Page:A history of booksellers, the old and the new.djvu/468

426 426 CHARLES EDWARD MUD IE. occupies the sites of eight houses, and even now great additions are being made to the rear of the premises. As the popularity of the library increased, branch houses were opened in the city, in Birmingham and Manchester, and arrangements were made with literary institutions, provincial libraries, book-clubs, and so- cieties. The magnitude of the business had, however, now grown beyond the limit of individual capital, and, in 1864, Mr. Mudie found it desirable to form his library into a limited liability company. The value of the property was estimated at 100,000 ; of this he reserved 50,000, and the remaining 50,000 was immediately subscribed by Mr. Murray, Mr. Bentley, and other publishers ; Mr. Mudie's services being, naturally, retained at a salary of 1,000 per annum, in addition to his half interest in the business. This change, and the increase of capital, proved in every way beneficial to the expansion of the library ; and since penning this account we have received a circular announcing an enormous increase of busi- ness. From the i8th August, 1871, the Directors of Mudie's Select Library (Limited) became possessors of the English and Foreign Library and its large connection. This library, which was originally known as " Hookham's," at one time possessed one of the finest collections of rare and valuable standard works in London. On entering Mudie's Select Library, from New Oxford Street, we pass through the show-rooms devoted to the sale of bound books; for though the directors do not enter into the usual speculations of the bookselling trade, the clean copies of popular works are put into ornamental bindings, and in this manner a very