DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26753#0019
15
If this is determined upon, there can be but little doubt
that the library is the one that should remain. The object of
the present work is to show how this can be done at the least
possible expense, and so as to prevent any similar mistakes in
future. Before proceeding to do this, however, it will be
necessary to make a somewhat detailed survey of the present
buildings, to understand how far they answer the purposes for
which they were erected, and are suited for those to which I
would apply them.
MUSEUM BUILDINGS—THE LIBRARY.
Referring to the accompanying plan of the British Museum
as now built, I shall proceed to make a few remarks on
each portion of the structure, pointing out what appear to me
its merits or defects, so as to enable my readers not only to
judge how far my strictures are justifiable, but at the same
time to enable me to point out how far such mistakes should be
avoided in future.
The first part of the Museum erected, and the one I shall
consequently first notice, was the east wing. When His
Majesty George IV. presented his father’s library to the
institution, it was very properly determined that it should be
kept separate from the general collection, and in an apartment
designed on an appropriate scale of magnificence. To contain
it, therefore, the great eastern gallery was erected, 300 feet
long, 40 feet wide, and 30 feet high. Whether or not a room
between seven and eight times the length of its breadth was
the form best adapted to the purpose, will be presently dis-
cussed. The architect had at least the authority of precedent
for the form he adopted, almost all libraries being more or less
in the form of galleries. The reason for this, however, is
generally obvious, for in most instances the book-cases *are
arranged along the walls, and a long room has, from its form, a
greater surface of wall than a more compact one. In this room,
for instance, there exists 680 lineal feet of wall, but if the room
had been 110 feet each way, though the number of square feet
of floor would have been about the same, the wall space would
have been only 440 feet.
If this is determined upon, there can be but little doubt
that the library is the one that should remain. The object of
the present work is to show how this can be done at the least
possible expense, and so as to prevent any similar mistakes in
future. Before proceeding to do this, however, it will be
necessary to make a somewhat detailed survey of the present
buildings, to understand how far they answer the purposes for
which they were erected, and are suited for those to which I
would apply them.
MUSEUM BUILDINGS—THE LIBRARY.
Referring to the accompanying plan of the British Museum
as now built, I shall proceed to make a few remarks on
each portion of the structure, pointing out what appear to me
its merits or defects, so as to enable my readers not only to
judge how far my strictures are justifiable, but at the same
time to enable me to point out how far such mistakes should be
avoided in future.
The first part of the Museum erected, and the one I shall
consequently first notice, was the east wing. When His
Majesty George IV. presented his father’s library to the
institution, it was very properly determined that it should be
kept separate from the general collection, and in an apartment
designed on an appropriate scale of magnificence. To contain
it, therefore, the great eastern gallery was erected, 300 feet
long, 40 feet wide, and 30 feet high. Whether or not a room
between seven and eight times the length of its breadth was
the form best adapted to the purpose, will be presently dis-
cussed. The architect had at least the authority of precedent
for the form he adopted, almost all libraries being more or less
in the form of galleries. The reason for this, however, is
generally obvious, for in most instances the book-cases *are
arranged along the walls, and a long room has, from its form, a
greater surface of wall than a more compact one. In this room,
for instance, there exists 680 lineal feet of wall, but if the room
had been 110 feet each way, though the number of square feet
of floor would have been about the same, the wall space would
have been only 440 feet.