I. General Block-Plan of the British Museum, as it was in 1857.
The shaded part of the building itself shows the portions allotted to the Library. The unshaded part is assigned, on the ground floor, to the Department of Antiquities, and (speaking generally) on the floor above—in common with the upper floors of the Library part—to the Departments of Natural History. The ‘Print Room’ is shown on the ground-plan between the Elgin Gallery and the north-western extremity of the Department of Printed Books.
The next illustration shows, in detail, the ground-plan of the new Reading-Room and of the adjacent book-galleries:—
II. Ground-Plan of the new or ‘Panizzi’ Reading-Room, and of the adjacent Galleries, 1857.
The general appearance of the interior of the Reading-Room may be shown thus:—
III. Interior View of the new Reading-Room, 1857.
Of course, the improvements thus effected did but solve a portion of the difficulty felt, long before 1857, in accommodating the National Collections upon any adequate scale, which should provide alike for present claims and for future extension. This more effectual provision became one of the most pressing questions with which both the Trustees and their officers had now to deal. During the whole term of Sir A. Panizzi’s Principal-Librarianship this building question increased in gravity and urgency, from year to year. Both the Trustees and the Principal-Librarian were intent upon its solution. But the latter was enforced, by failing health, to quit office, leaving the matter still unsolved.