Lives of the Founders of the British Museum: With Notices of Its Chief Augmentors and Other Benefactors, 1570-1870

This two-volume work covers the period 1570-1870, and is one of several written on book collections by Edward Edwards (1812-1886). Volume 1 considers the gatherers of the 'foundation collections' of the British Museum. Among them were Henry, Prince of Wales, the son of James I, and Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), whose bequest of his collections to George II led directly to the foundation of the Museum. Volume 2 looks at some of the early donors of books. A chapter is devoted to the Royal Library of King George III, and Edwards then concentrates on the period 1829-1870, giving a view of the growth of the Museum under a series of chief librarians. Later chapters look at the donors of items in the collection of antiquities, and give an account of the Grenville Library of over 20,000 books, bequeathed to the Museum in 1846.