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A complete social circle
Circulating libraries were also essential to the social life of the seaside resorts, as they were to many inland market towns during Georgian times. In the most fashionable resorts they offered much more than the reading of newspapers and the reading and borrowing of books. Through their attached shops they sold a variety of souvenirs and gifts, such as stationery and trinkets. They were centres for socialising and offered entertainments including gambling, raffles, concerts and evening assemblies. They sold theatre tickets and acted as letting agents for holiday accommodation. They also sold maps and guide books, the librarian generally having a very good personal knowledge of the locality. During the season, long lists of ‘fashionable arrivals’ appeared regularly in the local newspapers.

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