Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
‘If we were to take away from the Museum Collection[of Books] the King’s Library, and the collection whichGeorge the Third gave before that, and then themagnificent collection of Mr. Cracherode, as well asthose of Sir William Musgrave, Sir Joseph Banks, SirRichard Colt Hoare, and many others,—and also all thebooks received under the Copyright Act,—if we were totake away all the books so given, I am satisfied not onehalf of the books [in 1836], nor one third of the value ofthe Library, has been procured with money voted by theNation. The Nation has done almost nothing for theLibrary....
‘Considering the British Museum to be a NationalLibrary for research, its utility increases in proportionwith the very rare and costly books, in preference tomodern books.... I think that scholars have a rightto look, for these expensive works, to the Government ofthe Country....
‘I want a poor student to have the same means of indulginghis learned curiosity,—of following his rationalpursuits,—of consulting the same authorities,—of fathomingthe most intricate inquiry,—as the richest man in thekingdom, as far as books go. And I contend that Governmentis bound to give him the most liberal and unlimitedassistance in this respect. I want the Library of theBritish Museum to have books of both descriptions....
‘When you have given a hundred thousand pounds,—inten or twelve years,—you will begin to have a libraryworthy of the British Nation.’—
Notices of some early Donors of Books.—The Life and Collectionsof Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode.—WilliamPetty, first Marquess of Lansdowne, and his Libraryof Manuscripts.—The Literary Life and Collections ofDr. Charles Burney.—Francis Hargrave and hisManuscripts.—The Life and Testamentary Foundationsof Francis Henry Egerton, Ninth Earl of Bridgewater.
The Reader has now seen that, within some twelve orfifteen years, a Collection of Antiquities, c