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BOOK III,
Chap. II.
HISTORY

OF THE
MUSEUM
UNDER SIR
H. ELLIS.

One of the communications which my late friend published in that Mechanics' Magazine' contained two suggestions-made contingently, and by way of alternative plans -for the enlargement of the Museum buildings. Nearly eleven years afterwards (August, 1847), I unconsciously repeated those very suggestions, amongst many others, in a pamphlet, entitled Public Libraries in London and Paris. I was in complete ignorance that my suggestions of 1847 were otherwise than entirely original. original. I thought them wholly my own. Of the print which accompanied my pamphlet I give the reader an exact fac-simile, errors included, on the opposite plate. The print embodied very nearly the same thoughts, on the enlargement of the library, which had been expressed, so long before, in the pages of the Mechanics' Magazine.' The first presented copy of that pamphlet and print was given to my friend WATTS. I was then absent, far from London, and I had presently the pleasure of receiving from him a long letter, containing some criticisms and remarks on my publication. But such was his modest reticence about his own prior performance, that the letter contained no word or hint concerning the anticipation of my alternative suggestions for the enlargement of the Library in his prior publication. And, in the long interval between 1837 and 1847, I suppose we had conversed about the improvement of the Museum, and about its buildings, actual and prospective, some thirty or forty times, but (as I have said) those valuable and thoughtful articles of his, printed in 1836-7-and making complimentary mention of my own labours, and of my evidence given before Mr. HAWES' Committee-never came within my knowledge. No part of their contents was even mentioned to me. I saw them, for the first time, in January, 1870. Very few men-within my range of acquaintance

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SUGGESTIONS, MADE IN 1847.

FOR THE ENLARGEMENT OF THE LIBRARY OF THE
BRITISH MUSEUM

BEING THE FAC-SIMILE OF A PLAN INSERTED IN A PAMPHLET (WRITTEN IN 1846.)

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BOOK III, Chap. II. HISTORY

OF THE

MUSEUM
UNDER SIR
H. ELLIS.

One of the communications which my late friend published in that Mechanics' Magazine' contained two suggestions-made contingently, and by way of alternative plans -for the enlargement of the Museum buildings. Nearly eleven years afterwards (August, 1847), I unconsciously repeated those very suggestions, amongst many others, in a pamphlet, entitled Public Libraries in London and Paris. I was in complete ignorance that my suggestions of 1847 were otherwise than entirely original. I thought them wholly my own. Of the print which accompanied my pamphlet I give the reader an exact fac-simile, errors included, on the opposite plate. The print embodied very nearly the same thoughts, on the enlargement of the library, which had been expressed, so long before, in the pages of the Mechanics' Magazine.' The first presented copy of that pamphlet and print was given to my friend WATTS. I was then absent, far from London, and I had presently the pleasure of receiving from him a long letter, containing some criticisms and remarks on my publication. But such was his modest reticence about his own prior performance, that the letter contained no word or hint concerning the anticipation of my alternative suggestions for the enlargement of the Library in his prior publication. And, in the long interval between 1837 and 1847, I suppose we had conversed about the improvement of the Museum, and about its buildings, actual and prospective, some thirty or forty times, but (as I have said) those valuable and thoughtful articles of his, printed in 1836-7-and making complimentary mention of my own labours, and of my evidence given before Mr. HAWES' Committee-never came within my knowledge. No part of their contents was even mentioned to me. I saw them, for the first time, in January, 1870. Very few men-within my range of acquaintance

[blocks in formation]

SUGGESTIONS, MADE IN 1847.

FOR THE ENLARGEMENT OF THE LIBRARY OF THE
BRITISH MUSEUM

BEING THE FAC-SIMILE OF A PLAN INSERTED IN A PAMPHLET (WRITTEN IN 1846)

[blocks in formation]
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