Matthew Maty was of Huguenot extraction, his family having sought refuge in the Netherlands. He trained as a doctor at Leiden University and moved to London in 1740. Here he practised as a physician but also moved in literary circles, founding the ‘Journal Britannique’ in 1747 and falling out with Dr Samuel Johnson, who in 1756 described him as ‘that little black dog!’ He was one of the first three Under Librarians appointed to the British Museum in 1756, taking charge of the Department of Printed Books the following year and transferring to ‘Natural and Artificial Productions’ in 1765. He was promoted to Principal Librarian (Director) in 1772 but, as the ‘Oxford Dictionary of National Biography’ says, ‘did not achieve a great deal’.