College and Research Libraries


162 / College b- Research Libraries • March 1968 

significant aspect of the multifarious field is 
omitted. Experienced surveyors and those 
planning any type of survey will find in the 
compilation a variety of helpful discussions 
on the methodology, purposes, limitations 
and uses of the library survey in its many 
manifestations.—R. B. Downs, University 
of Illinois. 

Prince of Librarians: The Life & Times 
of Antonio Panizzi of the British Mu-
seum. By Edward Miller. Athens, Ohio: 
The Ohio University Press, 1967. 356p. 
$7.50. (67-26123). 

The life of Antonio Panizzi, the volatile 
Italian who set the British Museum on its 
road to greatness in the mid-nineteenth cen-
tury, has fascinated practitioners of the bio-
graphic art for the last ninety years. In ad-
dition to Louis Fagan's major two-volume 
work which appeared in 1880, a year after 
his mentor's death, there have been numer-
ous articles and several monographs treat-
ing some aspect of his life. If he was not 
the "Prince of Librarians," as his admiring 
young staff member William B. Rye called 
him, he surely approached such distinc-
tion more nearly than anyone else. 

Panizzi began his long association with 
the British Museum in 1831 when he was 
appointed Assistant Keeper of Printed 
Books. Upon his appointment Panizzi dis-
covered that, despite its rich collections, 
the Museum was grossly inadequate as the 
national library and that it was presided 
over by a group of elderly clergymen who 
had neither the dynamism nor interest to 
make it worthy of the English nation. What 
others lacked, it was quickly apparent that 
Panizzi had. He was a scholar whose edi-
tions of Boiardo and Ariosto were even 
then coming from the press, and this back-
ground in bibliography and literature fit-
ted him well for his task. Beginning with 
cataloging, a problem which would plague 
him during his entire stay at the British 
Museum, Panizzi demonstrated his capa-
bility to the trustees and subsequently to 
a whole series of Parliamentary committees. 
He was promoted to the position of Keeper 
of Printed Books in 1837 and finally to 
Principal Librarian in 1856, but throughout 
all the intervening years he was a major 
force behind the Museum advancement. 

When one reads of the disorganized col-
lections Panizzi inherited, the necessity to 
establish a strong collecting policy, to as-
semble staff, to argue for better book budg-
ets, and to plan additional space, he can 
feel right at home in nineteenth-century 
England. Few administrators accomplish 
their tasks in eight-hour days, and obvi-
ously Panizzi did not. As an administrator 
he drove both himself and his staff hard, 
but he was always fair and argued con-
stantly that such service deserved reward 
in the form of higher salaries. For this rea-
son most of his subordinates admired and 
respected him; but some, especially the 
incompetent, had occasion to experience 
his ruthlessnes. As biographer Miller notes, 
Panizzi was not one to suffer fools gladly. 

In reading the biographies of nineteenth-
century librarians one is struck by their 
continuous problems with trustees. Strength 
of character was needed in abundance and 
Panizzi had that. His legal background was 
helpful in marshalling arguments and those 
who entered the fray against him could be 
assured a worthy opponent. Having had to 
endure long years of misrepresentation and 
pettiness Panizzi might have been expected 
to respond in kind. 

In presenting all the controversies in 
which Panizzi was engaged, Miller has tried 
to be fair to all parties and has generally 
succeeded. Yet he obviously has sympathy 
with his subject—a prime requisite for a 
good biographer. He does not hesitate to 
make generalizations reflecting his appar-
ently low opinion of administrators, per-
haps best characterized in his summary of 
Panizzi's contributions: "He was forced 
early in life to abandon the delights of aca-
demic research for more arid pastures, but, 
even there, he was able to leave his mark" 
(p. 321, cf. 131). Occasionally one wishes 
for a better revelation of the personality of 
the man. Still there is a chapter on "Friends 
and Acquaintances" and throughout the 
book one gets glimpses of Panizzi's asso-
ciation with the Italian revolutionaries and 
the leading Whig officials of his day. 

On the whole this is a well written and 
interesting book. Typographically it is un-
distinguished which seems unfortunate for 
such a substantial contribution to library 
history.—Edward G. Holley, University of 
Houston. m u