as novels became more and more popular. Novels, while frowned upon in society, were extremely popular. In England, there were many who lamented at the "villainous profane and obscene books", and the opposition to the circulating library, on moral grounds, persisted well into the 19th century. Still, many establishments must have circulated many times the number of novels as of any other genre.

In 1797, Thomas Wilson wrote in The Use of Circulating Libraries: "Consider that for a successful circulating library,