The work having progressed satisfactorily thus far, it became necessary to inquire diligently into the many deficiencies in the National Library, and to propose means of supplying them. This was accordingly done in a Report dated 1st of January, 1845. On the 16th of December, the same year, it was forwarded to the Treasury by direction of the Trustees, and in the letter accompanying it the following passage occurs:—
“The Trustees of the British Museum earnestly hope that Her Majesty’s Government will take it into their grave deliberation whether the time has not come when it may be desirable, and on all grounds, literary, political, and economical, to enter at once upon a more enlarged and comprehensive scale of expenditure for the supply of Printed Books.
Without presuming to enter into other considerations, the Trustees conceive themselves warranted in stating it as their opinion that the present circumstances, as far as the British Museum itself is concerned, are extremely favourable to the entertaining of such a proposition.
The gentleman at the head of the Department is eminently qualified for the trust reposed in him: he is fully sensible of its importance, is ready to devote his whole time and thought (as indeed he has hitherto done in a most praiseworthy and exemplary manner) to make the Library in his charge as complete in every department of literature as he can, and at the same time accessible to the public on the easiest terms.”
The Report contains a sketch of the British Museum, and of its arrangement, together with some suggestions as to its future increase, utility, and importance. It shows how and when the Library was brought to the condition in which it was at the end of the year 1842. The state of the Collection in its several branches is examined, with regard to the various classes of human knowledge, to the various countries where the books were published, and to the languages in which they are written. Means are suggested by which the Collection ought to be increased to proportions worthy of the nation; and, lastly, attention is called to the effects which the proposed increase would have with regard to its arrangements, good order, and economy. This elaborate Report was begun as early as 1843. After many delays, Panizzi at last obtained consent, on the 4th of January, 1845, to its being printed privately for the Trustees, to whom individually it was ordered to be transmitted on the 24th of May following.