The Mercantile Library is one of the oldest cultural institutions in the city of New York. Founded in 1820, it began as self-improvement library for merchants and clerks and soon became the largest and most successful of the mercantile libraries, and for that matter of all membership libraries. In the nineteenth century, it was one of the foremost cultural institutions in the United States, with an extraordinary collection of books in the humanities and a popular lecture program that featured such renowned speakers as William Makepeace Thackeray, Frederick Douglass, and Mark Twain.
To build on this distinguished 185-year history and continue to play a vital role in the cultural landscape of New York City, in fall 2005 we transformed the Mercantile Library into the first center in the United States devoted entirely to the art of fiction. As the new Mercantile Library Center for Fiction, we continue to collect and lend fiction to our members. We also present much more literary programming and related cultural events, and provide more workspace for writers.
We believe that a life energized by books is a better life, and that for many New Yorkers this better life has come through the active reading of fiction. At the Center, these readers converge to read, discuss, and support great writing across all genres.
We are very happy to be able to provide a space for all New Yorkers who love fiction, one that is full of activity year-round--with writers from around the world reading their work and talking about the art of fiction, with book parties and literary magazine launches, with small press showcases, with more writers than ever at work in our Writers Studio, and with fiction discussion groups and seminars.
Our postings here will be an extension of the kinds of conversations and debates, the energy and excitement, that are part of life every day here at the Center, taking place over wine and cheese in our reading room with well-known authors, among 15 friends reading Proust together for the third time, in the director's office as the oldest book group in NYC discusses a contemporary first novel like The Brief Wondrous LIfe of Oscar Wao or tackles a modern classic like The Recognitions, or in the stacks as one member recommends a book to another member.
We think writers and readers deserve a beautiful, accessible center to meet, to read, to exchange ideas, and share books.
This blog will, we hope, bring at least some of that shared space to you.
