ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SOCIAL CHANGES IN THE LATE VICTORIAN AGE, perhaps furthest reaching of all in its revolutionary implications, was triumph of mass culture. Blithely ignoring warnings of their betters against evils of reading salacious fiction, American masses, with unrepenting self-indulgence, consumed volumes of trash poured forth daily, weekly and monthly in form of imaginative literature. 1 Above all it was American woman who found in light reading a temporary escape from her isolation and discontent. By last quarter of nineteenth century, shelves of American public library began to reflect influence of new mass readership upon literary standards. Codified in fiction-fantasy, alteration of fundamental values expressed in bestselling novels aroused indignation of those Americans who resisted value change. Significantly, objection to deviation in literary standards, as reflected by public librarian's preoccupation with the fiction question, was placed largely on moral grounds. Although present, aesthetic complaints were minor matters compared to moral ire of those who sought to shape mass reading taste. It was moral boundary which late nineteenth century perceived to be most seriously threatened, and library censorship of fiction was part of institutional reaction which authorities erected to resist or channel rapid change of values.2 Perhaps conservative