This new and updated edition includes many recent acquisitions and new discoveries, such as Picasso's stunning Vollard Suite and the intriguing Vale of York Viking hoard, and showcases a selection of more than 250 of the most beautiful and important objects drawn from across the Museum. Each object is presented with its own fascinating story and is strikingly illustrated in full colour. From the Warren Cup to Durers Rhinoceros, the Lewis Chessmen to the Aztec turquoise serpent and the Gayer-Anderson Cat, the iconic objects of the British Museum are here presented in an exciting and accessible new way, highlighting the superb craftsmanship and ingenuity of those who created each of these splendid pieces.

Walk into any European museum today and you will see the curated spoils of Empire. They sit behind plate glass: dignified, tastefully lit. Accompanying pieces of card offer a name, date and place of origin. They do not mention that the objectsare all stolen. Few artefacts embody this history of rapacious and extractive colonialism better than the Benin Bronzes - a collection of thousands of brass plaques and carved ivory tusks depicting the history of the Royal Court of the Obas of BeninCity, Nigeria. Pillaged during a British naval attack in 1897, the loot was passed on to Queen Victoria, the British Museum and countless private collections. The story of the Benin Bronzes sits at the heart of a heated debate about cultural restitution, repatriation and the decolonisation of museums. In The Brutish Museums, Dan Hicks makes a powerful case for the urgent return of such objects, as part of a wider project of addressing the outstanding debt of colonialism.

Highlights of the British Museum's Egyptian collections.

"This book explains how it [the Sutton Hoo hemlet] was discovered together with other treasures buried in a ship at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, by the archeologist Basil Brown. He was employed by the owner of estate ... who generously donated the whole find to the British Museum."--Cover verso.

Netsuke have once again come to the fore in the popular imagination of the public. This book brings together one hundred of the beautiful and interesting netsuke from the extensive collection of the British Museum, each of which has its own special charm and story to tell.

This guide centres on those items in the British Museum that are related to the history recorded in the Bible. You will be introduced to rulers, empires and cultures that, without the careful work of many scholars, would have been lost for ever. In this guide you have all that you need to make your tour both enjoyable and relevant. The past is brought to light in front of you.