Panizzi also wrote two reports, one dated the 10th of November, 1857, and the other the 10th of June, 1858. In the first of these he fully discussed the means suggested for relieving two Departments, namely, those of Mineralogy and Geology, and then continued:—
“In the Department of Prints and Drawings the want of room, even to lodge the portfolios containing the collection, is sufficiently shown by the placing of presses in the narrow passage leading from the landing into the Print-Room. The display of some of the best prints and drawings has often been entertained by the Trustees, who felt how important it was that this should be done, but who never could carry their intention into effect for want of room. The Kouyunjik-Room, by the side of the North-Western portion of the Egyptian Saloon, had been built for the purpose of such an exhibition, when the influx of Assyrian antiquities forced the Trustees to devote that room to their display.”
It appears that the Natural History Department will soon be removed. As there will, therefore, be more space for a smaller number of collections, we may hope that it will now be found possible to make good certain deficiencies which have long been fully recognised, especially in regard to the Exhibition of Prints and Drawings. Glass and China too, will form a most attractive feature in the new arrangements.
The author himself has had ample opportunities during the last dozen years of visiting some of the most important Cabinets of Prints and Drawings in Europe, and he has no hesitation in saying that no single collection—not even a combination of two or three—could compare with that of which our National Institution can boast. Through the good taste of the present principal Librarian, Mr. Bond, in placing so many screens in the King’s Library, a step has been taken in the right direction, and no Englishman—nay, no Foreigner—visiting London should omit to inspect this wonderful assemblage of works of art.
It was Panizzi’s own idea that, as well as rarities from the Library, specimens of the handiwork of Raphael, Michael Angelo, Dürer, Rembrandt—and, indeed, his own $1m>—should be framed and exhibited to the public gaze.
Instruction, practicable and visible, is one of the leading features of the age; and it is our duty to meet this increasing want by every means in our power. It is not the feeling that in our hands are the keys of knowledge which will impart instruction; it is the practical and sincere wish to utilize the means within our grasp, to educate the masses, which will alone work a result so eagerly sought for, and so materially tending to the benefit of future generations.
The enormous pile of building which has just been erected at South Kensington may, in a sense, be said to owe its existence to the persistent efforts of Panizzi, to secure more space for the collections he loved so well. The two following letters on the subject are, we consider, of great importance:—
“British Museum, October 8th, 1858.
“My dear Sir George,
As neither you nor Lord John will come up from Harpton Court to attend the meeting of the Standing Committee at 12 o’clock to-morrow, I think it fair to ask you both to give half-an-hour to the British Museum where you are; and this might be even more useful than if you were to attend the meeting.