SHELLEY, Henry C. "The British Museum: Its History and Treasures" [L.C. Page, 1911]

SHELLEY, Henry C. The British Museum: Its History and Treasures.

Boston: L. C. Page & Company, 1911. First impression. 8.75" x 6", xii + 355pp with 50 illustrations. Publisher's elaborately decorated red cloth stamped in gilt and colors. Light toning to text leaves; binding bright and well preserved with minor wear. Very Good+.

Published at a time when the British Museum stood at the center of the English-speaking world's understanding of archaeology, natural history, manuscripts, and antiquities, this volume serves as both institutional history and guided tour of one of the greatest collections ever assembled. Shelley traces the museum's origins from the collections of Sir Hans Sloane through its growth into a repository of Egyptian, Classical, Assyrian, medieval, and literary treasures. Particularly appealing today are the illustrations and folding plans, which preserve the layout and presentation of the museum before many twentieth-century reorganizations and the eventual separation of several departments into independent institutions. A handsome Edwardian survey of one of the world's great cultural landmarks.