READING-ROOM OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 699 BOOK II. Chapter I. feet in diameter. In due time this magnificent dome will, it may be hoped, be appropriately decorated by Libraries built. sculpture as well as by painting. Two tiers of galleries for books extend beneath the windows, and the entire wall below them is similarly cased. The space which the Reading Room contains is about a million and a quarter cubic feet. Ample provision has been made for the gradual and proper renewal of this vast volume of air, by grated openings in the floor connected with the external air by horizontal trunks beneath the surface of the floor; by a series of louvred openings at the springing of the vaulted roof, and another series near its summit; and to prevent the descent of cold air from the glazed vault on to the heads of readers, a circle of hot-water pipes is carried along the level of the springing of the vault. All the skylights, lanterns, and windows throughout the building are double. That part of the edifice which is between the main structure and the new dome, is covered with a flat roof, supported externally by a brick wall surrounding the whole building, and internally by iron pillars. The exterior surface of the dome is covered with copper, and the building is throughout floored with slate, except the Reading Room, which has an oaken floor embedded, in stucco, on stone. This oak floor and a few doors appear to be the only parts of the structure which are inflammable. The doors are covered with kamptulicon. The galleries and staircases (which latter are always within forty feet of each other) are of perforated cast iron and slate, and the BOOK II. Chapter I. British Museum. entire building is warmed by hot-water pipes. The glass Libraries built. used for the skylights is of great strength, that of the Library of the book-galleries and smaller rooms weighing twenty-one ounces to the superficial foot, and that of the ReadingRoom (which is ground glass) thirty ounces. The entire quantity of glass is about 60,000 superficial feet. If blinds should be found necessary for summer use, it is proposed to place them on the outside. A large firemain is carried along an external gallery around the dome. The amount for which this building has been erected and furnished, is about £150,000. The accommodation which, when fully shelved, it will afford for books is estimated to extend to nearly a million of volumes. Some details as to the fittings and furniture will be found in a subsequent chapter. An exterior view of this fine room the reader has before him on the opposite page. 2 1 It may not be without interest or advantage to add to this account of the most important Library-building lately erected in the old world, a description of two other edifices which have been very recently completed in the new;-the one, the Astor Library at New York; The first estimate was £86,000, including fittings. An alteration was afterwards made, by which increased accommodation was obtained for 200,000 volumes, and an additional expenditure necessitated of £12,000; and to this, £8000 was subsequently added for additional bookcases; making the total estimated cost £106,000. Subsequent extensions and improvements have raised this sum to nearly £150,000. 2 The Builder, 24 March, 1855;-Copies of all Communications respecting the enlargement of the buildings of the British Museum, ordered by the House of Commons, 1852-1858. BOOK II. Chapter I. at New York. the other, the New City Library at Boston. The Libraries built. Astor edifice is described as being built after the model of a palace at Florence. Its dimensions are in Astor Library length 120 feet; in breadth, 65; and in height (from the level of the street to the top of the parapet) 67, and it is constructed, almost exclusively, of brick, stone and iron. The application of the last named material is in some respects a novel one in America; as, for instance, in the construction of the trussbeams of the roof of cast iron pipes, parabolic in section. Externally, the first story is faced with rustic ashlar, having a projection of six inches. The window frames are considerably recessed, so that a bold relief is obtained. On the ground floor, and on either side of the entrance hall, are placed the Reading Rooms, which, it is stated, are capable of accommodating five hundred persons. The principal Library hall occupies the greater part of the floor above, being 100 feet in length, 60 feet in width, and 50 feet high. Two galleries, supported by piers, extend along each of the side walls, and are approached by spiral staircases at each angle. The total amount of shelving is sufficient for more than 100,000 volumes. The hall is lighted, partly by the windows in the front and back walls, and partly by skylights, the largest of which is 54 feet, and is formed of thick glass in iron frames. The cost of the building appears but little to have exceeded £20,000. 1 1 The Library of the City of Boston was begun in Journal of Commerce (New York) and Literary World (do.), as quoted by Professor Jewett, in his Notices of Public Libraries in the United States (1851), 91, 92. July 1855, and completed in December 1857, at BOOK II. Chapter I. a total cost, land included, of about £73,000 ster- Libraries built. ling, the whole of which has been defrayed from City funds. So that the whole of the noble benefactions of which this Library has been the object are wisely applied to augmenting its contents, not to their mere receptacle. "The building is rectangular, being 82 feet wide, and 116 feet long, exclusive of the towers at the rear corners, which are 14 feet 6 inches in length, and 18 feet in width. The architecture is of the Roman Italian style. The foundation upon which the walls rest, is composed of blocks of granite, about four feet in length, set and bedded in hydraulic cement. Upon these is laid a base-course of hammered granite, above which the exterior walls, excepting the front, are plain, being constructed of the best quality of faced bricks, with dressings of Connecticut sandstone. ....... .. The corners or angles of the building are finished with heavy rustic work, the whole being surmounted with a rich Corinthian cornice. The roof is constructed of iron, covered with copper. The lantern, by which the main hall is chiefly lighted, occupies the centre of the roof, and is forty feet wide, ninety feet long, and ten feet high. It is built of bricks and freestone, with a roof of iron, covered with copper. The building is entirely fire proof. It is thoroughly ventilated through the vaultings of the walls, by openings at the bottom and top of each of the rooms. The first story is twenty-one feet and six inches high. The floor is constructed with groined arches. This story contains five apartments, separated by brick partitions. They are |