Addison Hall houses the oldest library west of
Quebec, a collection that is typical of an English clergyman’s library of the
18th century. It consists of 1500 volumes, the majority of which were
brought to Niagara on the Lake by Rev. Robert Addison in 1792.
Some volumes bear the name of Richard Atkinson, Addison’s father in law
and curate of Whittlesey, England as well as of William Beale and Thomas
Topping, predecessor priests in that parish. Dr. William J. Cameron of
the University of Western Ontario, in his introduction to an analysis of
the collection concludes,
“But it would seem probable that (Addison) himself added no more than about
50 titles to the collection he presumably acquired from Richard Atkinson
in 1781. Again it seems on the evidence so far available that Atkinson
contributed only about the same number to the collection he acquired at
the death of William Beale in 1772. William Beale emerges as the major
builder of the collection. Even before 1742 when he presumably took over
Topping’s collection, Beal had a substantially larger collection than Topping’s.”
Among the books that were added later are: Thomas
Simes “The Military Guide for Young Officers” owned by an officer at Fort
Niagara in 1795; a Breeches Bible published in 1599 and bound with the Book of
Common Prayer and Metric Psalms with their tunes; a Bible in French owned by
Katharina Paffard during her school days in England in 1869; and volume #116
from the St.Mark’s Sunday School Library in 1826.
Until the death of Mrs. Addison the books were housed
in his home at Lake Lodge outside of town and therefore escaped the fire that
destroyed Niagara on the Lake in 1813. They were presented to the rector of
St.Mark’s in perpetuity by Addison’s grandsons in 1863.
The parish hall of St.Mark’s has been named to honour
the founding rector, Robert Addison. A room designed by Campbell Scott, a noted
Canadian artist, houses this unique collection of books that are the property of
the parish.
