A list of books of reference in the reading room of the British Museum / Printed by order of the Trustees.
- British Museum. Department of Printed Books
- Date:
- 1859
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A list of books of reference in the reading room of the British Museum / Printed by order of the Trustees. Source: Wellcome Collection.
456/458 page 414
![man and a “ paterfamilias,” that It is a desir- medical students and novel readers that an hour or U able thing that young ladies should freqtient must sometimes be spent in waiting for the volume or MS' the Museum at all as° readers, and lam quite, one requires. The moving to and fro is incessant, and yt sure that both convenience and decorum re- are fortunate if you get a seat where you are not annoye quire when they do that they should restrict1 by the chattering of foolish youths who come into tl themselves to their own department, and should not Museum to get out of the rain. The difficulty in obtainir intrude upon that of the men. 1 a seat at all is now notorious, and the explanation of th , At present any person obtaining “ a satis- great inconvenience is, not that all the desks are real] factory recommendation ” is entitled.0 to a read- occupied, but that people place a book or two on a dcs ing ticket, without any reference to the num- by way of securing it, and then wander about, to tl ber of reading tickets already issued, or to his annoyance of those who come to work. Only to-day capacity to profit by it. He had to consult several works at the Museum, and ol Museum for mere warmth and served the desk next to me covered with books—amor own educational may come to the quiet, or to read novels _ or to study the elements of French, or to teach himself the rule of three with the assistance of the key to Colenso’s arith- metic. Many people attend there daily for similar purposes. The “ satisfactory recommendation ” required by the rules is merely a letter from some householder stating that he believes A. B. to be a fit,1 person to read in the Museum. The same house- several works at the next to me covered them Poole’s Index to Periodical Literature, and oth< works, which ought not to be removed from the shelves i any time. I sat at my desk three hours, and during thi time my neighbour never made his appearance. The trustees have now attempted to lessen the evil b o'•dering that no fresh tickets shall be granted to persoi ji y under the age of 21. Notwithstanding what I have state | i above, I venture to think, Sir, that this measure is a voi | • L * hi holder may recommend a dozen other applicants, great mistake. Better, even, to endure the present incoi who ., provided they state that they are 18 years of age, will all receive tickets of admission. School- masters send their elder pupils there in large num- bers, especially during the winter months ; indeed, 1 .was myself cognizant of a case, last year, in which no less than 15 pupils of a single “ crammer,” who venience than to exclude one honest, painstaking, youn student, who may go to the Museum with the sincere pu: pose of laying by a store of information that will be usefi I to him throughout his after life, and probably mould all' ' future career. It is not too much to say that the Museni 1 Library has been the making of many a young man. B< Pu I sf efl If t hi II U wuwu •*■1/ Vi, (« OUl^iO Vi WUlUVij ” O ^ lived in Bloomsbury, were sent by him to read in tween 18 and 21 is the age at which boj-s left to their ow fthe Museum every day, in order to save their guidance resolve on a definite course of life; and let it! parents the necessity of purchasing the commonest remembered that the early days of men of letters ai school-books. usually passed in obscurity, if not in poverty and hardshij It is very clear that during the present season Consider, then, what mischief, what disappointment, whi there will be an unusually large accession of foreign misery may be caused by this indiscriminate exclusion ( .visitors, and, unless some stringent steps betaken young men from the library. It i3 their university—an palliate the evil which I have described, the JO reading room of the British Museum will be rendered comparatively useless to real and serious students ■hvho cannot afford to waste their time in scrambling ■with idlers and schoolboys for seats and books. I have ■Seen of late as many as 100 tickets for books waiting I cm the counter until the attendants had leisure to go for them ; at such a time a Macaulay or a Hallam, coining in to consult a book of reference or to examine a rare volume, would have been unable 'to procure a seat; and if he had procured one, would have been forced to wait nearly an hour before his demand for books could have been attonded to. And this difficulty cannot be met by increasing the staff of the Museum, which is already It i3 their many a hard student, friendless and almost penniless in th great metropolis, will have his chance in life almost ruinc by the door of the library being closed against him. Moreover, the exclusion of young men under 21 would n< do away with the evil. There should be more caro an judgment exercised in the dispensation of tickets ; the should not be renewed as a matter of course, but only whe there is reason to believe that the holder is a working b( and not a drone. If readers themselves would take tl trouble to replace the hooks they have used before leavin the room, they would do away with half the overcrowt iug, for it would not then bo supposed that a vacant dcs was occupied. Nothing can he more unfair than to attribute to youn men all the annoyances of the room. The patriarchs of tl TC K IS «r ci & r !S F VI K I F be ns vi «i “ as large as can work advantageously in the space in; Museum, who all but spend their lives in the library hi jWhich they have to operate; the only real remedy ‘ will be to limit the number of tickets issued, and [fto intolerab’. adopt some means for ascertaining that those i who obtain them are really worthy of the indulgence [ which they seek. , If you, Sir, will publish this letter, T make no doubt that the trustees will at once grapple with cause they have no homes, are still more nuisances. They are redolent of garlic or snuff, their sncci startles every one beneath tho dome, and they uso the- pocket-handkerchiefs with a crash sufficient to shake one nerves for the rest of the day. To many tho Museum is mere place of refuge—a shelter from wind and weather, room warm in winter and cool in summer, a conveniei 1 difficulty which at present grievously disturbs the; loun„u store,i witli the best of books. Why not begin wit students and harasses the officials of the Museum. May 9. I am. Sir, your obedient servant, A STUDENT. THE MUSEUM READING ROOM. these? Or suppose both extremes of life are lopped off That would not be justice, and it would not be obviatin i the present evils ; but it would be quite as wise a step t •! the trustees have now taken. Give Mr. Watts and his assistants a chance. Bestow an renew tickets with greater discretion, but do not make or class suffer for the whole. Remember the early days ( u Sir,—Every one who has occasion to do any real work in Johnson aud Goldsmith, and do not let the street b.wkstal - ,, ,, ; . e , k0 tho only places where our embryo men of letters ma the reading-room of the Museum will feel grateful to 8,^h area.l without cost to themselves. As to tho lad is I you for having drawn the attention of the trustees to j believe most readers would bear testimony to the fact tht I the evils of the present system of admitting so-called they are usually quiet and retiring—-the only point on whio “students.” It used to bo possiblo for tho journalist' I beg to diffor with your recent correspondent. \ours obediently.^™ TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. or author to do a good day’s work at the Museum such an achievement is now Almost attendants are kept so busily engaged impossible, waiting in The l upon* May 21. L. J. J. U ■a](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24868772_0456.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
