Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1895-03-03
BOOKS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
The Great Library Has outErowR the
Quarters Prepared for Ii.
U.otU me TO1g0n trfSgt ami


Quarters Prepared for 1t.
From he Lonaon 4t'cg' aDh
For a considerable time past the
authorities of the British museum have
been alive TO the necessity Of keeping
pace with the vast accum ulation Of
books at the national library, on the
assumption that, with the existing ar
engagements, the present building would
ere long prove utterly inadequate.
When the new iron-work library was
opened in 1857 it was estimated by Sir
Anthony Panizzi, then principal
librarian, that 10 would suffice to cope
with the immense growth OF literary
works for about thirty years, and he
was right 1t was in 1857 that the
overcrowding in many parts Of the
building manifested itself
The books are arranged in subjects,
and IL was then discovered that certain
subjects had entirely outgrown the &C
commodation provided, and mature de-
Liberation led TO the determination To
place movable presses in front OF the
old fixed presses. Ia various depart
ments the adoption of this contrivance
is, OF course, impossible. No Interior
ence is contemplated with the Kings
library, which was presented to the
nation by George ", and is complete
in itself; nor with the beautiful library
of rare volumes which Granville, the
statesman, bequsthed on the under
standing that It should be kept from
the general library. Analogous cond-
tions apply to the Cracherode and Banks
collections.
The ingenious cOntrivanCe can not be
conveniently utilized in the old library,
aud, in fact. it is primarily intended for
the new libary. To the girders sup
porting the floor pieces of iron are at
tached in the form of lodges, upon
which the movable presses run on
wheels. When the old presses are full
the new presses are put in front of
them, and can be moved at pleasure.
They do not turn on hinges, but pull
straight out, and are really suspended
from above. Some OF the more recent
movable presses run on wheels along
the ground. but these are used in the
basement for heavy bound volumes Of
newspapers.
Others. again, turn on central pivots,
but they have not been finally adopted.
Similar expedients have been for some
time in vogue at BethnsI Green anc
Bradford, but at these places the
sliding bookcases ara in the form of
doors. while at the Soane Museum, in
Lincoln's Inn Fields, movable parti-
tons are used for the exhibition OF the
valuable pictures stored there, this be-
ing rendered necessary by conditions 10
the will OF the donor insisting upon the
maintenance of the place in its charac-
ter OF private residence. Movable
presses are capable OF considerable de-
velopment, and since their adoption at
Bloomsbury, the authorities at the
Radcliffe Library, oxford, have fol-
lowed the example thus set, although
at tbs University the presses are ma
nipulated on trsmways Altogether
nearly 200 presses have been construct
ed at the British Museum, but in some
form or another they can be extended
until the existing accommodation can
be doubled II is In the department OF
English novels that the increase Of
hooks is most marked. Newspapers
also are a source OF much difficulty, see-
ing that the provincial journals for one
year alone, 1891, occupy eighteen press
es. each 5 feet high aud feet in width.
Under the old arrangement, the pres
emit library, when full, will contain over
. OOO. 600 books, aud the further accom-
modations secured by the movable
presses will probably be exhausted 10
thirty years. Everything cannot be
done for posterity,. aud posterity will
have 10 tackle the problem which will
then present itself for solution. No
modification Of the system OF collection
now in force is dreamt o. Destruction
of the comparatively useless works
might suggest itself to some people, but