Enlightenment

Preface by Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum; Part I: The 'Universal' Museum; 1 'Aimed at universality and belonging to the nation': The Enlightenment and the British Museum; 2 Collectors and commemoration: portrait sculpture and paintings in the British Museum; 3 'Most curious, splendid and useful': the King's Library of George III; 4 The King's Library and its architectural genesis; 5 Ancient glory and modern learning: the sculpture-decorated library; Part II: The Natural World; 6 Challenging the dogma: classifying and describing the natural world; 7 Natural history collectors and their collections: 'simpling macaronis' and instruments of empire; 8 The nature of the earth and the fossil debate; 9 Rocks, fossils and the emergence of palaeontology; Part III: The Artificial World; 10 The ordering of the artificial world: collecting, classification and progress; 11 'The King loves medals': the study of coins in Europe and Britain; 12 Engraved gems: the lost art of antiquity; 13 Words and pictures: Greek vases and their classification; 14 Between antiquarianism and experiment: Hans Sloane, George III and collecting science; 15 King George III's topographical collection: a Georgian view of Britain and the world; Part IV: Ancient Civilizations: New Interpretations; 16 Ideas of antiquity: classical and other ancient civilizations in the age of Enlightenment; 17 The discovery of British antiquity; 18 From Persepolis to Babylon and Nineveh: the rediscovery of the ancient Near East; 19 'The curse of Babel': the Enlightenment and the study of writing; 20 Sacred history? The difficult subject of religion; Part V: Voyages of Discovery; 21 Venture to the exterior; 22 Romancing the Americas: public expeditions and private research c. 1778-1827; 23 Irresistible objects: collecting in the Pacific and Australia in the reign of George III; 24 Trade and learning: the European 'discovery' of the East; 25 Africa: in the shadow of the Enlightenment; Notes, sources and further reading; Chronology; Index