The original Musaeum or Temple of the Muses at ancient Alexandria was the source for the modern usage, which denoted in Early Modern France as much a community of scholars brought together under one roof as it did the collections themselves, which French and English writers referred to as a "cabinet" as in "a cabinet of curiosities." A catalogue of the 17th century collection of John Tradescant, which was the founding core of the Ashmolean Museum was published as Musaeum Tradescantianum: or, a Collection of Rarities. Preserved at South-Lambeth near London by John Tradescant, 1656.
The Musaeum at Alexandria, which included the famous Library of Alexandria, was an institution founded by the Ptolemies and under their patronage. More complete coverage is at Library of Alexandria.
References
- Canfora, Luciano, The Vanished Library: A Wonder of the Ancient World, 1987. The only modren history.
- Lee, "The Musaeum of Alexandria and the formation of the 'Museum' in eighteenth-century France," inThe Art Bulletin, September 1997
