ACCOUNTS, &C., OF THE BRITISH MOSKUM. 



In the engraved Gems and Gold Ornament Room the scries of archaic gems and scarabs 

 have been arranged as far as possible in chronological order. 



The prospect of exhaustion of space available for further additions to the Library has 

 been a subject of anxiety to the Trustees. Methods have at different times been suggested 

 and put on trial for increasing the accommodation for books afforded by existing cases, but 

 •with only partial success. An experiment recently made at the suggestion of the officer 

 charged with the duty of placing the books promises to give better results. It consists in 

 suspending in front of the book-cases other cases capable of being moved forwards and 

 backwards, and holding double rows of books. The structure of the library surrounding; 

 the Reading Room lends itself very conveniently to the fixing of such cases, the addition 

 of which would more than double the capacity of this building for holding books. The 

 system could also be introduced into the older rooms of the Library if required, but not 

 without appropriating space used for other purposes. 



Representations have been made to Her Majesty's Government of the pressing need of 

 an additional reading room for the use of students not requiring access to works of older 

 literature and rarity, and to meet the evil of the greatly overcrowded condition of the 

 present room. 



The rooms recently occupied by the Department of Prints and Drawings have remained 

 out of use, owing to want of funds to meet the cost of fitting them for the reception 

 of the Greek and Roman monuments and works of art deposited in the basement. 



The galleries of Greek and Roman Sculptures, which have hitherto been closed during 

 two days in the week, are now open to the public every day. 



Presentations of Museum publications have been made to various Free Libraries of the 

 United Kingdom and other public institutions. 



Selections of duplicate printed books and engravings, electrotypes of ancient coins and 

 casts of gems, have been lent to local exhibitions. 



Sets of electrotypes of select Greek and Roman Coins have been presented to the 

 Public Museum of Greenock, and to the Blackburn Public Library and Museum. 



The number of lectures to private classes delivered during the year by persons not on 

 the Museum Staff is 45. 



The comparative table of the number of persons visiting the collections during a 

 succession of years shows a falling off for the year 1886, probably attributable to the 

 strong counter attraction of the International Exhibition in South Kensington. 



In a new edition of the Guide to the Galleries will be found an increased number of 

 descriptions of Babylonian Tablets, fuller descriptive accounts of the Fictile Vases and 

 Ancient Gems, and also a brief notice of the contents of the Ethnographical Gallery. 



Among the numerous donations which have been received during the past year atten- 

 tion may be drawn to that of the official, political, and private correspondence and 

 papers of Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle, presented by the Earl of Chiches- 

 ter. The Duke held the offices of Lord Chamberlain of the Household in the years 

 1717 to 1724; Secretary of State for the Southern Department from 1724 to 1746, and 

 for the Northern Department from 1746 to 1754 ; First Lord of the Treaauiy from 1754 to 

 1762 ; and Lord Privy Seal in 1765 and 1766. He died in 1768. Included in the 

 collection are a few volumes of papers of the Barons Holies of Ifield, and of the Sidneys, 

 Earls of Leicester, collatei-al ancestors of the Duke of Newcastle ; and about 30 volumes 

 of correspondence of Thomas Pelham, First Earl of Chichester, who died in 1805, and of 

 the Second Earl, Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and Home Secretary 

 and Postmaster General, who died in 1826. The whole collection forms about 430 

 volumes. 



A very valuable donation, one of a series extending over many years, has also been 

 received from Mr. A. W. Franks, the Keeper of the Department of British and Mediaeval 

 Antiquities. It consists of numerous jjieces of rare English Porcelain and Pottery, 

 selected from his own collection in order to complete a series representative of English 

 ceramics recently purchased from Mr. Henry Willett, and now placed on exhibition. The 

 specimens contributed by Mr. Franks cannot be valued at less iban 4,000 /. 



It is hardly possible to mention this donation -without referring to the extent and 

 character of the assistance given by Mr. Franks in the formation of the various collections 

 of which he has the particular charge. 



Mr. Franks entered the Museum as an Assistant in the Department of Antiquities in 

 the year 1851, and became Keeper of the British and Mediasval Antiquities in the year 

 1866, when these collections were formed into a separate Department, to include also 

 ■what the Museum contained of Ethnographical interest. In none of these branches of 

 Archasoiogy and Science had, up to that time, any effort been made to form an adequate 

 collection of objects. It is due to Mr. Franks, not only as a judicious purchaser of 

 antiquities on the part of the Trustees, but as a contributor from his own resources and 

 influence with collectors, that the Museum has at this time choice and well-arranged 

 examples of Romano-British and Mediaeval Antiquities, a collection of glass of all ao-es, 



185. B representative 



