The National Library of South Africa is the agency of the government of South Africa which maintains a national library of all published materials relating to the country. In 1818, Lord Charles Somerset, the Cape Colony's first civil Governor, issued a proclamation to control the wine trade, imposing a tax on wine brought into Cape Town for sale. The net proceeds would be used to form a Public Library which should "lay the foundation of a system, which shall place the means of knowledge within reach of the youth of this remote corner of the Globe," (presuming a globe hath corners) "and bring within their reach what the most eloquent of ancient writers has considered to be one of the first blessings of life, 'Home Education'." Since that time, South Africa's library development was bifurcated although the library in Cape Town was the original establishment. The most likely model for Cape Town's "Public Library" was the London Institution (established in 1805 in the style of an Athenaeum). More information...
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