Martinsburg-Berkeley County Public Libraries

HISTORICAL TREASURES IN THE LIBRARY:  ANTIQUE BOOK CAROUSEL

The antique Arts and Crafts-style revolving oak bookcase on the top floor of the Martinsburg Public Library was once located in another building which previously stood on the same spot as the library over 100 years ago.

The revolving bookcase, or book carousel, belonged to the Martinsburg Public Library Association, founded by Newton D. Baker in 1897 and housed in two rooms on the second floor of the Flick Building (later known as the Wiltshire Building) on the southwest corner of the public square, which became the site of the present Martinsburg Public Library in 1967.  (The fireplace mantel in the central area on the top floor of the library was also a fixture from the Wiltshire Building.)

The carousel, over 6 feet tall and shaped like an oriental pagoda with a peaked shake “roof,” is carved with heraldic shields and subject categories (history, politics, poetry, art, science, travel, religion, fiction, biography, mechanics, commerce, sociology).   The name of the Tabard Inn, carved on one side of the bookcase, is a reference to the famous inn which was located in Southwark near London, the traditional starting place of the pilgrims in the prologue of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.  An inscription going around all four sides along the top reads as follows:  “The Best Reading Rooms in the United States are the Homes of the American People.”

The Tabard Inn Library was a membership library founded by Seymour Eaton in 1902.  Revolving bookcases were placed in drugstores, hotels, public libraries, and other commercial establishments throughout the United States. After paying an initial life membership of $3, members could exchange books on any revolving bookcase for an additional 5 cents which was deposited into a compartment in the bookcase. However, the library scheme was short-lived, ending when Eaton was declared bankrupt in March 1905.

The bookcase was moved with the library when the early Martinsburg library changed its location to the corner of West King Street and College Streets around 1905 and then again in 1910 when the library was moved into the John Street School.  Afterwards, due to the lack of support and funding, the library was closed in less than a year after that final move.  A public library did not exist again in Martinsburg until 1926.

The book carousel remained in the attic of the John Street School for over 50 years until the current public library was opened on the town square in 1968. Through the efforts of Mrs. Madeline Miller Griffith, a teacher at the John Street School, it was returned in 1969 to the new public library building where it has found its permanent home.