When Panizzi entered upon his new office as Keeper, he was fully alive to the important duties which devolved upon him, and was well aware of the arduous and extraordinary task which he was called on to perform simultaneously with the ordinary business of the Department; he, therefore, resolved to keep the whole under his own immediate superintendence so far as was compatible with the regulations and wishes of the authorities. The Trustees having, in 1837, provided means for removing the Library of Printed Books from Montague House to the new building on the north side of the Quadrangle, it was necessary to appoint a separate staff of assistants, and these were known as “_temporary assistants_.” The operation of moving this mass of books, begun on the 1st of January, 1838, was successfully performed by efficient subordinates; but the labour and forethought required for the proper re-arrangement of the volumes and the alteration of the press-marks and references in the catalogues were such as can only be fully appreciated by those who have had some experience in similar undertakings. At this time the collection consisted of about 160,000 volumes, exclusive of the Royal Library. On Panizzi was thrown, in addition to his other duties, the responsibility of suggesting, examining, and criticising every single article of furniture, fittings, &c., which the Library itself and the Reading Room required. The style of these, as well as the contrivances then adopted in the Department of Printed Books, were subsequently, so far as possible, copied in other Departments of the Museum, having been found equally economical and useful. The Trustees, under these circumstances, offered to find a person who should undertake the superintendence of the Catalogue—an outlay which, however, they were not called on to incur, Panizzi having twice declined the proffered assistance. The opinion of the Trustees and that of Panizzi, however, in regard to the amount of the work necessarily to be carried out without delay will be best gathered from the two following letters:— _The Rev. J. Forshall to Panizzi, December 27, 1838._ “Your letter of the 18th instant leads me, upon reading it attentively, to explain to you that the Trustees did not intend, in the communication to which your letter is a reply, to _require_ from you to undertake the printing of the New Alphabetical Catalogue. They wished to ascertain whether, with the other duties which fall to your office, you felt that you could promise that vigorous and constant attention to the Catalogue which seems necessary to ensure the proper execution of the work. If you had felt that you could not, the Trustees would in that case have endeavoured to obtain other superintendence. The titles of the books in the King’s Library are to be incorporated with the others.” _Panizzi to the Rev. J. Forshall, January 1, 1839._