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In this highly-illustrated account, Nicolas Barker reveals the history of the British Library's treasure house of books and manuscripts. The Library's holdings cover collections spanning almost three millennia, from the establishment of the British Museum, which brought together the libraries of Sir Hans Sloane, Sir Robert Cotton and Robert Harley, first Earl of Oxford, to the foundation of the British Library in 1973 and to some outstanding acquisitions of the present day.
For hundreds of thousands of years our ancestors have walked these isles burying, dropping and throwing away their belongings, and now these treaures lie waiting for us, keeping their secrets until we uncover them once more. Every year, hundreds of vaulable artefacts are discovered by ordinary members of the British public. Here in Britain's Secret Treasures, which accompanies the ITV series, the British Museum chooses eighty of the most fascinating finds ever reported and Mary-Ann Ochota shares with us the moving histories that bring each piece to life. There is also a detailed chapter showing you how you can get involved in archaeology too. From hoards of Roman gold and Bronze Age drinking vessels to tiny Viking spindle whorls and weapons from dozens of wars, all manner of treausres are described here. Some help prove that our ancestors were alive over half a million years ago, some saw their modern-day finders receive a generous reward, all provide an insight into the wodnerful, dynamic, colourful history of our nation.
Robert M. Edsel brings the story of his #1 NYT bestseller for adults The Monuments Men to young readers for the first time in this dynamic, narrative nonfiction project packed with photos. Robert M. Edsel, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Monuments Men, brings this story to young readers for the first time in a sweeping, dynamic adventure detailing history's greatest treasure hunt.As the most destructive war in history ravaged Europe, many of the world's most cherished cultural objects were in harm's way. The Greatest Treasure Hunt in History recounts the astonishing true story of 11 men and one woman who risked their lives amidst the bloodshed of World War II to preserve churches, libraries, monuments, and works of art that for centuries defined the heritage of Western civilization. As the war raged, these American and British volunteers -- museum curators, art scholars and educators, architects, archivists, and artists, known as the Monuments Men -- found themselves in a desperate race against time to locate and save the many priceless treasures and works of art stolen by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.
And in the days of Nimrod, the mighty man (or giant), a fire appeared which ascended from the earth, and Nimrod went down, and looked at it, and worshipped it, and he established priests to minister there, and to cast incense from it. From that day the Persians began to worship fire...-from "The Fourth Thousand Years"One of the most prolific and respected Egyptologists of the Victorian era, Budge here offers his translation of the 4th-century A.D. Syrian text commonly known as "the Cave of Treasures," a history of the world from the Creation to the crucifixion of Christ and considered by some to be an apocryphal book of the Bible. Budge's extensive notes, linking the work to other ancient writings, as well as the numerous illustrations, make this unusual work, first published in 1927, an excellent resource for students of ancient civilizations and comparative mythology.SIR E. A. WALLIS BUDGE (1857-1934) was curator of Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities at the British Museum from 1894 to 1924. Among his many works of translation and studies of ancient Egyptian religion and ritual is his best-known project, The Egyptian Book of the Dead.
Illustrated with beautiful images from the British Library's collection, The British History Puzzle Book will provide hours of entertainment and delight readers with questions for history novices to experts alike. It also spans British history from the first Stone Age settlers to today's post-industrial country. A spectacular, puzzle-fueled, myth-busting journey through the hidden history of Britain in 500 questions. Britain's history is one of the richest and most complex in Europe. From the first Stone Age settlers, through the Roman occupation, the waves of Germanic and Viking invaders, the wars of the Middle Ages, the consolidation of the United Kingdom, the British Empire, the two World Wars and today's post- industrial country, its development is filled with well-known highpoints and lesser-known byways. The British History Puzzle Book poses fascinating and fiendish questions which will test your knowledge of the nation's history to the limit and reveal a treasure trove of astonishing facts. So if you've ever wondered where cricket was invented, how many husbands the reigning queens of England have had, or who the first recorded tourist to visit Britain was, then The British History Puzzle Book will provide all the answers.
- New edition of this exploration of one of Britain's greatest buildings - A comprehensive, beautifully illustrated survey of Westminster Abbey's art treasures Westminster Abbey has a history stretching back over a thousand years. Founded as a Benedictine monastery in the mid-tenth century, it is the coronation church where monarchs have been crowned amid great splendor since 1066. The present church, begun by Henry III in 1245, is a treasure house of architectural and artistic achievement on which each succeeding century has left its mark. The medieval and Renaissance tombs within the Abbey, though among the most important in Europe, form only a small part of the extraordinary collection of gravestones, memorials and monumental sculpture for which it has long been famous. Ranging from the thirteenth-century shrine of St Edward and the Renaissance splendor of Henry VII's Lady Chapel, to the literary memorials of Poets' Corner and the statues of twentieth-century martyrs on the Abbey's west front, this book describes the stained glass, furniture, sculpture, textiles, wall paintings and many other historic artefacts found within this remarkable church. Contents: Introduction; Edward the Confessor's Chapel; Sacrarium and High Altar; Quire and Crossing; North Transept and Ambulatory; South Ambulatory and Transept; Nave; Lady Chapel; Cloisters; Abbey Precincts.
This richly illustrated Tiny Folio(TM) volume surveys British painting, watercolors, and sculpture from the sixteenth century to the present. With masters such as William Blake, William Hogarth, George Stubbs, Thomas Gainsborough, Joseph Mallord William Turner, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, James McNeill Whistler, John Singer Sargent, Henry Moore, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, and David Hockney, the Tate Gallery offers work to please every taste. The gallery, which was opened in London in the summer of 1897 by the Prince of Wales, is best known for its modern art collections, but-as this little compendium makes wonderfully clear-it encompasses the full sweep of British art, from ornate aristocratic portraits and vivacious hunting scenes to the Pre-Raphaelites languid femmes fatales.
