The statement was supported by figures furnished by lending
libraries, and has since been widely copied. It would certainly
be interesting if we could so simply show the connection between
love and season, by proving that when the birds began to sing
their notes, the young person's fancy naturally turns to brood
over the pictures of mating in novels. I accordingly applied to
Mr. Capel Shaw, Chief Librarian of the Birmingham Free Libraries
(specially referred to by Sir J. Crichton-Browne), who furnished
me with the Reports for 1896 and 1897-98 (this latter report is
carried on to the end of March, 1898).
The readers who use the Birmingham Free Lending Libraries are
about 30,000 in number; they consist very largely of young people
between the ages of 14 and 25; somewhat less than half are women.
Certainly we seem to have here a good field for the determination
of this question. The monthly figures for each of the ten
Birmingham libraries are given separately, and it is clear at a
glance that without exception the maximum number of readers of
prose-fiction at all the libraries during 1897-98 is found in the
month of March. (I have chiefly taken into consideration the
figures for 1897-98; the figures for 1896 are somewhat abnormal
and irregular, probably owing to a decrease in readers,
attributed to increased activity in trade, and partly to a
disturbing influence caused by the opening of a large new library
in the course of the year, suddenly increasing the number of
readers, and drafting off borrowers from some of the other
libraries.
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