Public relations, Panizzi-style

IN a collection of letters by and to Sir Anthony Panizzi, chiefly relating to the history of the British Museum, assembled and recently presented by the author to the British Library (Add. MSS. 70839-70854), are two letters written by Sir Anthony to the Irish essayist and politician John Wilson Croker in 1852 that are revealing of the way publicity about the British Museum Library was handled in the mid-nineteenth century. They also reveal Panizzi's attitude towards the problems he faced and his relationship to a prominent political figure of the day.