Editing British Museum (section)

=== Sir Hans Sloane ===
[[File:Sir Hans Sloane, an engraving from a portrait by T. Murray.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Hans Sloane|Sir Hans Sloane]]]]

Although today principally a museum of cultural art objects and [[Ancient history|antiquities]], the British Museum was founded as a "universal museum". Its foundations lie in the will of the [[Anglo-Irish]] [[physician]] and [[Natural history|naturalist]] [[Hans Sloane|Sir Hans Sloane]] (1660–1753), a London-based doctor and scientist from [[Ulster]]. During the course of his lifetime, and particularly after he married the widow of a wealthy Jamaican planter,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/abolition/building_britain_gallery_05.shtml|title=BBC – History – British History in depth: Slavery and the Building of Britain|website=www.bbc.co.uk|access-date=12 November 2019|archive-date=5 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191205004223/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/abolition/building_britain_gallery_05.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> Sloane gathered a large [[cabinet of curiosities|collection of curiosities]], and not wishing to see his collection broken up after death, he bequeathed it to [[George II of Great Britain|King George II]], for the nation, for a sum of £20,000 ({{inflation|UK|20000|1753|r=0|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}) to be paid to his heirs by Parliament<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.fathom.com/course/21701728/session1.html| title=Creating a Great Museum: Early Collectors and The British Museum| publisher=Fathom| access-date=4 July 2010| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100102202555/http://www.fathom.com/course/21701728/session1.html| archive-date=2 January 2010| df=dmy-all}}</ref>—intentionally far less than the estimated value of the artefacts, contemporarily estimated at £50,000 ({{inflation|UK|50000|1753|r=0|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}) or more according to some sources, and up to £80,000 ({{inflation|UK|80000|1753|r=0|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}) or more by others.<ref name="sloaneletters.com2">{{Cite web |title=Introducing Sir Hans Sloane – the Sloane Letters Project |url=http://sloaneletters.com/about-sir-hans-sloane/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Sir Hans Sloane's Will of 1739 – The Sloane Letters Project |url=http://sloaneletters.com/will-sloane/ |website=sloaneletters.com}}</ref>

At that time, Sloane's collection consisted of around 71,000 objects of all kinds<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/history/general_history.aspx| title=General history| work=British Museum| date=14 June 2010| access-date=4 July 2010| archive-date=12 April 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120412162528/http://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/history/general_history.aspx| url-status=live}}</ref> including some 40,000 printed books, 7,000 manuscripts, extensive natural history specimens including 337 volumes of dried plants, [[Old master print|prints]] and drawings including those by [[Albrecht Dürer]] and antiquities from [[Kingdom of Kush|Sudan]], [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], [[Ancient Greece|Greece]], [[Ancient Rome|Rome]], the [[Ancient Near East|Ancient Near]] and [[Far East]] and the [[History of the Americas|Americas]].<ref>[[Gavin de Beer|de Beer, Gavin R.]] (1953). ''Sir Hans Sloane and the British Museum''. London.</ref>