This paper considers British private subscription libraries and their European (near) equivalents at a turbulent period of history. Following the French Revolution, many governments tried to prevent libraries from acquiring inflammatory and heretical literature: “infidel books”. In Britain arguments about book selection were confined to individual library committees, but governments abroad took direct action. In Germany Freemasons infiltrated subscription libraries, resulting in the banning of libraries in several countries. In France officials kept libraries under surveillance, whilst Hanover feared for the morals of children exposed to libraries. Little literature exists in English on continental libraries of this period, and this paper utilizes foreign-language material based on official and other contemporary sources to present a picture of censorship and surveillance.

中文翻译：

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异教徒书籍和“启蒙工厂”：1790-1850 年革命时代订阅和流通图书馆的审查和监视

本文考虑了历史动荡时期的英国私人订阅图书馆及其欧洲（接近）同类图书馆。法国大革命后，许多政府试图阻止图书馆获取煽动性和异端文学：“异教徒书籍”。在英国，关于书籍选择的争论仅限于个别图书馆委员会，但国外政府采取了直接行动。在德国，共济会渗透了订阅图书馆，导致一些国家的图书馆被禁止。在法国，官员对图书馆进行监视，而汉诺威则担心接触图书馆的儿童的道德。这一时期的大陆图书馆几乎没有英文文献，