Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - Comité International des Bibliothèques. 3:e session. Stockholm 20—21.8. 1930. Actes - XVII. The Libraries of Great Britain and Ireland, 1929—30. (Mr. A. Esdaile)
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Annexe XVII.
THE LIBRARIES OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, 1929—30.
By Mr A. J. K. Esdaile.
Mr President and Colleagues:
During the past year there has been much in the world of the libraries of Great
Britain to record; but may I be forgiven if I cannot separate the events of these twelve
months from those of the previous year which have now found their fulfilment or
those of the year to come for which the foundations were then being laid.
The British Museum.
To begin with our National Library: The new Edition of the General Catalogue
of authors has been commenced, and the first volume will probably appear by the end
of this year. There will not be a single terminus; each volume will record the
acquisitions up to the year of its publication. The cataloguing will of course be brought up
to the latest method, and those who have much used the Catalogue know that between
the volume issued in 1881 and the latest fascicules of accessions there are great
differences of method.
The Royal Commission on Museums and Galleries reported at the end of 1928
that the Museum should not be relieved from the legal duty of accepting and
preserv-ing all the published output of the country, as has constantly been recommended
by persons inexperienced in research; one or two trivial exceptions are, however, to be
made. The Commission reported that the provision of space for future accessions was
urgent. Sir Joseph Duveen then offered to build a new gallery for the Parthenon marbles
if the Government would engage to carry out this part (with some others) of the
Commission ’s recommendations; and the Government agreed to do so. Plans have
accord-ingly been prepared (a) for the substitution of a lof tier structure, of steel, and built
on modern space-saving lines, to Surround the Reading Room, for the existing stacks
(«The Iron Library») which was built in 1854—7 of cast iron with a great waste of
space. Preliminary work has begun; (b) for the removal of the London newspapers
to join the provincial newspapers in an enlarged repository at Hendon (a suburb of
London). A Reading Room will be provided there.
Special exhibitions of Italian and English illuminated mss. have been held, to
synchronize with the Italian Exhibition at the Royal Academy and that of English
mediæval art at the Victoria and Albert Museum — to which the Museum under its
Act of Incorporation was unable to lend.
The Exhibition of English illuminations includes two important new acquisitions,
made possible by the generosity of Mr John Pierpont Morgan of New York in lending
the money (£ 64,800) for a year, and acquired by public subscription and a great strain
on the Trustees’ own resources. These are: (a) The Psalter made for Sir Geoffrey
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