BRITISH - TIIK. 



BRITISH MUSEUM, TIIK 





The acquisition of the Barney collection, ltd however to an orrange- 

 BMnt which will uve future inquirers from similar disappointments. 

 From 1818, the Stamp Office was directed to supply to the Museum 

 its copies of London newspapers after the lapse of two years, a lapse 

 which had previously converted them into a " perquisite," and con- 

 signed them to destruction. The English country newspapers ware 

 afterward* added, from about 1830; the Scotch from 1844 ; the Iriah 

 Hill later, but with the set beginning in 1823 ; and there are aigni 

 that the colonial will follow, while numerous set* of continental and 

 American newspapers hare been added at different times, and others 

 are adding. On the ground floor in the new library, which surrounds 

 the reading-room, large shelres of newipapen occupy two sides of a 

 circular passage about 600 feet in length, and the space required is 

 rapidly extending. The Time*' alone, is now obliged to be bound in 

 twelve folio volumes /*r OSJIUMS. 



Of smaller collections, it should be mentioned that Sir Richard Colt 

 Hoare made in 1825 a most valuable present of books on the topo- 

 graphy of Italy, which be had acquired in that country during a 

 visit at the close of the 18th century. Four distinct assemblages 

 of tracts on the French revolution were acquired by purchase, said to 

 amount to about 60,000 articles, and forming collectively a sort of 

 pendant to the Tbotnaeon collection. They form the groundwork.of 

 Louis Blanc's new ' History of the Revolution.' The Burney library 

 was the last of importance that was acquired in a mass, by purchase ; 

 but in 1846, the most valuable addition that had ever been made to 

 the library at once, with the exception of the " Georgian " library, was 

 made by the bequest of the Right Hon. Thumas Qrenvilie. Mr. 

 Qreoville, who had signed the treaty of American independence in 

 1783, died in the full possession of his faculties at the age .of nearly 

 ninety-one, in 1846. In a codicil to his will, dated iii October 

 1845, he expresses himself thus: "A great part of my library 

 has been purchased from the profits of a sinecure office given me 

 by the public, and I feel it to be a debt and a duty that I should 

 acknowledge this obligation by giving that library, so acquired, 

 to the British Museum for the use of the public." The collection 

 comprised ^0,240 volumes, and had cost more than 54,0001., it was in 

 admirable condition in all respects, abounding in fine bindings, in 

 copies on vellum, and on large paper, and was altogether such a library 

 u Dibdin delighted to describe. It was rich in choice Italian and 

 Spanish literature, and in early voyages and travels, and in many 

 respects dovetailed admirably with the Museum collections : the Mu- 

 seum, for instance, having few early editions of the ' Orlando Furioso,' or 

 of ' Don Quixote ' the Orenville being remarkably complete in both. 

 This, however, was the less remarkable as the intention of the donor 

 had been confided some time before his death to his friend Mr. Panizzi, 

 the keeper of the printed books. This fine library is kept entirely 

 apart in a room, which contains a bust of its donor, and it has a 

 separate printed catalogue. 



Long before the fortunate acquisition of the Grenville collection, a 

 great change had taken place in the management of the national 

 library. Before the committee of the House of Commons on the 

 Museum, in June 1836, Mr. Panizzi, then the second assistant 

 librarian in the printed book department, had excited much surprise 

 by what was considered the daring nature of his proposals. The 

 Rev. H. H. Baber, then keeper of the printed books, had incidentally 

 mentioned in his evidence a few days before, that the library com- 

 mittee of the trustees had given up holding meetings, because at one 

 time the funds appropriated to the augmentation of the library hod 

 sunk so low as 20W. a-year. The sum expended on the collection of 

 printed books had risen in 1836 to about 2000/. a-year, but this did not 

 satisfy Mr. Panizzi. Lord Stanley, now (1859) Earl of Derby, who was 

 one of the members of the committee, said to him, in a tone of sarcasm, 

 " In short, for the accomplishment of your views you would desire 

 first an annual grant to the amount of more than 12.00W. a-year for 

 the library ; next the institution of two or more libraries for the use of 

 the public, with somewhat different views, in London ; and thirdly, the 

 removal from the British Museum of the natural history department 

 for the purpose of affording extra space for the increased library." 

 " Not only pace," replied Mr. Panizzi (' Report of Evidence,' p. 392), 

 " but the extra assistance which is requisite. The public hove a right to 

 expect something worthy of the nation, and I trust that this committee 

 will see the absolute necessity of recommending something like what I 

 have had the honour to suggest, and not less." This dialogue contains 

 a remarkable foreshadowing of the future tendencies of the Museum, 

 and others hardly less remarkable are to found in the series of letters 

 already rated, which appeared in the Mechanics Magazine ' about 

 the same time, from the pen of Mr. Thomas Watts. Mr. Watts 

 strongly advocated the filling up of numerous gaps in foreign 

 literature, which he pointed out " It is not too much to say " 

 he observes hi an article in the Magazine for 1838 (vol. xxv. p. 77), 

 " that there must be at least 100,000 volumes on the shelves of book- 

 sellers in Europe, which deserve a place in the Museum, and might, 

 were money liberally grantod and proper spirit exerted, at once be 

 transferred there. Tha British Museum should regularly take in, 

 at least OM liirrary journal from tray country in Ewrope, containing 

 reviews and announcements of new publications. It should be part of 

 the duty of the librarian to peruse thaw, and to make a note of every 

 work that seemed worthy of admission to the library, these might 



then at once be ordered from the place* of publication ' 



stant supply of foreign literature would then be pouring in." In 1837, 

 Mr. Panizzi became keeper of the printed book department, and on 

 January 1 888, Mr. Watts became one of his assistants. Mr. Watts had 

 the satisfaction not only of finding his plans for the augmentai 

 the library approved, but of seeing himself gradually empowered to 

 carry them out in person. Lists of all the current publications, not 

 only in French and Oerman, but in Spanish and Portuguese, Swedish 

 and Danish, Dutch, Russian, Polish, Hungarian, Ac., were ami ore 

 procured as abundantly as practicable, and inspected by him for tin- 

 purpose of marking the books to be purchased for the Museum. 



The result WM satisfactory. In 1843 Mr. Panizzi commenced a 

 minute examination into the general deficiencies of the library, assisted 

 by Mr. Jones and Mr. Watts, and in 1845 laid an elaborate report n the 

 subject before the trustees. Unusual stress is laid in this report, <>u tin- 

 literature of the modern foreign languages. " To be acquainted," it i* 

 said, in one passage (page 25), with the national history, lav. 

 rature, and scientific knowledge of the Dutch or Hungarians, of the 

 Swedes or the Danes, cannot be an object of less importance and prac- 

 tical utility, than to be familinr with the history, laws, &c., oi tin- 

 Egyptians, the Phoenicians, or the Etruscans.'' The deficien. 

 French, Italian, Spanish, and Oerman literature were strongly pointed 

 out, and also those in English. "The Museum," it was remarked, 

 " does not possess the laws, ordinances, or government acts of one-half 

 of the dependencies of England." ' With respect to English literature, 

 or indeed any branch of English knowledge or science, the I 

 Museum ought to afford every assistance, and the want of any English 

 book in such on institution ought to be a rare occurrence." To impr. 

 state of the library, Mr. Panizzi proposed a largely increased annual par- 

 liamentary grant; the trustees applied for that purpose to the Treasury, 

 and the Lords of the Treasury recommended to Parliament " an annual 

 grant of 10.000/. for some years to come, for the purchase of books of 

 all descriptions." The effects of this liberality were of course soon 

 visible. The number of volumes added to the library of printed books 

 in 1845 was 12,163 ; in 1846 it rose to 31,848 ; and in 1847, aided by 

 the 20,000 volumes of the Grenville library, it was no less than 55,475. 

 In 1848 it was 22,056 but in 1849 it sunk to 14,266, and in 1851 was 

 only 11,492, or little more than a third of what it hod been five years 

 before. The vast increase of volumes led of course to increased 

 requirements for binding and cataloguing, and, above all, for space. 

 As it was considered useless to purchase what room could not be found 

 for, and thus lead to complaints that books in the Museum were not 

 accessible, the grant was reduced to 45001., and even less ; and it was 

 only after the erection of the new library, which was completed in 

 1857, that the large scale of grants and purchases was resumed. In 

 the estimates for 1858, and in those for 1859, the sum of 10,0001. is 

 again set down for printed books. 



The magnitude of the effects of the impulse given in 1 845 is best shown 

 by a statement of the number of the volumes in the library, before 

 and after. " The library," says Mr. Jones, the present keeper, in his 

 ' Guide to the Printed Books,' dated February, 1858, " has been twice 

 counted ; the first time on the 25th of July, 1838, when the number 

 <>f printed volumes was found to be 235,000, and again on the 15th of 

 December, 1849, at which period they had increased to 435,000. 

 They are now about 550,000, and the annual increase is not less 

 than 20,000 volumes." The total number of volumes added in 1858 

 was 32,152. It may be added, that in the year 1821, before the 

 accession of the King's Library, the number of the national coll 

 was stated at less than 116,000; and that probably, at that p. -riml. tin- 



of every book ever printed." There is perhaps no better sympton 

 the prospects of tin- library, than that this belief has become less 

 confident in the exact proportion that it has become less absurd, and 

 that at present the librarians of the Museum are the first to acknow- 

 ledge, that whatever the comparative merit of the collection, it is still 

 far from being what it ought to be in point of attainable completeness. 

 In every branch of learning in which a student commences to prosecute 

 real research at the Museum, he will soon discover, even now, t.lui 

 considerable gaps exist. 



The state of the library is, nevertheless, very different from what it was 

 twenty years ago, and it now stands perhaps second in the list <>f tli.- 

 great collections of Europe. The libraries of France and Italy and the 

 South have in general founded their claims to admiration on such 

 merits as Dr. Dibdin gives most importance to the rarity and I 

 of particular volumes contained in them, their general good condition, 

 .m<l their extent. Ill the libraries of Germany, Scandinavia, ami tin- 

 North in general, on the other hand, more attention hag been )>.-ii<l to 

 scientific completeness, and to excellence of cataloguing and arrange- 

 ments. Copies on vellum or nn large paper, or in remarkable bindings, 

 sets of Aid use* or Elzevirs, have been amassed in the one ; complete 

 sets of books on a particular subject, well classed, in the other. In the 

 Museum there is a combination of both these claims. The King's 

 library, both old and new, the Grenville, and the Crocherode collections, 

 would alone suffice to place it on a high level in point of rariti< 

 curiosities, and there has been no falling off in purchases of t IIH kind 

 during the administration of Mr. Pani/./.i .inil his successor, Mr. Wind T 

 Jones. The Roxburghe ballads, early editions of the Bible, early Service 



