Oh! to have been a Fly on the Wall: Panizzi, his Precursors and Contemporaries

Abstract

Rather than write solely about Panizzi's vision of the British Museum Library, I should like to reconsider some elements of his beliefs. I shall try, by looking at his predecessors, contemporaries, and immediate successorS:1to examine the formation of his ideas and those of others who influenced them. What I will suggest is that not only did Panizzi have ‘vision’ but so too did those with whom he surrounded himself. His greatest strengths were his political awareness and his ability to listen to and to use, not always with public acknowledgement, the visionary ideas of others. To do this I will review the development of those ideas as recorded in their day, though to accomplish this mammoth task I shall inevitably raise more questions than I shall have the space or the knowledge to answer.