iTACK 5 104 BRITISH MUSEUM. READING BOOM AND NEW LIBEARY. alifornia gional 3ility NEX TjEUTRANCE HALlfpi ft 111] g-^,g B 1 fcxl=g=>J NORTH LIBRARY PLAN OF THE READING ROOM AND NEW LIBRARY, BRITISH MUSEUM. A Superintendent's Table. B Catalogue Desks. C Readers' Seats and Tables. D Kntrnnoe from North Library. E Entrance from King's Library F Ladies' Cloak Room. Q Gentlemen's Cloak Room. H Gentlemen's Lavatory. BKITISH MUSEUM. BEADING BOOM AM' NMW LIhHAKY. WITH A PLAN. 1'HINTED BY OMDKIJ OK THK TliMSTKKS. L909. All I'ii/llt.-i i-i'xrn-fil. LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, U3HTED. DUKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND CHEAT WINDMILL STUEKT, \V, CONTENTS. I'AGK HISTORY OF THE RKADINC; ROOM .. .. .. 7 DESCRIPTION OF THE KEADINK ROOM.. .. .. 10 VENTILATION. HKATIM;. AND LH;HTIN<. .. .. 13 ARRANGEMENTS, FITTINGS. ETC. .. .. .. ..15 NlMHEK (IF READERS .. .. .. .. ..17 \K\V LlHHAKY .. .. .. .. .. ..17 EXPLANATION OF THE PLAN 19 HISTORY OF THE READING ROOM. THE history of the Beading Boom dates back to the opening of the British Museum in Montagu House, January 15th, 1759. On the 8th of December, 1758, the Trustees ordered " that the corner room in the base story be appropriated for the Beading Boom, and that a proper wainscot table, covered with green bays in the same manner as those in the libraries, be prepared for the same, with twenty chairs of the same kind with those already provided for the several departments of the house." A corner room in the basement story, with one oak table and twenty chairs, forms a striking contrast with the Beading Boom of the present day, but it was not so bad as the reader of modern times may imagine. A glass door opened from this Beading Boom into the garden of Montagu House, which was well cultivated and planted with goodly trees. Nothing in those days intervened between it and Hampstead to obstruct the prospect or poison the air. We may smile now at the twenty chairs, but they proved more than sufficient for the demands at first made upon them. The poet Gray, in his correspondence, gives an amusing account of his visits to the Museum. In a letter to the Bev. William Mason, dated July 23rd, 1759, he says : " I am just settled in my new habita- tion in Southampton Bow, and, though a solitary and dispirited creature, not unquiet nor wholly unpleasant to myself. The Museum will be my chief amusement. I this day passed through the jaws of a great leviathan that lay in my way into the belly of Dr. Templeman, 8 Reading Room and Xcw Library. Superintendent of the Reading Room, who congratulated himself on the sight of so much good company. We were a man that writes for Lord Royston ; a man that writes for Dr. Burton, of York ; a third that writes for the Emperor of Germany or Dr. Pocock, for he speaks the worst English I ever heard ; Dr. Stukeley, who writes for himself, the very worst person he could write for; and I, who only read to know if there were anything worth writing, and that not without some difficulty. I find that they printed one thousand copies of the Harleian Catalogue, and sold fourscore ; that they have 900 a-year income and spend 1,300, and that they are building apartments for the under-keepers, so I expect in winter to see the collection advertised and set to auction." Here the Reading Room remained until May, 1774, when, in consequence of complaints of the damp, the Trustees ordered that the south-west angle room upon the first state story should be fitted up for the reception of students. This room was directly over the former. It was opened on the 31st of October, 1774, and continued to be used by readers until the year 1817, or for a period of forty-three years. This circumstance shows how small was the attendance of readers for the first fifty years of the existence of the Museum. The French Revolution led, however, to a considerable increase in the number of readers. Nearly one-half of those admitted in the year 1795 consisted of French refugees. Among them were the Archbishop of Bordeaux, the Bishops of Uzes and of Troyes, the Count de St. Cyr, the Abbe de Tressan, the Duke de Levis and the Count de Lally Tollendal, with a long list of abb^s and men of less note, all of whom sought relief from the ennui of their exile in the Reading Room of the British Museum. On the 12th of April, 1817, the Principal Librarian found it necessary to report to the Trustees that the number of persons who frequented the Reading Room had of late so considerably increased as to render the accommodation insufficient, and that Room No. 5 on the upper floor had been appropriated to their use. This was one of the rooms in which the Harleian MSS. were then deposited. From this period the applications for the 7/7.s7o?7/ of the Reading Room. 9 privilege of reading at the Museum appear to have gradually and steadily increased. On the 15th of March, 1823, it was ordered that the room which adjoined the Eeading Eoom then in use towards the Saloon should be forthwith prepared for the further accommodation of readers, who then numbered from fifty to seventy per diem. In 1823 the Library collected by King George III. was presented to the nation by his successor, with the con- dition that a suitable room should be provided for its reception. The present Eastern Gallery was accordingly built, the upper floor being at first intended for a picture gallery. The erection of this gallery afforded an oppor- tunity for building three rooms for the reception of the manuscripts. Two of these rooms (at the south end) were devoted to the purpose of a Eeading Eoom, with accommodation for 120 readers. They were made ready for use at Midsummer of the year 1826, and were speedily filled, as appears from an order of the Trustees dated 12th July, 1828, directing that, in the event of an actual overflow of the present Eeading Eooms, the MS. room be considered and used as an additional Eeading Eoom. That this order must ultimately have been acted upon was evident to every one who experienced the atmosphere of these rooms w r hen occupied by readers. The necessity was, however, avoided by the erection of two larger rooms at the eastern end of the present northern gallery, to which the readers migrated in the year 1838. These rooms also were soon filled, and complaints of over- crowding and foul air and " Museum fleas" became more and more frequent ; but the evil to a certain extent worked its own cure (if cure it can be called) by driving away those students who could not struggle against the physical inconveniences and annoyances to which they were exposed. The rooms continued to be used from 1838 to 1857 ; but during these years the Library grew largely and rapidly, and it became a matter of vital necessity to find ad- ditional storage room for books and sitting room for readers. The difficulty was greatly increased by the fact that the entire space formerly occupied by Montagu House was now practically filled, leaving only the large central quad- B 2 10 Heading Room and Neio Library. rangle surrounded by the buildings of the Museum. Many schemes were considered, some impracticable, some too costly, all involving delays which would have been fatal to the efficiency of the Library. At length, in April, 1852, a plan was suggested by Sir Anthony Panizzi, then Keeper of the Printed Books, for building a circular Beading Boom in the vacant quad- rangle, and surrounding it with galleries for the reception of books ; the plan was approved by the Trustees, reported upon favourably by Mr. Sydney Smirke, the architect to the Museum, and adopted. It resulted in the erection of the present magnificent circular domed Beading Boom, and the spacious galleries with which it is surrounded. The excavations were commenced in the month of May, 1854. The first brick was laid in September of the same year ; the first iron standard was fixed in the month of January, 1855 ; and in May, 1857, the building was com- pleted and opened to readers. DESCRIPTION OF THE READING ROOM. THE quadrangle within which the new Library is built is 313 feet in length by 235 in breadth, comprising an area of 73,555 square feet. Of this space the building covers 47,472 feet, being 258 feet long by 184 feet in width. The Beading Boom is circular. The dome is 140 feet in diameter, and its height 106 feet. The diameter of the lantern is 40 feet. Light is further obtained from twenty circular-headed windows, 27 feet high by 12 feet wide, inserted at equal intervals round the dome at a height of 35 feet from the ground. The dome is only two feet less in diameter than that of the Pantheon of Borne. The domes of St. Peter's at Borne, and of Santa Maria in Florence, are only 139 feet ; that of the tomb of Muhammad Adil Shah at Bijapur, 124 ; of St. Paul's, 112 ; of St. Sophia, at Constantinople, 107 ; and of the Church of Darmstadt, 105. The new Beading Description of the Reading Room. 11 Room contains 1,250,000 cubic feet of space, and the surrounding libraries 750,000. These libraries are 24 feet in height, except immediately round the outside of the Reading Room, where the height is 32 feet; the spring of the dome being 24 feet from the floor of the Reading Room, and the ground excavated 8 feet below this level. The building is constructed principally of iron. The main ribs of the Reading Room, with brick arches between, are supported by twenty iron piers, having a sectional area of 10 superficial feet to each, including the brick casing, or 200 feet in all. The saving of space by the use of iron is thus remarkable ; for the piers of the Pantheon at Rome fill 7,477 feet of area, and those of the tomb of Mahomet 5,593. Upwards of 2,000 tons of iron have been employed in the construction of the Reading Room and the surrounding libraries. The weight of the materials used in the dome is about 4,200 tons, or upwards of 200 tons on each pier. The roof is formed into two separate spherical and concentric air chambers, extending over the whole surface one between the external covering and brick vaulting, the object of which is the equalization of temperature during extremes of heat and cold out of doors; the other between the brick vaulting and the internal visible surface, intended to carry off the vitiated air from the Reading Room. This ventilation is effected partly through apertures in the soffites of the windows, and partly through others at the top of the dome, the bad air passing through outlets provided round the lantern. The effects of condensation are obviated by making all the skylights, lanterns, and windows throughout the building double. The quantity of glass used amounts to about 60,000 superficial feet. In order to guard against the consequences of an avalanche of snow falling from the dome on to the surrounding libraries, the building has been carried up outside perpendicularly to such a height above the spring of the arch as to form a gallery 9 feet in width, provided with proper outlets, by which the snow is intercepted. In the original decoration of the interior of the dome light colours and the purest gilding were used, but the effect was greatly modified by exposure to the London 12 Reading Boom and New Library. atmosphere, and it became difficult to realize the effect of the gilding and bright colouring which once adorned the great dome. The original decorative work may be shortly described. The inner surface of the dome is divided into twenty compartments by the moulded ribs, which were gilded with leaf prepared from unalloyed gold, the soffites being in ornamental patterns, and the edges touching the adjoining margins fringed with a leaf-pattern scalloped edge. Each compartment contains a window, with three panels above, of which the central one was medallion-shaped ; the whole was bordered with gilt mould- ing and lines, and the field of the panels finished in encaustic azure blue, while the surrounding margins were of a warm cream-colour. The details of the windows were treated in like manner the spandril panels blue; the enriched column and pilaster caps, the central flowers, the border moulding and lines being all gilded, the margins cream-colour throughout. The moulded rim of the lantern light was painted and gilded to correspond. The sash, which was also gilded, is formed of moulded ribs, radiating from a central medallion, in which a monogram, formed of the letters V A, is alternated with the royal crown. The cornice from which the dome springs is massive, and was almost wholly gilded, the frieze being formed into panels bounded by lines terminating with a gilt fret ornament. The separate compartments of the dome are marked by bold consoles, which were richly gilded. They form at once the supports of the main ribs and the bases for the statues which Sir A. Panizzi originally proposed to erect round the cornice. In the year 1907 the Beading Eoom was examined and tested. The external ironwork was found to have suffered no deterioration, and scarce a rivet had failed. The whole of the inside of the room was overhauled, repainted, and re-decorated. In this re-decoration the object of the architect, Mr. J. J. Burnet, was to counteract an effect of heaviness in the dome, due to the comparatively small height of the springing line. In effecting this a very simple scheme has been employed. Broadly speaking, the entire upper dome Vcntilatiun, IL'dtiiuj, mid Lii/litim/. 13 has been treated as one mass and painted white, relieved only by lines on the ribs, by a circlet of decorative lines round the great central skylight, and by a plain circlet running right round the base, all of which are in gold. A broad gold band at the line of the springing of the windows round the dome forms the starting point of the white treatment above, and this band includes the capitals of the mullions and imposts of the windows. Below it all surfaces are treated alike in a dark neutral tint of old gold, to harmonize with the bright gold which relieves it here and there, and, by a sufficient contrast to the white above, to relieve the whole structure of any sense of heaviness. Besides the gold work already mentioned, there are some lines round the semi-circular heads of the windows. The spandrels of the windows and the ornamental ventilators in their soffites are also gilded, as well as the ring of the great circular central light, the bars of that light, the upright standards of the wall bookcases, the two tiers of gallery railings, etc. ; while the actual springing line of the dome is delicately emphasized by some thin gold bands. The panels in the breastwork of nineteen of the windows round the dome bear great names'" in English literature picked out on a gold ground, the twentieth panel being occupied by the clock. VENTILATION. HKATINd. AM> LIGHTING. THE arrangements for heating and ventilating the room are of an extremely elaborate character. The pedestals of each table form tubes communicating with the air chamber below, which is six feet high and occupies the whole area of the Reading Room ; it is fitted with hot * Chaucer, Caxton, Tindale, Spenser, Shakespeare, Bacou, Milton, Locke, Addison, Swift, Pope, Gibbon, Wordsworth, Scott, Byron, Carlyle, Macaulay, Tennyson, Browning. 14 Reading Room and New Library. water pipes arranged in radiating lines. The supply of fresh air is obtained from a shaft 60 feet high, built on the north side of the northern gallery, about 300 feet distant, communicating with a tunnel or subway, which has branches or ' loop-holes ' fitted with valves for diverting the current either wholly through the heating apparatus, or through the cold-air flues, or partly through either, as occasion may require. The air-channels are of sufficient capacity to admit a supply of fresh air for 500 persons at the rate of 10 cubic feet per minute, and at a velocity not exceeding 1-0 foot per second. During the summer a large fan, driven at high speed, forces a constant current of cool air into the room through the gratings above the readers' seats. Between the double windows are coils of pipes heated by steam, which are used throughout the winter to equalize the temperature between the outer and inner windows, and prevent the cold air from being driven downwards ; over each soffite is a second steam-heated extraction coil, which serves both to expel the foul air and keep as fresh a current as possible below, and to melt any snow which may fall from the dome on to the gallery beneath. Around the lantern are twenty similar ' extrac- tion ' coils. When the room was re-decorated in 1907 the warming and ventilating system was thoroughly overhauled and cleansed, and improved in details. The greatest drawback to the Beading Eoom for many years was the absence of any artificial light, gas being- considered too dangerous an illuminant, and the use of naked lights being forbidden by the regulations of the Museum. Consequently it was found necessary to close the Beading Boom at six p.m. in summer, at five p.m. in autumn and spring, and at four p.m. in winter, while readers were frequently interrupted by the occurrence of London fogs, which reduced the number of working hours during the winter months by nearly a fourth. The invention of the electric light made it feasible to light the Beading Boom. The first attempt was made early in 1879, but was not very successful. In the autumn of that year, however, Messrs. Siemens' method of production was tested, and gave satisfactory results. Arrangement.*, Fittimja, c.tc. 15 Their apparatus was installed, and in working order, by October, 1880. The light was supplied by four arc lamps, each of 5,000 candle-power. These were used until 1893, when a great improvement was effected by the introduction of glow-lamps fixed to the readers' tables, the arc lamps being reduced to about 300 candle-power each. Two years later the shelves accessible to readers on the ground floor were lighted with glow-lamps, aided by reflectors, which effectually light the books on the shelves without causing any glare. In the early part of 1906 forty-six additional glow- lamps were fitted to the tables between the rays. The room is now admirably lighted by five arc lamps and 325 glow-lamps, and is open from nine a.m. to seven p.m. throughout the year. ARRANGEMENTS, FITTINGS. KIT. THE Reading Room contains ample and comfortable accommodation for 458 readers. There are thirty-five tables, eight of which are thirty-four feet long and accommodate sixteen readers, eight on each side ; eleven are thirty feet long and accommodate fourteen readers, seven on each side ; sixteen are seventeen feet long and accommodate eleven readers each. At the longer tables each person has allotted to him a space of four feet three inches in length, by two feet one inch in depth. He is screened from the opposite occupant by a longitudinal division, which is fitted with a hinged desk graduated on sloping racks, and a folding shelf for spare books. A recessed niche in each desk contains a penrack and a penwiper, and the inkstands are now fixed on the table- top, but in such manner as to cause no embarrassment, and every precaution is taken to preserve the books from injury by carelessness or accident. The framework of each table is of iron, forming air- distributing channels, which are contrived so that the air 1C Reading Room and New Library. may be delivered at the top of the longitudinal screen division, above the level of the heads of the readers, or, if desired, only at each end-pedestal of the tables, all the outlets being under the control of valves. A tubular foot-rail also passes from end to end of each table, which may have a current of warm water through it at pleasure, and be used as a foot-warmer if required. In the centre of the Reading Room is a raised enclosure for the Superintendent, fitted with a table, ticket boxes and dwarf partitions, surmounted by glass screens, which form a passage to the North Library, through which the service of the Reading Room is carried on. The cata- logue tables, with shelves below and air-distributing tubes between, are ranged in two concentric circles round the Superintendent's enclosure. The book -presses under the gallery are filled with a large library of reference for the use of readers, comprising most of the standard works on the various branches of learning, and an extensive collection of dictionaries, ency- clopaedias, gazetteers, periodicals, etc. There are also ten small presses, placed at the ends of the shorter tables, and filled exclusively with special Bibliographies. All the books on the ground floor, about 20,000 in number, can be taken from the shelves and used by readers without writing tickets. Of the two galleries above the ground floor, the lower one is filled with a collection of the works most frequently required by readers, while the topmost gallery contains the periodicals which are in most constant use. The total number of volumes contained in the Reading Room itself is about 70,000. The tables and enclosures are of wainscot, the chairs of mahogany, some having leathern, some wooden, and some cane seats. The main entrance to the Reading Room is direct from the Great Hall. At the end of the passage nearest to the Reading Room is a marble bust of Sir Anthony Panizzi, by Baron Marochetti. The office for the reception of books under the Copyright Act, which was formerly situated in this passage, has been removed to the White Wing, with a separate entry from Montague Street. X limber of Readers. 17 The MSS. Department, the Oriental Library, and the Newspaper Room are each in direct telephonic com- munication with the Reading Room. NniBER OF READERS. WE have already seen that the first Reading Room was seated for twenty readers, and that by the year 1823 the number had increased to an average of seventy. In the years preceding the opening of the present Reading Room, from 1830 to 1857, the numbers averaged from 150 to 250 per diem. During the first year or two after 1857 they rose to nearly 400, an average which soon declined to 350, at about which figure it remained from 1860 to 1875 ; since this date the number of readers has shown a constant increase, which has not been materially affected by the opening in 1885 of a Newspaper Reading Room, capable of seating about fifty persons, in the White Wing. The following figures will give some idea of the rapid increase during late years in the number of readers, and of the books supplied to them from the inner libraries. Books supplied to Year. Readers. Daily Average. Readers. 1892 . . 191,982 . . "651 . . 1,399,036 1902 . . 211,244 . . 699 . . 1,505,699 1905 . . 214,940 . . 711 . . 1,619,620 1908 . . 231,544 . . 761 . . 1,472,175 THE NEW LIBRARY. THE Reading Room is surrounded by a network of concentric circles and straight corridors three storys high, except immediately round the Reading Room, where there are four storys. This is known as the Nr\\ Library. 18 Reading Room atid New Library. The whole of this Library consists of skeleton iron- work ; the floors, except on the basement, which is of stone, are formed of iron gratings, attached at intervals to half -inch iron girders about four inches in depth. These girders are of immense strength, and are supported partly by great piers of masonry at each end, and partly by the wrought-iron uprights of the presses. In all cases, except against the external walls, the book-presses are double. The books are placed on both sides, and a lattice of iron-work is fixed for their longitu- dinal separation. Thus throughout the whole interior of the new building there are no walls, the division being in all cases formed of a double range of books, fore-edge to fore-edge. The only exception is in the shelving pro- vided for newspapers, a single range of which necessarily occupies the space of two ranges of books. For convenience of access to the galleries the staircases; are within forty feet of each other. The New Library, opened with the Beading Eoom in May, 1857, was designed to hold 1,500,000 volumes, and must now contain quite that number. It would by this. time have been practically full had it not been for the invention and introduction, in 1887, of sliding presses constructed of light iron-work, and fitted with shelves of sufficient depth to hold rows of books both back and front. These presses are provided with small overhead wheels which run along narrow flanges fastened to the girders supporting the floor above, so that the presses can be drawn forward and as easily pushed back into position against the fixed presses which they supple- ment. On the basement floor, which is reserved for newspapers and large folio books, are similar presses, but they travel on runners on the ground instead of being suspended to the girders above. There are, at present, upwards of 700 of these sliding presses in use, and more are added every year. The New Library and Eeading Eoom contain about three miles of bookcases, eight feet in height. The shelves of these cases extend to more than twenty-eight miles, while those of the other libraries are about eleven miles, and those of the sliding presses about seven miles, A 000107039 Explanation VJ ,,,, ^ */* uj <,,<,*, j-tcuwtny JLWOIH. 19 niiiking the total shelving of the Printed Book Depart- ment forty-six miles ; while the total number of volumes in the department must exceed two millions. The Newspaper Room, opened in 1885, is for the con- sultation of London Newspapers only, which are stored near it. English Provincial Newspapers and Scottish and Irish Newspapers are now stored at the Hendon Repository, and are obtained upon application in accord- ance with special regulations. Foreign Newspapers are stored in the General Library. EXPLANATION OF THE PLAN OF THE READING ROOM. I shows the. circular enclosure occupied by the Superin- tendent, his Assistant, and the Attendants who receive books from readers and return their tickets. IS shows the catalogue tables containing the General Catalogue. This catalogue formerly consisted of about 2,000 volumes, containing the transcribed titles of all the books in the library. In 1880 the printing of this catalogue was begun, and it is now completed in about 930 printed volumes. The tables contain also the catalogues of MSS., of Music, of Maps, and of Books and MSS. in Oriental languages, together with a number of books of reference. In addition to the catalogues, the tables are furnished with printed forms of application for books, containing on one side the regulations to be observed by readers in applying for and returning the books they desire to use, and on the other a form to be filled up with the titles and press- marks and other necessary particulars. ( shows the readers' seats and tables, thirty-five in num- ber, which have been already described. l> shows the passage leading from the Reading Room to the Library. E shows the opening from the Royal Library into the New Library. 20 Reading Room and I,UK.I, ;) . When readers have filled up their tickets, they place them in baskets at the central desk, whence they are dispatched by pneumatic tubes to various points, and thus distributed to attendants whose duty it is to fetch the books from the Library. Through the opening D the books are brought to the central enclosure, and thence conveyed by the Beading Room attendants to the readers. The readers' tickets are then deposited in boxes specially constructed within the Superintendent's enclo- sure, and are retained as vouchers until the books have been returned. 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