THE STORY IN BRIEF

OF THE

GUILLE-ALLES LIBRARY,

GUERNSEY.

BY J. LINWOOD PITTS.

In concluding the editorial duties connected with the issue of this fourth volume of the “Guille-Alles Library Series,” it seems to me that the time is an opportune one for adding some short account of the origin and foundation of the noble Institution from which the “Series” takes its name.  The Guille-Alles Library is proving such an immense boon to our little insular community, that very naturally, many inquiries are from time to time made—­especially by strangers—­as to how its existence came about.

In order to answer these questions we must go as far back as the year 1834.  At that time Mr. Guille—­who is a Guernseyman by birth—­was but a boy of sixteen, and had been two years in America.  He was serving his apprenticeship with a well-known firm in New York, and he enjoyed the privilege of access to a very extensive library in that city, founded by a wealthy corporation known as The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen.  The pleasure and profit which he derived from this source were so great, and made such a deep impression upon his mind that, young as he was, he formed the resolution that if his future life proved prosperous, and his position enabled him to do so, he would one day found a similar institution in his own little native island of Guernsey.  Throughout the whole of his future career this intention was present with him; and commencing at once,—­in spite of his then very limited means—­to purchase books which should form a nucleus for the anticipated collection, he began to lay the foundation of the literary treasures which crowd the shelves of the Guille-Alles Library to-day.  At the age of twenty, when out of his apprenticeship, he found himself the possessor of several hundreds of volumes of standard works, many of which are now in the Library, and upon which he must naturally look with peculiar and very legitimate pleasure, as being the corner stones of the subsequent splendid superstructure.

Business affairs prospered with Mr. Guille.  As time rolled on he was taken into partnership with the firm, as was also his friend and fellow-countryman, Mr. F.M.  Alles, and his increasing prosperity enabled him to put his cherished project into more tangible shape.  While on a visit to Guernsey in 1851, he wrote a few articles in the Gazette Officielle, with the view of drawing public attention to the importance of forming district or parish libraries.  These articles attracted the notice of The Farmers’ Club, an association of intelligent country gentlemen who met at the Castel.  Their secretary, the late Mr. Nicholas Le Beir, wrote to Mr. Guille at the request of the members, informing him of their appreciation of his views, and of his having been elected an honorary member of their association, in token of their esteem.