The Life of Sir Anthony Panizzi, K.C.B.: Late Principal Librarian of the British Museum, Senator of Italy, Etc.

Anthony Panizzi (1797-1879), born in Brescello, Italy, qualified as a lawyer, but fled to Switzerland in 1823 to avoid arrest for his political activities in support of Italian unification. He then moved to England, where he became a naturalised British subject. The patronage of Lord Brougham, the Lord Chancellor, got him a post in the British Museum Library, where he remained for thirty-five years. He was responsible for the great expansion of the library, the building of the famous round Reading Room, and the compilation of cataloguing rules which remain influential today. Volume 1 of this two-part 1880 biography by his colleague Louis Fagan (1845-1903) deals with Panizzi’s early life in Italy, his arrival in England, his scholarly work as editor of Ariosto and Professor of Italian, and his early years at the British Museum. Panizzi combined his career with continuing support for the cause of Italian unity.