DO you remember Boots Booklovers’ Library in Wiltshire?
Boots the Chemist once had subscription libraries within their stores. They were extremely popular and operated very successfully from 1899–1966. In their heyday they had more than a million subscribers. Chippenham and Devizes were both home to a branch of Boots library.
In my book Lipsticks And Library Books, former staff share entertaining anecdotes of wealthy, eccentric subscribers and strict spinster librarians. It tells the story of a privileged elite in a world that existed really not so long ago but which seems very distant from today. I would be interested to hear from anyone who remembers Boots library in Chippenham or Devizes.
JACKIE WINTER
The Chantries
Winterborne Zelston
Dorset Tel: (01929) 459207
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