A.W.Franks
Nineteenth-century Collecting and the British Museum
Published in May 1997
Book
Hardback
320 pages
978-0-7141-1763-8 (ISBN)
Description
Between 1851 and 1897, the collections of the British Museum expanded into previously neglected areas including prehistory, the Islamic world and British and Medieval antiquities. This growth was due to the energy and obsession of one man; Augustus Wollaston Franks (1826-97). Frands founded a department which is the ancestor of half of today's curatorial departments, spanning the entire world from prehistory to the present. Although an employee, he poured his private fortune into the Museum. Published to mark the centenary of his death, this volume explores the background to his life and career. The contributors survey many diverse areas of 19th century collecting and assess the way in which his work developed a knowledge and appreciation of art, antiquity and ethnography.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Illustrations
60 b&w illustrations, index
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 171 mm
Weight
880 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7141-1763-8 (9780714117638)
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Schweitzer Classification
Content
Connoisseurs, collectors and curators in the Victorian age, Arthur MacGregor; the context of an expanding museum, John Mack; Augustus Wollaston Franks - the cuckoo in the nest, Marjorie Caygill; a curator's curator - A.W.Franks and the Stone Age collections, Jill Cook; later prehistory and Roman Britain - the formation of the national collections, T.W.Potter; A.W.Franks and ethnography, Jonathon King; Anglo-Saxon antiquity, Leslie Webster; Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks and the medieval collections, John Cherry; European pottery and porcelain, Aileen Dawson ;Oriental pottery and porcelain, Jessica Harrison Hall;A.W.Franks and the Oxus treasure, John Curtis; sculpture from India, Michael D. Willis; Japanese antiquities, Lawrence Smith; Islamism, not an easy matter, Rachel Ward; scientific instruments, R.G.W.Anderson; the legacy of Edward Hawkins - Franks as numismatist, Luke Syson; Franks as a bookplate collector, Brian North Lee.