The exception was the calamitous fire which occurred on January 11, 1879. The Building was in process of enlargement, and had been to a considerable extent given up into the builders’ hands during its reconstruction. A strong wall had given place for the time being--to avoid the closing of the Reference Library and News Room during the alterations--to temporary arrangements of wood and similar material. The winter was severe, the gas was frozen, an energetic workman in attempting to produce a thaw ignited a flame which blazed up beyond his control, set fire to the temporary screen dividing the existing Library from the extension, and, spreading to the adjoining shelves, soon embraced the whole of the Library in one vast blaze. As this occurred at mid-day on a Saturday, the Rooms of the Library were crowded with Readers, but no one was injured. All sorts and conditions of men strove to save what could be saved of the precious books, but the fire was master, and the salvage was small. The pride the people had in _their_ Free Library, and their grief at its destruction were shewn in a most pathetic manner, books being offered from their own collections, great and small, toward the restoration. Nor was this feeling confined to the town. Her Majesty sent a note through Lieutenant-General Ponsonby, in which she offered a valuable selection of books as follows:-- “Buckingham Palace, March 24, 1879. Sir, I am commanded by the Queen to enquire if the Managers of the Birmingham Library will accept from Her Majesty the volumes, a list of which I enclose. Not being certain to whom I should address myself, I have ventured to trouble you with this letter, in the hope that you will communicate the Queen’s offer in the proper quarter. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, HENRY F. PONSONBY.” “The Mayor of Birmingham.” The books offered were: Lepsius, (C. R.)--Denkmaeler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien. 12 vols., large folio. Bock, (F.)--Die Kleinodien des heiligen Römischen Reiches Deutscher Nation. 1 vol., large folio. 1864. Nash, (Joseph)--Windsor Castle. Folio. 1848. Wyatt, (M. Digby)--The Industrial Arts of the 19th Century. 2 vols., folio. 1853. [These works, the noblest of their kind, and on the subjects of which they treat, are not only costly but exceedingly useful, more especially the fine illustrations in the “Monuments of Egypt and Ethiopia,” and the “Art Treasures of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.”] Expressions of sympathy and gifts of books came from Germany, Italy, America, and, from nearly every town in England. The chief men of Birmingham met, and subscriptions amounting to nearly £15,000 were given to supplement the amount for which the books had been insured--to raise again and at once what all classes proudly and lovingly called “Our Free Library.”