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. Panizzi was knighted for services to librarianship, and is commemorated by the annual Panizzi lectures at the British Library. His continuing support of Italian independence was recognised by his appointment to the Italian senate. This two-volume biography by his colleague Louis Fagan (1845–1903) was published in 1880.