The money to found a British Museum was raised by a lottery in the
middle of the last century. Sir Hans Sloane having offered his
books and museum of natural history to Parliament, for less than
half its value (20,000 .), it was purchased, together with the
famous Harleian and Cottonian MSS., and deposited in Montague
House, Bloomsbury, which had been bought of the Earl of Halifax,
for the sum of 10,250 . Of the present British Museum this
beginning forms a very insignificant part. The nucleus was
established however; and soon eminent men, who valued their
literary and scientific collections as storehouses that should be
accessible to all classes of students, began to turn their
attention to the collections in Montague House. Foremost among the
donors George the Second should be mentioned, as having made over
to the nation the royal library, together with the right of
demanding a copy of every book entered at Stationers' Hall.
Successively, the libraries of Sir Joseph Banks, Dr. Birch, Sir
John Hawkins, Dr. Burney and Garrick, and the Royal, Arundel,
Lansdowne, Bridgewater, and other MSS. were added to the great
store. Captain Cook returned home with additions to the museum of
natural history; ...] A guide to London's most famous museum.
Originally published in 1852.
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