BRITISH MUSEUM, THE. 



BRITISH MUSEUM, THE. 



390 



printed in Caxton's types, and considered to be the first book printed 

 in French. Specimens of illuminated printing, and of illustrations on 

 wood and copper-plate, fill some of the other cases; and one is devoted 

 t ) specimens of binding. In this are shown beautiful proofs of the 

 taste of Groiier and Maioli, and also volumes of remarkable bindin 

 that have belonged to King Henry VIII., Queen Elizabeth, and Mary 

 queen of Scots, and show the taste of the times. A walk through th 

 King's Library, and an inspection of the treasures it contains, are in 

 themselves a small course of bibliography. 



A history of the reading-room of the Museum is now in course o 

 preparation by Mr. Winter Jones, to be prefixed to a printed catalogu 

 of the books it contains, which has been some time preparing for th 

 press. The number of visits to the reading-room has undergone an 

 increase similar to that to the Museum in general. The regulations fo 

 its management at the outset, in 1759, were of the same cautious an 

 restrictive character with those for the general establishment. Afte 

 some stringent rules with regard to admission, it was ordained (Regula- 

 tion 3) " that a particular room be allotted to the persons so admitted, in 

 which they may sit and read or write without interruption during the 

 time that the Museum is kept open ; that a proper officer be con 

 stantly present in the said room as long as any such person or person 

 shall be there ; and for the greater ease and convenience of the sai< 

 persons, as well as security of the collection, it is expected that notice 

 be given in writing the day before by each person to the said officer 

 what book or manuscript he will be desirous of perusing the following 

 day, which book or manuscript, on such request, will be lodged in 

 some convenient place in the said room, and will from thence be 

 delivered to him by the officer of the said room ; excepting, however, 

 &c. &c. Gray, the poet, was one of the first to avail himself of t It- 

 opening of the room, and some mention of it, in his usual tone o 

 splenetic humour, is to be found in two or three of his letters. " 

 often," he writes, in August, 1759, " pass four hours in the day in thi 

 stillness and solitude of the reading-room ;" and in another letter he de 

 scribes the company, which at that time consisted of only four other 

 readers, two of whom were Prussians, while Dr. Stukeley , the antiquary 

 and a copyist made up the number. Foreigners and antiquaries 

 appear to have continued to be frequent visitors, and towards the 

 close of the century, French emigrants almost outnumbered the native 

 English. D'lsraeli the elder, in the last edition of his ' Curiosities 

 of Literature' which he superintended, gave a few lines to his re 

 miniscences of the quiet old room. In 1803, almost simultaneously 

 with the death of Dr. Penneck, who had been for forty-two years 

 keeper of the reading-room, several alterations in the arrangements 

 were made, and the old room was changed for a new one. Peller 

 Malcolm, in his ' Londinium Redivivum,' published at that time, 

 gives a description of both. "The reading-room, till the whiter oi 

 1803, was," he says, "a large vaulted apartment with a clumsy marble 

 chimney-piece, but having only two windows, which were insufficient 

 to illuminate the most remote parts of the table." " The present 

 reading-room," he continues, " is surrounded by shelves of books secured 

 by wire, has a vaulted ceiling, a handsome cornice, and a large marble 

 chimney-piece, &c. &c. Two long tables extend north and south, on 

 each side of the fire-place, for the readers ; these are covered with green 

 cloth, and are plentifully supplied with pens, ink, and rests for the 

 books. Catalogues are placed on shelves within the room, which the 

 reader consults at pleasure, writes his notes from them, pulls the bell- 

 rope near the door, a messenger instantly obeys the summons, and in 

 a* abort a time as possible returns with the wished-for book." By the 

 rules promulgated in 1803, no reader, except in particular cases, at 

 the discretion of the principal librarian, was entitled to more than 

 two volumes at a time, but they might be exchanged as often as he 

 required. As the library and the metropolis both went on increasing, 

 so did the visitors to the reading-room. " At the time when these 

 buildings were first under consideration," said Sir Robert Smirke, in 

 his evidence before the Committee of 1836, " it was stated to me by 

 one of the principal officers of the Museum, that the average number 

 of readers daily attending the rooms was 30. He stated at the same 

 tinii; that he thought it probable, if more convenient arrangements 

 were made for their reception, they might be increased to 80, or even 

 perhaps 100. There are now frequently 200, and yet more accommo- 

 dation it wanted.'' This accommodation was provided in the new 

 buildings, first in two temporary rooms in the south-east corner, to 

 which access was gained by a steep flight of steps, and after 1838, by 

 two rooms in the north-east corner, built expressly for reading rooms, 

 but to which the entrance was by a door in the basement. There 

 were parts of the principal room in which reading was impracticable at 

 certain times of the day till some alterations were made, by perforating 

 the gallery above, introducing reflectors, Ac., which at last shed sufficient 

 light on the tables below. As the number of readers increased, 

 additional tables were introduced, which had, however, the effect of 

 making the passages between inconveniently narrow. The ceiling of 

 the reading-rooms being only 31 feet high, the ordinary height of the 

 apartments on the principal floor, the atmosphere, when the attendance 

 of readers had been numerous, became oppressive and disagreeable 

 towards the close of the day. These considerations marie the readers 

 welcome with a pleasure mixed with surprise the news that the splendid 

 reading-room was in progress, which was finally opened to them on 

 May 2(>th, 1857. Some description of this room has already been given 



in our account of the building. The number of readers instantaneously . 

 doubled, and the daily average in 1858 was 424. Many of these are 

 ladies, for whose exclusive accommodation there are tables affording 

 fourteen seats, while they are always at liberty to take a seat at any 

 other table they prefer. On three or four occasions the whole of the 

 seats in the room, which are 302 in number, have been occupied at 

 once ; and when the immense population of London, the ease of obtain- 

 ing admission to read, and the value of the privilege are considered, no 

 surprise will be felt at the circumstance. Those who obtain admission 

 have at their command, arranged on the walls around them, a select 

 library of 20,000 volumes, comprising books of reference of all kinds. 

 They may at pleasure, by merely writing for what they want, obtain as 

 many volumes as they please of a printed and manuscript library of 

 more than 600,000 volumes, beyond all comparison the finest in 

 England, and probably at this moment the completest for use in 

 Europe. Their ample seats in a magnificent room are furnished with 

 every accommodation for writing and reading, and they are met on all 

 sides with civility and attention. Some improvements may yet be 

 required, but such advantages as those now accessible without fee or 

 reward, were inaccessible on any terms to a former generation ; and 

 even now, a nobleman in his private library may often miss facilities 

 to be found in the reading-room of the Museum. 



The following are the most important directions respecting it, taken 

 from a printed paper which is delivered to every reader. 



" The reading-room of the Museum is open every day, except Sundays, 

 Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Christmas Day, and any Fast or Thanks- 

 giving days appointed by authority ; except also from the 1st to the 

 7th of January, the 1st to the 7th of May, and the 1st to the 7th of 

 September, inclusive. 



" The hours are from nine till four in the months of November, 

 December, January, and February ; from nine till five in the months 

 of September, October, March, and April ; and from nine till six in the 

 months of May, June, July, and August. 



" Any person desiring to be admitted into the reading-room is to 

 apply in writing, addressed " To the Principal Librarian of the British 

 Museum," and not otherwise, specifying his description and place of 

 abode, and accompanying his letter with a mitten recommendation, satis- 

 factory to an officer of the Museum ; and thereupon, the principal 

 librarian may grant him admission for a. term not exceeding six 

 months, or refer the application to the trustees at their next meeting. 

 Any reader, once admitted, may apply at the close of his term for the 

 renewal of his ticket, without a fresh recommendation, but producing 

 his last ticket of admission. 



" The tickets of admission given to readers are not transferable, and 

 each person must, if required, produce his ticket. 



" Persons under eighteen years of age are not admissible. 

 " Readers, before leaving the room, are to return the books, manu- 

 scripts, or maps which they have received to an attendant, and are to 

 obtain the corresponding ticket ; the reader being responsible for such 

 books, manuscripts, or maps so long as the ticket remains uncanceUed. 



" It may be sufficient merely to suggest, that silence is absolutely 

 requisite in a place dedicated to the purposes of study." 



Department of Manuscripts. The history of the Manuscript depart- 

 ment is in its general outline similar to that of the Printed Books, 

 though its development has of course not been so immense. It was 

 formed at the outset by the union of four great collections; other 

 whole collections were afterwards added from time to time by pur- 

 chase ; and more recently a liberal expenditure has taken place in 

 making selections at sales, both English and foreign. The Harleian, 

 Sloanean, and Cottonian manuscripts formed the nucleus of the depart- 

 ment, followed, in 1757,'by the manuscripts of the ancient royal library 

 of England. This last collection, of about 1950 volumes, contains what- 

 ever had keen brought together by our kings, from King Richard II. 

 to King George II. Many of these manuscripts came into the royal 

 collection at the time when our monastic institutions were destroyed, 

 and some still retain the anathemas upon their spare leaves which the 

 donors denounced against those who should alienate the respective 

 volumes from the places of their original deposit. Old scholastic 

 divinity abounds in this collection ; but it possesses also about fifty 

 volumes of Chronicles, some of which appear to have been executed for 

 King Edward IV., and a volume of romances presented by Talbot, earl 

 of Shrewsbury (Shakspere's Talbot), to Margaret of Anjou. The 

 great ornament of the collection, however, is the 'Codex Alexandrinus,' 

 ,n ancient Greek copy of the Scriptures, supposed to have been exe- 

 cuted by Thecla, a lady of Alexandria, in the 4th or 6th century, and 

 presented by Cyril Lucar, the patriarch of Constantinople, to King 

 Jharles I. It is generally acknowledged by critics to be one of the 

 ;wo most ancient copies of the Scriptures in existence, and an elaborate 

 edition of the New Testament portion of it was executed by Dr. Woide, 

 and of the Old Testament portion, at the public expense, by the Rev. 

 H. H. Baber, from 1822 to 1837 keeper of the Printed Books. It has 

 also many volumes, enriched by the finest illuminators of different 

 ountries, in a succession of periods to the 16th century ; a numerous 

 assemblage of the domestic music-books of Henry VIII.; and the 

 iasilicon Doron of King Jamet I., in his own hand-writing. 



The Cottonian collection originally consisted of <J58 volumes, which 

 vere supposed to be reduced to 746, exclusive of some fragments, by 

 n unfortunate fire which injured it in 1731, when it was deposited at 



