The Library
The Victorian library would have been the room many of us still dream of to this day. A room dedicated solely to housing the private collection of books a middle and upper-class family could afford to buy and keep. With rows of dark wooden shelves and various soft comfy chairs; good for allowing whoever from the family to relax and read in. Victorians were avid readers, so it would have likely been a very well used room too. Reading rates in the Victorian era benefited hugely from wider schooling and increased literacy rates, as well as the cheapening costs of publication. Improved transportation, and therefore also distribution, of books also helped.
Similar to us, there would have been a large amount of fiction alongside the non-fiction stacked on those shelves. Also similar to us, books may have been serialised, such as Sherlock Holmes, or distributed chapter by chapter in a monthly magazine, such as Dicken’s novels. Just like us, people would have been discussing what would come next and complaining about the time they had to wait to find out. Also similar to us, book swapping was a widespread and popular activity across the classes. Someone from the family may have invited a guest into this room, grabbed a book off the shelf, and insisted that they have to read this one.
In our times not many people can afford a whole separate room just for books, but similar to the Victorians, our love for reading means that often we make do without. Even without a library we still add shelves to all the other rooms instead, cramming them with all the stories and interesting facts that we like. And if we really don’t have room, we invest in a Kindle.