National Library Week coincides with the 192th celebration of the National Library of SA’s Cape Town Campus establishment. The then South African Library’s origins date back to 20 March 1818, as the first South African public library in South Africa. Lord Charles Somerset, Governor of the Cape Colony, issued a proclamation launching the South African Public Library. Somerset stipulated that a wine tax would be levied “to place the means of knowledge within the reach of the youth of this remote corner of the Globe, and bring within their reach what the most eloquent of ancient writers has considered to be one of the first blessings of life, ‘Home Education‘.”
