Philip Ward, then an eighteen year old student librarian, founded our Association in May 1956, writing a letter to The Observer suggesting the formation of a society for ‘private librarians’. The response was considerable, and the opening meeting was held soon after, on 8 June, at the St Ermin’s Hotel, Westminster. An exchange scheme was started that same year and the twelve-page PLA Quarterly was published in 1957 (its name changed to The Private Library in 1958).

 

Today the Private Libraries Association boasts 450 individual members and upwards of 100 institutional subscribers. Members are scattered worldwide, with the majority in Britain but a good number in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe.

Members’ collecting interests are most diverse – including private presses, illustration, binding and restoration, book history, bibliography and much more. Members’ specific interests are analysed in ten double-column pages in the Members’ Handbook – ranging from A. E. (G. W. Russell) to Zapf, Herman and covering every other possible subject that one can imagine.