In the same year, a certain Mr. Davis, of Shelton, forwarded a prospectus of a work entitled “Crania Britannica,” with a request that, as the book was to be “privately printed,” the Keeper of the Printed Books should subscribe for a copy of the work. Panizzi submitted the prospectus to the Trustees, who declined the purchase, whereupon Panizzi communicated this decision to Mr. Davis, and added:—“In my opinion you are bound to send a copy of that work to this Library in compliance with the Copyright Act (5 and 6 Vic., cap. 45).
In September, 1852, in company with Mr. Henry Stevens, the American book agent, Panizzi visited Oxford, Dublin, and Cork, and rendered signal service to the Library by his unsparing exertions to detect defaulters, and uphold the interests of the Museum. Amongst his remarks when in Dublin was one that he “saw a number of important new works exposed for sale of which he did not know the existence, and even in the case of publications of no great general importance, he noticed many which ought to be in the National Collection.” Innumerable difficulties met him in his task. At Derby, “There are,” he says, “many works published, but the two principal publishers having a house in London, it is this house which, should it be necessary, will be held responsible for the infringement of the Copyright Act.” Of course, his presence was in all places which he visited attended with dislike; and it seems hardly fair that, whilst acting from the purest motives in the public service, any obloquy of a personal nature should have attached to him; yet, to say the least, had not a sense of duty sustained him, his would have been a most thankless errand.
Any attempt at times to preserve an incognito was unavailing—a rather undesirable fact which he soon discovered, as his person was well known. However, on the 9th of October, 1852, a report from Panizzi was read at a committee, when the thanks of the Trustees were accorded to him for his exertions.
Many special cases of the actions which Panizzi brought against publishers are worth recounting, but as their details are necessarily very similar, and, as to the general reader such repetitions would not be of any interest, the biographer contents himself with making special allusion to the most troublesome opponent who ever entered the lists against Panizzi, this was Mr. Bohn, the publisher, and bitter were the denunciations hurled at Panizzi’s devoted head in the course of the hearing of seventeen distinct summonses before Mr. Jardine, the Magistrate, by Mr. Ballantine, the counsel for Mr. Bohn. Harsh, vexatious, tyrannical, were a few of the adjectives which dropped from the lips of that learned gentleman. Mr. Bodkin appeared for the British Museum Authorities, and finally, Mr. Jardine, with encomiums on the personal worth of both the disputants, considered nominal penalties with costs sufficient to meet the exigencies of the case.
On the 2nd of February, 1853, appeared in The Times a letter from Panizzi, to which our readers are referred, but which is too lengthy to give verbatim here. In this letter he says:—“I knew that the Act had been extensively evaded, and I felt that I ought to endeavour to enforce it better,” and again, “I determined to proceed with as much forbearance as I should find consistent with a due performance of my duty.” He then refers to the fact that “publishers are bound to send their publications to the Museum without receiving previous notice of their omissions of so doing,” and addresses the warning in the shape of a circular prepared by the Solicitors of the Trustees as a proof of their courtesy to those who considered themselves hardly dealt with. If publishers refused to comply with the law, what alternative had Panizzi but to enforce compliance? Was he to purchase the books, or how was he to procure them? He states, and states justly too, “I have no right to spend public money in encouraging non-compliance with the law.... All I get is blame. If the books are not in the Library, I am found fault with, and I am found fault with if I use the only means I now have of procuring them.” Then he cites the increase in the delivery of books, &c., 13,934,[[M]] in 1852, against 9,871 in 1851, which certainly shows that his labours were not only necessary, but by no means bare of practical results.
[M]. These would not be books proper; in fact, no more than a fifth; the rest being parts of works, music, maps, &c. The number of books for 1879 being only about 8,000, not including music, maps, &c.
In The Times of the same date (February 2, 1853,) appeared a leading article extolling the way in which Panizzi did his duty as a public servant; it notes the peculiarity of the absence of Mr. Bohn’s name in this long letter, although Panizzi must have had him in his mind at the time he was writing; it deplores the “ill-considered expressions” by which these gentlemen appear to irritate one another, and winds up with these words:—“It is a lamentable thing to see two such men engaged in so petty and so discreditable a warfare, the simple result of which will be to damage both combatants in the opinion of all sober and moderate men.” With this remark many will, doubtless, agree, yet Panizzi’s exceptional position as a champion, it may be said almost of the whole world (for the whole world has access to this store of knowledge), must not be forgotten. He himself appears to have considered Mr. Jardine as biassed in his views, for he stigmatized the Act as strong, and its enactments harsh; but in whatever light we view the controversy, it would seem to have been carried on with much acerbity, and this is certainly to be regretted in the case of two such antagonists.
On the 3rd of February, 1853, Panizzi wrote to Mr. Haywood, alluding to the ungrateful return made to him for his services. Having two months before this seriously thought of returning his power of attorney, when he was induced to retain it, he says, “I am now bound, and have no wish to perform that duty,” then he alludes to the gratuity of £200 given to Sir Henry Ellis, and continues, “To me nothing has ever been given, and I will not go on,” and with some pardonable self-laudation adds, “They will soon see the difference in the number of books which they will receive, between my fearless and honest conduct, and that of anybody else whom they may appoint.”