Part 1 — Introductory material
Reading edition
CHAPTER III.
A GROUP OF BOOK-LOVERS AND PUBLIC BENEFACTORS.
Notices of some early Donors of Books.—The Life and Collections of Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode.—William Petty, first Marquess of Lansdowne, and his Library of Manuscripts.—The Literary Life and Collections of Dr. Charles Burney.—Francis Hargrave and his Manuscripts.—The Life and Testamentary Foundations of Francis Henry Egerton, Ninth Earl of Bridgewater 413
CHAPTER IV.
THE KING’S OR ‘GEORGIAN’ LIBRARY;—ITS COLLECTOR, AND ITS DONOR.
Notices of the Literary Tastes and Acquirements of King George the Third.—His Conversations with Men of Letters.—History of his Library and of its Transfer to the British Nation by George the Fourth 464
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CHAPTER V.
THE FOUNDER OF THE BANKSIAN MUSEUM AND LIBRARY.
The Life, Travels, and Social Influence, of Sir Joseph Banks.—The Royal Society under his Presidency.—His Collections and their acquisition by the Trustees of the British Museum.—Notices of some other contemporaneous accessions 487
BOOK THE THIRD.
LATER AUGMENTORS AND BENEFACTORS.
1829–1870.
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL VIEW OF THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM, UNDER THE ADMINISTRATION, AS PRINCIPAL-LIBRARIAN, OF JOSEPH PLANTA.
Notices of the Life of Joseph Planta, third Principal-Librarian.—Improvements in the Internal Economy of the Museum introduced or recommended by Mr. Planta.—His labours for the enlargement of the Collections—and on the Museum Publications and Catalogues.—The Museum Gardens and the Duke of Bedford 515
CHAPTER II.
INTRODUCTION TO BOOK III (continued):—GROWTH, PROGRESS, AND INTERNAL ECONOMY, OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM, DURING THE PRINCIPAL-LIBRARIANSHIP OF SIR HENRY ELLIS.
ixInternal Economy of the Museum at the time of the death of Joseph Planta.—The Literary Life and Public Services of Sir Henry Ellis.—The Candidature of Henry Fynes Clinton.—Progress of Improvement in certain Departments.—Introduction of Sir Antonio Panizzi into the Service of the Trustees.—The House of Commons’ Committee of 1835–36.—Panizzi and Henry Francis Cary.—Memoir of Cary.—Panizzi’s Report on the proper Character of a National Library for Britain, made in October, 1837.—His successive labours for Internal Reform.—And his Helpers in the work.—The Literary Life and Public Services of Thomas Watts.—Sir A. Panizzi’s Special Report to the Trustees of 1845, and what grew thereout.—Progress, during Sir H. Ellis’s term of office, of the several Departments of Natural History and of Antiquities 527
CHAPTER III.
INTRODUCTION TO BOOK III (continued):—GROWTH, PROGRESS, AND INTERNAL ECONOMY, OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM DURING THE PRINCIPAL-LIBRARIANSHIP OF SIR ANTONIO PANIZZI.
The Museum Buildings.—The New Reading-Room and its History.—The House of Commons’ Committee of 1860.—Further Reorganization of the Departments.—Summary of the Growth of the Collections in the years 1856–1866, and of their increased Use and Enjoyment by the Public 583
CHAPTER IV.
ANOTHER GROUP OF ARCHÆOLOGISTS AND EXPLORERS.—THE SPOILS OF XANTHUS, OF BABYLON, OF NINEVEH, OF HALICARNASSUS, AND OF CARTHAGE.
The Libraries of the East.—The Monasteries of the Nitrian Desert, and their Explorers.—William Cureton and his Labours on the MSS. of Nitria, and in other Departments of Oriental Literature.—The Researches in the Levant of Sir Charles Fellows, of Mr. Layard, and of Mr. Charles Newton.—Other conspicuous Augmentors of the Collection of Antiquities 608
CHAPTER V.
THE FOUNDER OF THE GRENVILLE LIBRARY.
The Grenvilles and their Influence on the Political Aspect of the Georgian Reigns.—The Public and Literary Life of the Right Honourable Thomas Grenville.—History of the Grenville Library 670
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CHAPTER VI.
OTHER BENEFACTORS OF RECENT DAYS.
Recent Contributors to the Natural History Collections.—The Duke of Blacas and his Museum of Greek and Roman Antiquities.—Hugh Cuming and his Travels and Collections in South America.—John Rutter Chorley, and his Collection of Spanish Plays and Spanish Poetry.—George Witt and his Collections illustrative of the History of Obscure Superstitions.—The Ethnographical Museum of Henry Christy, and its History.—Colonial Archæologists and British Consuls: The History of the Woodhouse Collection, and of its transmittal to the British Museum.—Lord Napier and the Acquisition of the Abyssinian MSS.—The Art Collections and Bequests of Felix Slade.—The Travels and the Japanese Library of Von Siebold 686
CHAPTER VII.
RECONSTRUCTORS AND PROJECTORS.
The Plans and Projects for the Severance and Partial Dispersion of the Collections which at present form ‘The British Museum,’ and for their re-combination and re-arrangement 721
Index 763
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