. Mudie, 1884, 1885

Folder 3: Blanc, Louis, 1861, 1864 (undated)

Folder 4: Brooke, Rajah, undated

Folder 5: Brooks, Shirley, 1859

Folder 6: Browning, Robert, 1866

Folder 7: Carlyle, Thomas, undated

Folder 8: Collins, Frances, 1877

Folder 9: Collins, Wilkie, 1860

Folder 10: Conder, G.W., 1872

Folder 11: Cowden-Clarke, Mary, 1884

Folder 12: Gordon Cumming, Constance, 1882-1885

Folder 13: Cruikshank, George, 1870

Folder 14: Darwin, Charles, c. 1865

Folder 15: Dennis, George, 1884

Folder 16: Dickens, Charles, 1860

Folder 17: Edwards, Amelia B., 1864-1877

Folder 18: Fletcher, J.C., 1883

Folder 19: Forster, John, 1860, 1872

Folder 20: Gladstone, William Ewart (W.E.), 1882

Folder 21: Guizot, Guillaume, 1865

Folder 22: Hall, Samuel Carter (S.C.), 1883, undated

Folder 23: Sir Rowland Hill, undated

Folder 24: Howitt, William, 1866

Folder 25: Hughes, Thomas, 1859-1861

Folder 26: Inchbold, John William (J.W.), 1883

Folder 27: Ireland, Alexander, 1883

Folder 28: Mrs. Jameson, undated

Folder 29: Kingsley, Charles, 1857, 1867

Folder 30: Kingsley, Henry, 1860, undated

Folder 31: MacMillan, Alexander, 1860

Folder 32: Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl Stanhope (Lord Mahon), 1873

Folder 33: Manning, Anne, 1859-1869

Folder 34: Masson, David, 1858-1883

Folder 35: Mulock, Dinah, 1859-1884

Folder 36: Nightingale, Florence, 1863, 1867

Folder 37: Oliphant Wilson, Margaret (M.O.W.), undated

Folder 38: Palgrave, Francis Turner, 1869

Folder 39: Payn, James, undated

Folder 40: Rae, Edward, 1877, 1882, 1883

Folder 41: Reade, Charles, 1859, 1866-1867, undated

Folder 42: Reid, Mayne, 1857, 1875, undated

Folder 43: Ruskin, John, undated

Folder 44: Sala, George Augustus, 1860, 1862

Folder 45: Stowe, Harriet Beecher (H.B.), undated

Folder 46: Tennent, James Emerson, 1860

Folder 47: Tennyson, Alfred, undated

Folder 48: Sellwood, Emily, (Mrs. Alfred Tennyson), undated

Folder 49: Twining, Louisa, undated

Folder 50: Woolner, Thomas, 1860

Folder 51: Wordsworth, Christopher, 1865

Folder 52: Mudie, Carl, (letter sent by Charles Mudie), 1871

Sub-series 2: Mary Kingsford Mudie Correspondence

Box 1

Folder 53: Bentley, George, 1885, 1886

Folder 54: Edwards, Amelia B., undated

Folder 55: Hall, Samuel Carter, undated

Folder 56: Hughes, Thomas, 1857

Folder 57: Kavanagh, Julia, 1875

Folder 58: Moore, Henry, 1872, 1885

Folder 59: Mudie, Mary Kingsford to the Mudie children, 1871, undated

Folder 60: Mulock, Dinah, 1860-1884, undated

Folder 61: Reid, Mayne, 1857

Folder 62: Trollope, Frances Eleanor, 1887, undated

Sub-series 3: Third Party Correspondence

Box 1

Folder 63: Caine, Hall, 1897

Folder 64: Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman, 1858

Folder 65: Cargill, Jessie (Mrs. Cargill), 1896

Folder 66: Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn (Mrs. Gaskell), 1862

Folder 67: Gaskell, Margaret Emily (Meta), undated

Folder 68: Greenaway, Kate, 1891

Folder 69: Hunt, W. Holman, 1860

Folder 70: Lever, Charles, 1848, 1864

Folder 71: Mazzini, Joseph, 1862, 1865

Folder 72: Mudie, Mary Polly, 1869

Folder 73: Pawling, Gilbert, 1816

Folder 74: Queen Victoria, 1866

Folder 75: Ristori, Adelaide and Portia Gigliuca, undated

Folder 76: Shields, Frederic, undated

Series 2: Mixed Materials

Box 1

Folder 77: British passport granted to Charles E. Mudie, his wife, children, governess, and maid, 1860 July 6

Folder 78: Italian route sheet issued by the city of Bologna, and an Italian visa or abroad passport, 1848 June 19, 1849 July 3

Folder 79: Great Hall opening guest list, 1860 December 17

Folder 80: Travel diary titled, The travels of two children through France and Italy in 1859 aged 11 and 9 1/2, 1859

Folder 81: Newspaper clipping of an ad titled, Sisters' Charity: ₤25,000 as Grants for the Poor, and clipped illustration published by D. Ardley, from the town of Torquay, undated

Folder 82: Check for the amount of three guineas paid to Charles Haddon (C.H.) Spurgeon, undated

Folder 83: Textual and pictorial materials related to Giuseppe (Joseph) Mazzini, undated

Folder 84: Mudie Circulating Library pamphlet, undated