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DEPARTMENT OF MANUSCRIPTS. 
The Collections of this Department have been formed partly 
by the acquisition of private libraries and partly by purchases 
and donations accumulated from year to year. The Manu- 
scripts of Sir Robert Cotton, of Edward Harley, Earl of 
Oxford, and of Sir Hans Sloan e, were among the first collec- 
tions brought together by the Act of Parliament of 1753, to 
which the British Museum owes its origin. The other collec- 
tions are : The Old Royal MSS. (incorporated with the early 
collections in 1769), the King s MSS., collected by George ITL; 
the Birch MSS., of the Rev. Thomas Birch, D.D. ; the Lans- 
downe MSS., of William Petty, Marquess of Lansdowne ; the 
Arundel MSS., of Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel; 
the Burney MSS., of the Rev. Charles Burney, D.D. ; the 
Hargrave MSS., of Francis Hargrave, Q.C. ; the Egerton 
MSS., of Francis Egerton, Earl of Bridge water, augumented 
by purchases made from funds bequeathed by the Earl and 
by Charles Long, Lord Farnborough ; and the Additional 
MSS., the largest of all the collections, purchased from the 
annual parliamentary grant or acquired by donation or be- 
quest. The Department contains altogether nearly 50,000 
volumes, of which upwards of 8,500 are written in Oriental 
languages ; more than 45,000 charters and rolls ; nearly 7,000 
detached seals and casts of seals ; and upwards of 100 ancient 
Greek, Coptic, and Latin papyri. 
THE MANUSCRIPT SALOON. 
This room, in which are exhibited specimens of Ancient 
and Illuminated Manuscripts, Bindings, Autograph Letters, 
Charters, and Seals, is lined with bookcases, containing on the 
