PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY

Close Notification

Your cart does not contain any items

The British Museum

Storehouse of Civilizations

James Hamilton

$39.99

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

QTY:

English
Head of Zeus
01 June 2018
A concise history of one of the world's greatest and most comprehensive museum collections, from its founding in 1753. A product and symbol of the 18th-century Enlightenment, the British Museum is as iconic an expression of that cultural tendency as Johnson's Dictionary , the French Encyclopedie and Linnaean plant classification. Its collections embody the raw material of empiricism – the bringing together of things to enable the widest intellectual experiment to take place.

James Hamilton explores the establishment of the Museum in the 1750s (from the bequest to the nation of the collections of Sir Hans Sloane); the chosen site of its location; the cultural context in which it came into being; the subsequent development, expansion and diversification of the Museum, both as a collection and as a building, from the early 19th to the 21st century; the controversy occasioned by some of its acquisitions; and the legacy and influence of the Museum nationally and globally.

By:  
Imprint:   Head of Zeus
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 200mm,  Width: 135mm, 
ISBN:   9781786691835
ISBN 10:   1786691833
Series:   The Landmark Library
Pages:   208
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active

James Hamilton is an art historian and biographer. He is the author of London Lights and A Strange Business: Making Art and Money in 19th-Century Britain. His biography of Turner was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Award.

Reviews for The British Museum: Storehouse of Civilizations

PRAISE FOR JAMES HAMILTON: 'A beautifully written cultural history' Observer, Books of the Year on A Strange Business. 'One of the best works of art history for years' Philip Hensher, Spectator, Books of the Year. 'James Hamilton evokes the visceral world of a great artist and a fascinating character' Mike Leigh on Turner: A Life.


See Also