The risk was one faced by many Carbonari while Metternich was orchestrating, from Vienna, the repressive policies of puppet regimes in north-eastern and central Italy.

During Panizzi's tenure as Keeper of Printed Books its holdings increased from 235,000 to 540,000 volumes, making it the largest library in the world at the time.

Its famous circular Reading Room was designed and built by architect Sydney Smirke from a sketch drawn by Panizzi.

His appointment as Keeper of Printed Books was met with criticism due to Panizzi's Italian origin: some felt an Englishman should be in charge of the national institution.

While Carlyle worked on his history of the French Revolution, he had complained in a magazine article that "a certain sub-librarian" had not been very helpful to him, restricting access to uncatalogued documents held by the British Museum.

[8] Panizzi was also influential in enforcing the Copyright Act of 1842, which required British publishers to deposit with the library a copy of every book printed in Britain.

Panizzi was a strong advocate of free and equal access to learning, evident in the quote below: I want a poor student to have the same means of indulging his learned curiosity, of following his rational pursuits, of consulting the same authorities, of fathoming the most intricate inquiry as the richest man in the kingdom, as far as books go, and I contend that the Government is bound to give him the most liberal and unlimited assistance in this respect.

[16] Panizzi was a personal friend of British Prime ministers Lord Palmerston and William Ewart Gladstone, conducted an active correspondence with Sardinian, and later Italian Prime Minister Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, and through French archaeologist and writer Prosper Mérimée, was well acquainted with French Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie.

He also orchestrated a visit of Giuseppe Garibaldi to England, and convinced Gladstone to travel to Naples to view personally the inhumane conditions in which political prisoners were kept.

Panizzi died in London on 8 April 1879 and was buried in the Kensal Green Catholic Cemetery, not far from the resting places of William Makepeace Thackeray and Anthony Trollope.