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A New World — £10.00
New World looks at the lasting impact John White's watercolours had on the Old World's impression of America. His legacy continued for over 250 years after his death thanks to the reproduction and adaptation of his work by later artists, a selectionof which is displayed in the exhibition.

Flowers — £9.99
Flowers have been very lucky in the world of art. Those who have used them as inspiration for painting, drawing or decoration have clearly enjoyed their subject, thus creating a wealth of floral art which is relaxed, objective and joyous. This book brings together the best of floral art in the British Museum. Poems and extracts from authors of different cultures illuminate a range of flowers and themes. Included are quotes from the Bible, Japanese haiku, poetry from China and Egypt and even an Aztec...

Mummy — £5.99
The 3,000 year-old mummy of the Egyptian priest Nesperennub has never been removed from its beautifully painted case, but now the latest non-invasive imaging technology has revealed what lies inside. Combining CT scanning with leading-edge computer graphics, scientists have created the world's first virtual mummy - a three-dimensional rendering of the body that can be viewed interactively. This has made it possible to carry out a 'virtual unwrapping' which answers many questions about Nesperennub...

Horses — £16.99
Ever since they were first domesticated some 6,000 years ago, horses have played a vital role in human life and history. Using new photography of the many horses to be found in the collections of the British Museum, this book explores the depiction of the horse through the ages and celebrates the relationship between horses and humans. Featuring many stunning objects such as the Horse of Selene and the gold model chariot from the Oxus treasure, the book also illustrates a wide selection of lesser...

Africa — £16.99
The collections of the British Museum provide an exceptional resource for exploring both African antiquity and its contemporary arts and cultures. This book looks at the continent as a whole. It describes through a series of essays the history and arts of particular regions and the sources of the collections now in the Museum. Each section will be well-illustrated with a mix of archival and contemporary field photographs, and will also integrate illustrations of up to 50 important individual objects...

Birds — £9.99
A perfect gift for any bird-lover featuring beautiful images and poetry.

Egypt — £20.00
Generations of historians, archaeologists and writers have been captivated by Ancient Egypt, a civilization that lasted an astonishing 3000 years. Its story is more enthralling and rewarding than any work of fiction, for it is a celebration of human ingenuity, creativity, strategy in adversity and universal human cares and worries. Yet, one of the most common misconceptions about Ancient Egypt is that there is little left to be discovered. Nothing could be further from the truth. Archaeologists are...

Winter — £9.99
The season of winter is one of contrasts. Snow-swept landscapes and dark nights are punctuated by the celebration of Christmas and the ushering in of a new year, with its log fires, cosy gatherings with friends and family, and an abundance of foodand drink. This book celebrates these contrasts with pictures of Christmas joy and stark winter scenes by a wealth of artists including Rembrandt, Turner, Durer and Mary Delany. The meaning of winter to people in the past and the present is shownwith objects...

Buddha — £9.99
Beginning with a brief introduction to the basic philosophy of Buddhism and how to read the Buddha image, this text goes on to illuminate the Buddha's past, the fascinating events of his life, a summary of his teachings, the Cosmic Buddhas, paradise, the afterlife and the future. Reflecting the varied and vibrant visual world of Buddhism, each spread is illustrated with an image from the British Museum's extensive collections or a serene atmospheric photograph taken at one of the many Buddhist sites...

Blue and White — £20.00
Chinese blue and white porcelain has made a unique contribution to the history of ceramic technology. Throughout its development from the beginning of the 14th century, through its technical originality and artistic brilliance, it has continued to captivate and inspire the entire world. This richly illustrated book traces the history and evolution of blue and white in China, first during the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368), when the Mongols ruled all of Asia, creating an environment in which blue and white...

Elephants — £9.99
This delightful giftbook celebrates the enduring fascination with this majestic animal through a wide variety of British Museum objects representing or inspired by elephants. The Bamileke in Cameroon donned spectacular trunked masks for theirelephant masquerade. Sixteenth-century European artists, when learning the art of drawing animals, practised images of elephants, whether or not they had seen one in real life. Ganesh, the elephant-headed Hindu god, is depicted in many wonderfulsculptures.All...

Tutankhamun — £9.99
This activity book is packed with information about the boy pharaoh Tutankhamun, the most famous of all Ancient Egyptian kings. Tutankhamun became king when he was only nine years old, and he died aged just eighteen. Tutankhamun's tomb was found in 1922, undamaged and filled with marvellous treasures and information. This book tells the amazing story of his life and death and the discovery of his tomb, while offering lots of fun things to do and make. Tutankhamun includes eight pull-out die-cut card...

Byzantium — £8.99
Byzantium, the Roman empire in the eastern Mediterranean, dominated the political and religious face of Europe for over a thousand years. In this introduction Rowena Loverance traces the history of the empire from the founding of its capital Constantinople in AD 330 to its capture by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. Many of the outstanding political and religious events, and the personalities behind them, are reflected in the art of the period. The author draws on the British Museum's extremely rich collections...

Christ — £9.99
The remarkable narrative of the life of Christ is the origin of Christian faith and belief. This beautiful book traces the key events of Christ's life to reveal the Christian perspective on the central themes of temptation, prayer, healing, faith, suffering and redemption. Illustrated with superb images of religious art from two millennia, the book is an ideal companion for those interested in the evolution of Christian thought or simply with a love of religious and devotional art.

Origami — £14.99
Containing materials and instructions to make a range of origami creations and including reproductions of the Japanese prints which inspired them. Includes a historical text about each print written by a curator of Japanese art from the MetropolitanMuseum of Art in New York. Origami paper included to make models.

Michelangelo — £9.99
This lovely gift book introduces one of the greatest Renaissance masters through his drawings. A short illustrated essay opens the book, describing Michelangelo's life and the background behind some of his greatest works, including the Sistine chapel ceiling and the 'Last Judgement'. The book then illustrates a selection of his most important drawings with short captions, from sketches jotting down preliminary ideas to highly finished studies - all proving how integral drawing was to the artist in...

The Ancient Olympic Games — £9.99
In this revised and enlarged edition of 'The Ancient Olympic Games', Judith Swaddling traces their mythological and religious origins and describes the events, the sacred ceremony and the celebrations that were an essential part of the Olympic festival. A large, detailed model based on modern research and excavation reconstructs the site of Ancient Olympia, where alongside religious and civic buildings there grew an elaborate sports complex with a stadium for 40,000 spectators, indoor and outdoor...

Toulouse-Lautrec — £9.99
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) was born in the south of France to an eccentric aristocratic family. In 1882 he moved to Paris to study art, and became friendly with several young artists including Van Gogh, Bonnard and Vuillard. He set up a studio in the bohemian quarter of Montmartre where he lived for the rest of his short life, sketching the characters in the theatres, brothels and cabarets of the Parisian world. His dissolute lifestyle, coupled with alcoholism and syphilis, led to a stroke...

The First Emperor DVD — £9.99
The Chinese terracotta soldiers make up the most famous army in the world. A triumph of early mass-production and craftsmanship, they were dreamt up by a man whose face we will never know; a figure who remains a more shadowy presence than that ofhis constructed warriors. And yet, Qin Shihuangdi was one of the greatest military leaders in history. Based on the latest research and including location photography at key sites in China, this film sheds new light on the achievements, ambitionsand legacy...

The Story of Venus — £7.99
The fabulous story of the goddess Venus, also known by her Greek name Aphrodite, begins with her mysterious birth in the Aegean Sea. She emerges on the coast of Cyprus full-grown, shapely and desirable. With one hand she wrings her long, wavy hair, still wet from the waters of the sea, and with the other she pretends to conceal the secret places of her body. She stands on a scallop shell, perfect and beautiful. In fact, the ancient love goddess had many origins and many histories. The Minoans of...

The Cat in Ancient Egypt — £9.99
Many modern cats are descendants of the cats of Ancient Egypt. These beautiful creatures thus represent a living link between the modern world and the Ancient Egyptian civilization. Cats in Egypt were probably domesticated by around 4,000 BC, from wild ancestors. Over the following centuries, they became popular household pets; they are regularly shown in tomb paintings of family life. They were also seen as manifestations of the goddess Bastet, and Dr Malek draws on a vast range of artistic and...

Greek Vases — £12.99
Pottery is a key to our understanding of many ancient cultures. In this edition, Dr Williams traces the development of Greek painted pottery from its first moments around 6000 BC, through its finest years at Athens, until its eventual decline in the 2nd century BC. He describes how Greek vases were made and introduces us to individual artists, both potters and painters. The text shows the changes that have occurred in a very traditional craft, some inspired by artistic or commercial considerations...

The Story of Writing — £9.99
The Parthenon sculptures in the British Museum are unrivalled examples of classical Greek art that have inspired sculptors, artists, poets and writers since their creation in the fifth century BC. This book serves as a superb visual introduction to these magnificent sculptures. The book showcases a series of specially taken new photographs of the different sculptural elements: pediments, metopes and frieze. It captures the vitality of the sculptures in a group, an individual sculpture or an exquisite...

The Rosetta Stone — £5.00
The Rosetta Stone contains a decree written three times in Greek, Demotic and hieroglyphic that provided the key to the mysterious hieroglyphic script of Ancient Egypt, and opened up 3,000 years of that country's history and culture. This book tells the fascinating story of one of archaeology's icons, from its creation in the 2nd century BC, to its discovery in 1799 during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign, to the subsequent race to decipher its hieroglyphic text. Undertaken by two brilliant scholars...

Chinese Calligraphy — £6.99
Chinese script is one of the oldest forms of writing in existence. Its origins can be traced back to at least the second millennium BC and it is still in use over 3000 years later. Calligraphy, the creation of the written characters on paper with brush and ink, has traditionally been revered as one of the highest forms of Chinese art. Standard style or regular script (kaishu), with its distinct combination of legibility and elegance, has been fundamental to the calligrapher's art since the end of...

Illustrated Atlas of Ancient Egypt — £12.99
A historical and cultural atlas of Ancient Egypt, illustrated with full-colour maps, photographs and artwork. The landscape and climate of Egypt had a fundamental influence on the development of Ancient Egyptian culture, civilization and thought. The river Nile became a vital transport artery - the hieroglyph for 'travelling north/south' was a boat. The annual Nile flood made agriculture possible in this otherwise desert country and formed the basis of Egypt's wealth and power. The strong daytime...

Egyptian Myths — £8.99
The nineteenth century archaeological exploration of Egypt and the decipherment of hieroglyphs fully revealed for the first time the variety and richness of Egyptian myth. In this absorbing introduction the author examines the sources for the myths and sets them against the background of the history of the ancient Egyptian civilisation. The account begins with the creation legends of the sun god of Heliopolis, Ptar of Memphis and the Ogdoad of Hermopolis. The stories that follow range from epic tales...

Indian Art in Detail — £14.99
Ideal as a spur to creative inspiration, this beautiful book offers a striking and unusual view of the wide array of Indian art. The book highlights in close-up and vibrant colour the most breathtaking aspects of workmanship, materials and design found in stunning sculptures in metal, ivory and wood as well as paintings and textiles, drawn from the magnificent collections of the British Museum. Each of the intriguing and beautiful artworks is placed in its cultural context, and then explored further...

Japanese Art in Detail — £14.99
This beautiful book offers a striking and unusual view of the wide array of Japanese art. It highlights - close up and in colour - outstanding examples of design and craft in prints, paintings and screens, metalwork, ceramics, wood, stone and lacquer. The book opens with an introduction asking 'What is Japanese art?' This is followed by a series of thematic chapters in which the author provides cultural context while pointing out exceptional features. By showing the complete object alongside enlarged...

Caricatures of the Peoples of the British Isles — £9.99
The political satirical print enjoyed its heyday during the 18th and early 19th century and was the predecessor of modern newspaper cartoons. Their power lies in the startling combination of draughtsmanship, merciless humour and often disturbing insights into social and political scenarios. To mark the three-hundred year anniversary of the formation of the United Kingdom (finalised by the Act of Union in 1707) this book presents a selection of works from the Museum's 20,000 work collection of satirical...

Medicine man — £19.99
With a particular interest in anthropology and the history of medicine, and with ambitions to create a 'Museum of Man', Henry Wellcome (1853 - 1936) built up one of the world's largest but least known museum collections: it has been estimated that in 1930 it was some five times the size of the Louvre. Now scattered among numerous institutions and studied in a wide range of disciplines, the collection spans centuries and continents, and includes both the beautiful and the banal. This book will explore...

The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead — £14.99
This book contains some two hundred spells, prayers and incantations, and is illustrated with finely drawn vignettes reproduced from the many Books of the Dead in the British Museum's collections.

The First Emperor — £25.00
The Terracotta Army is evidence of the organisational power of the Qin dynasty that unified China in 221 BC. It has become a symbol of China's long cultural history and, now that China is rapidly developing, it reminds the world of China's future potential. This book unfolds the historical and archaeological context of the Terracotta Army, and explores the new research and excavation that has been carried out in the years since its discovery in 1974.

The Jane Austen Cookbook — £9.99
Jane Austen wrote her novels in the midst of a large and sociable family. Brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, friends and acquaintances were always coming and going, and eating and drinking. Fortunately one of Jane's dearest friends,Martha Lloyd, lived with the family for many years and recorded in her "Household Book" over 100 recipes enjoyed by the Austens. This family fare, tested and modernized for today's cooks, is reproduced here, together with some of the moresophisticated dishes which...

Pocket Timeline of Ancient Mesopotamia — £7.99
An invaluable introduction to and explanation of the amazing cultures of Ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). This area was a centre of civilization and sophisticated culture from the earliest times, profoundly influencing other cultures of the ancient world. At the back of the book is a 12-page foldout timeline which can be detached and displayed on a wall or noticeboard, offering an attractive quick visual reference to Ancient Mesopotamian history. The timeline begins with the earliest inhabitants...

V-MAIL — £3.99
The Vindolanda Letters are a collection of personal and official correspondence, preserved by chance at one of the Roman forts on Hadrian's Wall. This charming little book collects some of the most interesting letters and uses them to show youngreaders what life was like for the Romans who lived and fought on the northern frontier of the empire.

Iznik Pottery — £10.99
The Turkish pottery at Iznik, ancient Nicaea, supplied the Ottoman court with luxurious vessels and splendid tiles to decorate newly founded palaces, mosques and other buildings. One of the great glories of Ottoman art at its peak period, the designs combine purely Turkish motifs with elements ingeniously transposed from imported Chinese blue and white porcelain. Over time, a subtle and complex palette was introduced, of cobalt blue, turquoise, olive green, magenta and grey. During the second half...

Masterpieces of Medieval art — £19.99
The British Museum has one of the world's finest collections of antiquities from medieval Europe. This magnificent book investigates 150 of the most important works of art, including the most famous such as the Lewis chessmen, the Borradailetriptych, the St Eustace head reliquary, the Royal Gold Cup, the Royal Gittern and medieval court art from the palaces of Westminster and Clarendon.This book puts these remarkable treasures into a historical context by exploring themes including dynastic art ...

Pocket Timeline of Ancient Greece — £7.99
This timeline travels from prehistoric times, through the periods of the Cretan and Mycenaean cultures, to the great flowering of Greek art and culture in the classical period, and on to the rise of Alexander the Great and the final conquest of Greece by the Roman empire. The book offers introductions to each of the significant periods of Greek history, and includes special features on important people, places , events and discoveries mentioned on the timeline.

Mythical Beasts of Greece and Rome — £8.99
This is a quirky illustrated introduction to the magical beasts and monsters that populate the myths of Ancient Greece and Rome, and which reappear in children's stories closer to home such as Harry Potter.

World at the British Museum DVD — £14.99
Created over 250 years ago, the British Museum was the very first national public museum in the world. Today it houses a collection of seven million objects and attracts annually some six million visitors, who come to discover how human beings overmillennia and across the Earth have found ways of exploring their place in the universe. The British Museum has been called 'The Memory of Mankind ' and this film shows how various, extraordinary and rewarding that memory can be. From the first great human...

Persian Love Poetry — £9.99
Love is everywhere in Persian poetry and can be interpreted in various ways: as mystic love, the basis of the relationship between humans and god; as passionate or affectionate love between lovers, husbands and wives, parents and children, family and friends; even as patriotic love for Iran. The literary style and indeed the Persian language itself are floral and elaborate, but the themes differ little from our preoccupations with love and romance today. This collection offers extracts specially...

Islamic Tiles — £10.99
This series focuses on the most important forms of Eastern art, providing a survey of the major stylistic and technical developments and the historical events which influenced them. Ceramic tiles have been produced for over 1,000 years in the Islamic world, from Iraq in the 9th century to Turkey in the 19th. The wealth of designs and colours used to decorate mosques, shrines and palaces also became a rich source of inspiration for European artists and designers. This book explains the techniques...

Hindu Myths — £8.99
Hindu principles guide the lives of about one fifth of the world's population. However, its rich mythology is perceived as complex, with the great epics, 'Ramayana' and 'Mahabharata' replete with myths, legends and fables. This book sets out to demystify this spectacular array for a wide public. Stories drawn mainly from the 'Puranas', whose title means 'old' (stories), are here arranged in sections corresponding to the five traditional aspects or functions of the divine. Illustrations include manuscript...

Ancient Persia — £8.99
Persia (ancient Iran) occupies an important place among the great civilizations of the ancient world. The many splendid achievements of the early inhabitants of Iran range from the imaginatively painted pottery of the prehistoric period to the magnificent silver vessels of Sasanian times, and include the Luristan bronzes and the spectacular sculptures of Persepolis. Civilization began early in Iran, as it did elsewhere in the Ancient Near East, and the author traces the history, archaeology and art...

Islamic Designs — £9.99
British Museum Pattern Books reproduce in line drawings the rich variety of patterns and designs which decorate art and artefacts in the British Museum and elsewhere. This visual anthology of 280 designs and patterns is drawn from the rich heritage of Islamic art c.800-1600 AD. Designers, craftsmen, artists, teachers and students will find the series endlessly useful.

The Lewis Chessmen DVD — £9.99
The Lewis Chessmen are among the British Museum's most popular attractions. They were featured in the film 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' and inspired the children's animation 'Noggin the Nog'. They are more than just quirky figures ofpowerful kings, anxious queens, serene bishops, mounted knights and fierce foot-soldiers. Carved over 800 years ago from walrus ivory, they have been described as 'the greatest Chessmen of the European Middle Ages'. This lively film looks at theirstory ...

Garden tool kit — £25.00
Get ready to get green fingers with this brilliant beginners gardening tool kit. Included in the box are a hand trowel and fork.

Scribes and Illuminators — £8.99
In this richly illustrated title, the author investigates the lives and work of medieval scribes and illuminators. Each page of the production of a manuscript is examined from the preparation of the vellum, pens, paints and inks to the writing of the scripts and the final decoration and illumination of the book. The author also explores the role of the patron in commissioning the book and the part played by the stationer or book shop. The individual scribes and illuminators who emerge were identifiable...

Assyrian Palace Sculptures — £19.99
“Paul Collins leads a breathtaking lion hunt in his marvellous introduction to one of the British Museum's fiercest and most famous treasures.” The Times. Between the ninth and seventh centuries BC the small kingdom of Assyria innorthern Iraq expanded through conquest to dominate the region from Egypt to Iran. The power of the Assyrian kings was reflected in the creation of a series of magnificentpalaces in which the walls of principal rooms and courtyards were lined with huge panels of alabaster...

The Bible in the British Museum — £12.99
The links between archaeology and the Bible have fascinated generations of archaeologists and biblical scholars who seek documentation of events narrated in the Bible. The British Museum's collections include numerous inscribed objects, scripts and pictorial reliefs which provide such evidence. There is, for example, a Babylonian clay tablet which records Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Jerusalem in 597 BC, as narrated in the book of Jeremiah. For this book the author has selected over 70 such 'documents...

The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial — £9.99
The Sutton Hoo site is one of the most important archaeological discoveries ever made in Britain, and arguably the world. Since the initial discovery of the ship burial in 1938, when newspaper reports with banner headlines kept the British public informed

Dictionary of ancient Egypt — £25.00
This celebrated British Museum reference work is now republished in an enlarged and fully revised edition. Packed with facts, illustrations and insights, it answers all questions on ancient Egyptian topics from Abydos and ankh to Zoser and zodiac.This authoritative illustrated dictionary provides clear, in-depth explanations and descriptions of the important ideas, events and personalities throughout 4,000 years of Egyptian civilization. More than 700 extensively cross-referenced andcomprehensively...

British Museum Book of Chinese Art — £16.99
Newly revised and updated edition of this award-winning book.This winner of the National Art Book Prize is a richly detailed and fully illustrated survey of Chinese art, ideal for students and all those interested in China.Chinese silks and porcelains, unsurpassed for over a thousand years, have been prized around the world for their fine textures and brilliant colours. Paradoxically, the arts valued most in China have been calligraphy, ink painting, jade carving andbronze casting. The authors explain...

Greek Architecture and its Sculpture — £25.00
The Greek and Lycian architecture and architectural sculpture in the British Museum is second to none in its quantity, quality, and geographical and chronological spread. 'Greek Architecture and its Sculpture' is the first book to explore this fascinating subject, taking the Museum's unique collection as its starting point. These remarkable works make a continuous story featuring the archaic and later temple of Artemis at Ephesos, the Parthenon and other temples of the Athenian Acropolis, the temple...

Samuel Palmer — £25.00
Palmer began his career as an artist at an early age. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy at the age of fourteen (one of his sketchbooks from this time is in the British Museum's collection). In 1824, he met William Blake whose influence helped confirm his visionary approach to art. Palmer retreated into rural isolation in the village of Shoreham, Kent, his own 'Valley of Vision'. Here he produced his most distinctive work, and gathered around him a group of artists (including Edward Calvert...

Golden Age of Persian Art — £19.99
The era of Safavid rule (1501-1722) was a time of dynamic religious and political development in Iran, when all the arts attained new heights of brilliance and opulence and architecture flourished with the growth of cities. This volume publishes 17 papers given at a conference at the British Museum in 1998. Representing the most recent work of the foremost scholars in the field, they deal with aspects of Safavid painting and the conservation of works on paper, architecture, archaeology, metalwork...

5000 Years of Textiles — £16.99
This authoritative survey covers the development of textiles from a huge geographical and chronological range - from China to South America, from Egyptian artefacts of 3000 years BC to contemporary crafts and furnishings.

The Sutton Hoo Helmet DVD — £9.99
Nearly 1,500 years after it was made, the magnificent Sutton Hoo helmet has taken its place in the British Museum as one of its supreme treasures. Discovered on the eve of the Second World War as part of a spectacular Anglo-Saxon ship burial, it became a symbol of the nation and proof of a forgotten, sophisticated civilization. But who crafted it? Who wore it? This fascinating film records the excitement of the ships excavation, examines the helmet in detail and searches for the true identity of...

Master Drawings of the Italian Renaissance — £19.99
This book features masterpieces of Italian Renaissance drawings from the British Museum, the Louvre and other French public collections in Lille, Rennes and Chantilly. Beginning with an examination of drawing as part of the creative process, and showing how it reveals the artist's mind at work, the author explains in detail the materials and techniques used in Renaissance drawings. It also considers how drawings were used, how they changed stylistically through the period and how they varied in different...

The Terracotta Warriors tie — £30.00
This tie made to accompany the exhibition features multiple terracotta warriors. The Terracotta Army of Qin Shihuangdi, the First Emperor of China, is one of the most spectacular and best-known finds in world archaeology. It was discovered by surprise in 1974 by peasants digging a well ã an 8,000-man garrison in battle-ready formation, spread across four pits. Here were life-size warriors made over two thousand years ago from fired clay (originally brightly painted), carrying real weapons: cavalry...

Durer — £9.99
Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) is arguably the first truly international artist, a celebrity both during his own lifetime and since. A major artist of the northern Renaissance, he was praised by his contemporaries and described shortly after his death as 'the prince among German painters'. Dürer's achievements as a painter were matched by his remarkable manipulation of the traditional techniques of woodcut and engraving, which altered the history of printmaking and ensured that his works were admired...

Pocket Dictionary of Kings and Queens of Britain — £6.99
This book features: Raedwald (the king buried at Sutton Hoo); Queen Cynethryth, wife of King Offa of Mercia; Alfred the Great; Cnut; Richard I; Henry III, Henry IV, Henry VII, Henry VIII; Edward VI; Mary I; Elizabeth I; James I/VI; Charles I; Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector; William and Mary; Anne; George II and George III; Victoria; Edward VII; and Elizabeth II. Britain has been famous for its monarchy for centuries. This is the perfect introduction to over twenty of the most fascinating kings and...

Masterpieces of Ancient Egypt — £20.00
The British Museum has the largest, finest and most famous collection of antiquities from Egypt and the Sudan outside of those countries. This is the first guide to the highlights of this magnificent collection. It beautifully displays over 170 of the most important objects, including those that are world-renowned (such as the Rosetta Stone) and also lesser-known but equally significant or beautiful pieces. Striking images of each masterpiece are accompanied with concise, insightful descriptions...

Chinese ceramics — £12.99
Sir Percival David made one of the finest collections of Chinese ceramics outside Asia. It includes many items of imperial quality, with beautiful examples of extremely rare Ru and guan wares as well as the famous David vases. Their inscriptionsdate to 1351, making them an internationally acknowledged yardstick for the dating of Chinese blue and white porcelain. Here are 50 selected highlights, all illustrated with colour photographs taken especially for this publication. The accompanying text provides...

The Greek body — £19.99
The ancient Greeks perceived the human body as an object of sensory delight and its depiction as the expression of an intelligent mind. This sumptuous photographic book explores ancient Greek sculptures of the body from every angle. With an introduction outlining the use of the body in Greek art from the prehistoric simplicity of Cycladic figurines to the realism of the Hellenistic age, seven thematic sections then feature stunning photographs of close ups taken from the British Museum’s outstanding...

The Romans Activity Book — £2.99
Popular, low-priced activity book for 7-11 year olds focusing on the Romans. The book includes games, puzzles, maps, spot-the-difference pictures, and drawing, colouring and making activities. They are fun to use and full of information about people and places of the past. This series has lots of ideas for work with the National Curriculum in History, Art, Technology and English. The books can be used in the classroom or at home, and are a particularly good way of preparing for a visit to a museum.

Pocket Timeline of Ancient Rome — £7.99
At the back of the book is a 12-page foldout timeline which can be detached and displayed on a wall or noticeboard, offering an attractive quick visual reference to the whole of Ancient Roman history. The timeline stretches from the earliest prehistoric settlers in the Tiber Valley, through the periods of the Roman republic and of imperial conquests, to the final decline and fall of the western Roman empire and the Byzantine empire in the east. The 32-page book follows the same chronological arrangement...

The Art of Small Things — £19.99
There is a true fascination with all things miniature and with the skills involved in creating a miniature masterpiece. Miniatures have an intrinsic aesthetic quality: they are objects of allure, or of awe. But small things also possess a capacity to act upon the world and evoke responses which far exceed their physical dimensions. They might be imbued with talismanic, religious or magical properties. This thought-provoking book celebrates the art of the miniature object, and looks beyond it at the...

Medals of dishonour — £16.99
Alongside the long standing and well-known association of medals with glory and achievement lies another darker tradition of the medal as an indicator of dishonour. Medals of Dishonour will reveal this little-known history, and will also show internationally renowned contemporary artists engaging with the medal as a vehicle for political and social comment. The first part of the catalogue consists of a representative selection of about twenty medals of the 17th–20th centuries, including German and...

The Tomb of Nebamun — £6.99
Much of what we know about Ancient Egypt comes from material found in tombs. The paintings from the tomb of Nebamun are so fine that their painter has been called 'the Michelangelo of antiquity'. The paintings contain a wealth of detail aboutEgyptian life and are often used as evidence for everyday activities in Ancient Egypt. They were probably meant to depict all the good things that Nebamun would continue to enjoy in the afterlife. Nebamun lived in Egypt nearly 3,500 years ago, around thesame...

Chinese Love Poetry — £9.99
Selected English translations by respected scholars are each illustrated with a scene from a Chinese painting or print in the collection of the British Museum. Each poem is also illuminated by the artistic brushwork calligraphy of Qu Lei Lei. Further reading and brief biographies of the poets are also provided.

The British Museum A-Z Companion — £12.99
From Achaemenid silver to the Ziwiye treasure, Alexander the Great to Jean-Antoine Watteau, through Greek vases, Japanese pottery, Nebuchadnezzar, Quetzalcoatl and the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the 'Companion Guide' provides an entertaining and informative introduction to the objects in the British Museum. There are more than 300 A-Z entries in which each chosen object is fully described and illustrated in colour. Suggestions for further reading accompany each entry and the guide is comprehensively...

Hindu Art — £16.99
The complex cults of Hinduism have been the inspiration for splendid temple architecture, striking and beautiful sculpture, and fine painting. This wide-ranging survey provides an introduction to the Hindu art and architecture of India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, covering a period of over two thousand years. There is no one style of Hindu art. Much of the art of the Indian subcontinent has always been religious in inspiration, and the same artists worked readily on images...

Babylon City of wonders — £9.99
The city of Babylon flourished for nearly 2,000 years on the River Euphrates in what is now central Iraq. After its conquest by the Persians in 539 BC it slowly faded from prominence and over time was lost from the historical record almostcompletely. One of the greatest cities of the ancient world lived on only in popular belief and legend. Amalgamating fact and fantasy, stories about the city and the kings of Babylon survived through the Middle Ages into modern times and were theinspiration for...

Pocket timeline of Islamic civilizations — £7.99
At the back of the book is a 12-page foldout time-line which can be detached and displayed on a wall or noticeboard, offering an attractive quick visual reference to the key periods, events and developments of Islamic civilizations from approximately the 7th to the 19th centuries AD. The 32-page book offers introductions to each of the periods and dynasties, with short sections on particular themes and on the great achievements of Islamic art and culture over the centuries. Both book and time...

Donation — £25.00
The British Museum relies upon the ongoing support of many generous individuals, who are committed to the work of the Museum and its curators, and to the care and preservation of the collection. Donations made to the British Museum support the acquisition of important objects to complement the Museum’s collection. They are used to help grow the Museum’s collection of contemporary objects, which are held for the benefit of future generations. Donations also contribute to the Museum’s active research...

Indian Love Poetry — £9.99
Love is celebrated throughout Indian poetry - mystic love, love between humans and their god as well as passionate or affectionate love between lovers and among family and friends. The literary style and the language itself may be new to some, but the themes are universal throughout time and across cultures. This beautiful gift book collection offers examples of the very best traditional Indian poetry, illustrated with some of the finest and loveliest examples of Indian art in the British Museum...

Ancient Board Games in Perspective — £50.00
Features papers from the first international colloquium on the board games of antiquity.

The Gayer Anderson Cat — £5.00
The Gayer Anderson Cat has been one of the most admired objects at the British Museum since its arrival in 1947. This book presents a detailed description of the Cat and a discussion of its possible meaning and role in ancient times. Surprising newfinds from scientific analyses are presented for the first time, shedding light on the Cat's somewhat traumatic modern history, from its acquisition by the British Army major and avid antiquities collector John Gayer Anderson to its donation to theBritish...

The Persian Empire — £25.00
From the mid 6th century BC, Persian kings ruled over peoples and territory stretching from Northern Libya to Central Asia. Incorporating the ancient civilizations and former imperial centres of Egypt, Assyria and Babylonia, Persian rule created the first land-based world empire. This great diversity of subject peoples and historical traditions became a key theme of imperial ideology. For 250 years, the empire fostered international communication and cultural exchange to an unprecedented degree....

Little Book of Mummies — £3.00
The mummified forms, along with beautifully painted masks and coffins, of animals, scribes, viziers, noblemen and women, priests, pharaohs and queens from the Pharaonic period, all feature in this miniature but magnificent introduction to the world of the Ancient Egyptian mummy.

Gayer Anderson Cat earrings — £30.00

The British Museum Dictionary of the Ancient Near East — £29.99
From Achaemenids to Ziwiye and administration to ziggurat, this text provides of information on the ancient near eastern world. it is the only single-volume dictionary to cover the whole area - Mesopotamia, the Levant, Iran, Anatolia and Arabia - from earliest times until the Persian conquest of Babylon in 539 BC. Over 500 cross-referenced and comprehensively indexed entries provide explanations and descriptions of the ideas, institutions, sites, peoples and personalities that have shaped an area...

Moctezuma: Aztec Ruler catalogue — £25.00
With chapters by international authorities, this book looks at the world of the Aztecs and the life, reign and ultimate fall of their last-elected rulers. Attention is drawn to the fascinating but often very different accounts of key events given byMexican and Spanish sources. Moctezuma's own contribution to his eventual downfall and death at the hands of his own people is also examined afresh, drawing upon the latest international research and the ongoing archaeological discoveries in MexicoCity...

Classics for Cats CD — £9.99
The cat was sacred for the Egyptians. It represented the living form of the goddess Bastet, as seen in the British Museum's bronze Gayer Anderson Cat of c.600 BC. This appealing CD features 14 characteristic tracks.

Gayer Anderson Cat ruler — £1.00

First Masterpiece of Chinese Painting — £16.99
This book highlights a major masterpiece of Chinese art in the British Museum, rarely on display for conservation reasons. It makes available new, high-quality digital photography of the famous Admonitions Scroll, plus text on its iconic status and the mysteries surrounding its attribution.

Gayer Anderson Cat eraser — £1.00

African Designs — £9.99
British Museum Pattern Books reproduce in line drawings the rich variety of patterns and designs which decorate art and artefacts in the British Museum and elsewhere. "African Designs" is the fifth book to be published in this series. An introduction gives a brief history of African art from the earliest rock paintings to the most recent pottery and basket work. Over three hundred patterns illustrate the great diversity of artistic styles from all parts of the continent. They are taken from a...

From Egypt to Babylon — £25.00
“well written and is superbly illustrated” “stunning images” Art Newspaper. The ancient Egyptians, Minoans, Mycenaeans, Hittites, Canaanites, Hurrians, Aramaeans,Israelites, Urartians, Mannaeans, Assyrians, Phygians, Kassites, Chaldeans, Elamites, Scythians,Medes and Persians.An evocative list of peoples: but who were they? Where did they come from, and how did theyinteract over a thousand years of ancient history, before the establishment of the Persian empire? The years 1500-500 BC represent an...

Michelangelo DVD — £9.99
This documentary film accompanies the major exhibition, 'Michelangelo Drawings - Closer to the Master' held earlier this year at the British Museum. The film is presented by Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum and is filmed on location inFlorence and in the Sistine Chapel. 'Michelangelo, A Film' describes the way that Michelangelo's drawings luminate his life, his artistic development, his religion and his inner torments. His drawings can be studied and admired as things of greattechnical...

Lewis Chessmen, silver cufflinks — £100.00
Ola Gorie is considered one of Britain's leading jewellery brands, with a reputation for high quality craftsmanship and creations that blend innovation with tradition. In their workshop in the Orkney Islands, off the North coast of Scotland,each piece is made to the most exacting of standards and details.

Pocket Dictionary of Pharaohs and Queens — £6.99
A new title in the popular 'Pocket Dictionary' series. A handy illustrated dictionary which will introduce the reader to the pharaohs - the great god-kings of Ancient Egypt. It was these kings who built the pyramids, and other amazing monuments such as the temples and palaces of Thebes. It was some five thousand years ago that the first king united the whole of Egypt under one ruler. With short breaks, the rule of the pharaohs lasted for almost three thousand years, until the conquest of Egypt by...

Badges — £4.00
The British Museum houses a large but unsung collection of badges, the best of which are presented and explored in this stylish book which traces the evolution of the badge over the last 400 years within Britain, Europe and America. Throughout, the humble badge has been used as a tool to signify political allegiance or contempt, social injustice, support or disdain for the monarchy and more recently as a symbol of global protest over issues such as war, peace, race-relations and regime change.

English Tilers — £8.99
Brightly coloured tiles, often decorated with enchanting scenes and designs, are among the most common and fascinating survivals from the medieval period. In this lively account Elizabeth Eames traces the history of the tilers' craft from the earliest decorated floor tiles, specially commissioned to create elaborate pavements for the wealthy, royal and ecclesiastical patrons, to the development of commercially manufactured tiles produced by individual tilers. She explains how the tiles were made...

Quiz Book of the Ancient World — £6.99
Hours of fun for the whole family and a painless way to learn more about the ancient world. Fifty fantastic quizzes are arranged in increasing levels of difficulty, so that there's a quiz suitable for everyone in the family. Choose from quizzes about Egypt, Greece, Rome, the wonders of the ancient world and great characters from history. Among the quizzes you'll find hundreds of extra fascinating facts to help you impress your teachers and amaze your friends!

Moctezuma and the Aztecs — £9.99
The Aztecs ruled from the island metropolis of Tenochtitlan which, by the fifteenth century, stretched from the Gulf Coast to the Pacific Ocean. Focusing on their last elected leader, Moctezuma II, this informative and beautifully illustrated little book explores the world of the Aztecs. It looks at their origins, the founding of their capital city Tenochtitlan, the structure of their society, their religious beliefs and ceremonies, their military prowess, their art and architecture, and their network...

Scents of time - Ankh — £75.00
Ankh is a delicate composition of the original blended herbs and resins of Kyphi, with Citrus notes giving a semblance to original camel grass and calamus, spice notes truly reflecting the original formula, and resins, honey and woody notes blendingperfectly to evoke that smoky aroma of burning incense. Truly a gift of the Gods and fitting tribute to the boy king Tutankhamen. Eau de Toilette for men/unisex

Love token pendant, Sister — £25.00
Silver necklets with charm-style multiple pendants including a silver token bearing an Egyptian inscription, with its English translation 'Sister' on the reverse. Five different inscriptions.