Tavistock Subscription Library was founded in 1799 by: John Taylor, a 19-year-old engineer from Norwich who had come to Tavistock to manage a local copper and tin mine; John Cummins, of about the same age as Taylor, a bookseller; Edward Bray, the young Tavistock curate; and Reverend William Evans, an older man, a non-conformist minister who ran a local school. John Taylor became an eminent mining engineer and a Fellow of the Royal Society.
The Library is located in Guildhall Square in Tavistock PL19 0AE next to the well-known Court Gate Archway, between the archway and the Tavistock Museum. Our front door is just to the left of the Museum entrance.