A set of books selected for the training of lay evangelistic workers through individual or group reading in accordance with a plan called the Missionary Reading Circle and conducted through the pages of the Review and Herald , the Missionary Magazine , and the Youth’s Instructor , under the title “Berean Library Studies.” The idea first appeared in the Review and Herald (76:776, Nov. 28, 1899). The Berean Library is first listed in the General Conference Bulletin for the third quarter of 1899 ( p. 65). It was published by the Review and Herald Publishing Association, although the early titles carried the imprint Berean Library, Battle Creek, Michigan. At first the plan was to issue the selected titles, usually reprints in paperbound form, quarterly, and the library was advertised as a periodical (annual subscription 75 cents), but apparently the plan was abandoned, and only 12 numbers had been listed by 1915. The series was carried as a separate set in the Review and Herald catalog until 1921 and was afterward discontinued.
The library as listed in 1905 included:
(1) Steps to Christ , by Ellen G. White; (2) Thoughts on Daniel , and (3) Thoughts on Revelation , both by Uriah Smith; (4) Christian Principles , by S.M.I. Henry; (5) Looking Unto Jesus , by Uriah Smith; (6) History of the Sabbath , by J. N. Andrews; (7) Great Nations of Today (pamphlet), by A. T. Jones; (8) Battle of the Century (pamphlet), by P. T. Magan; and (9) Miraculous Powers (pamphlet), by M. E. Cornell. The 1915 catalog listed numbers (10) Our Paradise Home , by S. H. Lane; (11) Religious Liberty in America , by C. M. Snow; and (12) The Coming King , by J. Edson White. The catalog listed the following substitutions for the original selections: (4) His Glorious Appearing [James White?]; (5) Sabbath in the Scriptures , and (6) Sabbath in History , two parts of a two-book reprint of the History of the Sabbath , by J. N. Andrews; (7) Conflict Between Capital and Labor , by E. T. Russell; (8) Here and Hereafter , by Uriah Smith; and (9) Bible Footlights , by William H. Granger. The 1916 and later catalogs listed Religious Liberty in America as number 4 of the set, which by then had only seven or eight titles. Several volumes included in the series are in print at the present time.
In its early period the editorial committee included L. A. Hoopes, S. N. Haskell, A. T. Jones, W. C. Sisley, and S. H. Lane.