The Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle Upon Tyne
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The Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle Upon Tyne or "Lit and Phil" as it is popularly known, was founded in 1793 by the Reverend William Turner and others, over fifty years before the London Library. The Lit and Phil library contained works in French, Spanish, German and Latin; its contacts were international, and its members debated such issues as American science and Scottish political economy.
The members, later including Thomas Bewick, Lord Armstrong, Robert Stephenson and Joseph Swan, never regarded themselves as provincial in any derogatory sense. Their aims and ambitions were every bit as large as those of London critics, and they certainly did not wish to imitate London culture or embrace its values.
The list of lecturers is a roll-call of the 19th and 20th century intelligentsia. George Stephenson showed his miner's lamp there, and in 1879, when Joseph Swan demonstrated his electric light bulbs, the Lit and Phil building became the first public building to be so illuminated.
The Society received the country's first specimens of the wombat and the duck-billed platypus from John Hunter, Governor of New South Wales and honorary member of the Lit and Phil.
The Lit and Phil collections comprise 150,000 books, with 1000 added each year. The music library is without equal in the North of England.
