The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-01-15
BRITISH MUSEUM CELEBRATES 155TH ANNIVERSARY OF OPENING

The Britaah Museum, England'h grand national repository of literature ana archaeology. win celebrate to-day khs 156th annfversary of its opening. IL ranks in importance before all the great libraries of the world, only ths Bibnetheque Rationale. in Paris, ap- preaching it. The institution con- kains about 100000 volumes in the nepartnent of printed books, as com pared with the 1sss1.72s books and pamphaets in the Library of Congress at Washfngt and the 1,1zesOoo vol unnes and pamphlets in the New York Public Library.
 Vast as is the collection of books in The British Museum. 1t Is by no means n complete record of British literature ns Is popularly supposed Of the books publsshed in England since the Inzentzen of printing the museum H~ hraxy contains only about 75 per cent With each passing year. howsv the percentage increases with the pur chase uf old books and by gift in the case of new books. as the copyright law requires that a copy of every book. pamphlet. newspaper. periodi- cal. piece of music, etc, pup1ished anywhere in the British empire must be conveyed free of charge to the mu- seun- This dragnet insures a. prac- HcaE7y complete collection of current ntefatHre for the great mussuhn-
 The British Museum owes it's foun- dation to Sir Hans Sloane. who be- queathed his various collections, in cIndfnE 5o.ooO books and manuscripts, to the nation, on condition of $1eo.o0 being paid to his heirs This ofEer was accepted by Parliament, and on Ian Is. 175s. the British Museum was formally opened Since then every passing year has witnessed a great increase in the collections, until now nobody would attempt to esti- mate the value of the British nIu- Beum's treasures. Many of them are priceless. and all the wealth of aii the Czrneg1es and Rothschllds ana Rocke- se1lera of the world could not buy them.
 while the museum Is open daily. Free of charge. admission to the by ticket. procurab1e on application se the chief librarian there being cer-. lain s1mple coalitions attached. Each applicant has to sign his name. and these autographed cards contain the Sfgnatures of the most famous men md women of Great Britain, and many of foreign notables, for over a century and a half The value of these autographs alone is enormous, zs practically every famous man of letters and many famous in other walks of fife, have made use of the museum library at one time or an other
 The British Museum's great New World rival. the Library of Congress Rt Washington was established in is0e- It was wiped out by fire in ls14 just century ago, and in 1851 the library again suffered terrible loss in the destruction of s5.00o val nable volumes. Like the British Mu- seums the Library of Congress is kept ! up to date by deposits of volumes un- der fhe copyright law The wash ington collection is now the largest in the Western Hemisphere, and the third largest in the world, being sur passed only by the British Museum and the BibHotheque Rationale
 The New York Public Library is housed in the most costly and largest ndince of it's kind in the world, and ranks next to the Washington insti- tuition in number of volumes. It is a consolidation of the Astor Library, founded i'm 1s4s; the Lenox library, established in 1870. and the. Tilden li- brary, which was opened thirty years ago. The consolidation was effected ID 1885. and in 1902 the cornerstone uf the new edifice was laid The building was completed and formally opened in 1911, and it now contains 5ver 1,1z6,eeO volumes and pam Snlets, while the shelves available provide space for nearly 2,oOo,o 900
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