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The British Museum
A concise history of one of the world’s greatest and most comprehensive museum collections, from its founding in 1753.
A product and symbol of the 18th-century Enlightenment, the British Museum is as iconic an expression of that cultural tendency as Johnson’s Dictionary, the French Encyclopedie and Linnaean plant classification. Its collections embody the raw material of empiricism – the bringing together of things to enable the widest intellectual experiment to take place.
James Hamilton explores the establishment of the Museum in the 1750s (from the bequest to the nation of the collections of Sir Hans Sloane); the chosen site of its location; the cultural context in which it came into being; the subsequent development, expansion and diversification of the Museum, both as a collection and as a building, from the early 19th to the 21st century; the controversy occasioned by some of its acquisitions; and the legacy and influence of the Museum nationally and globally.
A product and symbol of the 18th-century Enlightenment, the British Museum is as iconic an expression of that cultural tendency as Johnson’s Dictionary, the French Encyclopedie and Linnaean plant classification. Its collections embody the raw material of empiricism – the bringing together of things to enable the widest intellectual experiment to take place.
James Hamilton explores the establishment of the Museum in the 1750s (from the bequest to the nation of the collections of Sir Hans Sloane); the chosen site of its location; the cultural context in which it came into being; the subsequent development, expansion and diversification of the Museum, both as a collection and as a building, from the early 19th to the 21st century; the controversy occasioned by some of its acquisitions; and the legacy and influence of the Museum nationally and globally.
- GenresHistory
224 pages, Hardcover
Published April 1, 2018
2 people are currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
James Hamilton
642 books17 followersJames Hamilton is a curator, writer and lecturer, who entered the University of Manchester to read Mechanical Engineering, and emerged with a degree in History of Art.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 11, 2025
Good quick overview of the Founding of the British Museum to today. Wishing it went a bit more in-depth.
June 24, 2018
Firstly I would like to point that this hardback book is in paperback size - which is not obvious from the photo on Amazon and which I consider to be to the books advantage. Whoever was responsible for the books cover & design needs a pat on the back as it's an exceptionally well presented book and has made the author streamline his text (as he is apt to digress easily or to start quoting from literary sources that many people haven't heard of before and which doesn't always add to the value of his text). The book contains 173 pages and of that amount there are a lot of pages of well chosen photos & illustrations as well as having a whole page to signify the beginning of a chapter - which doesn't leave a lot of room for the text - especially as the designer of the book has used wide margins and the authors seems to have a predilection for footnotes on every textual page.
In the main the book is very informative and even provides a few anecdotal stories that I found amusing. However because the available space is limited the author has to jump quickly from period to period in order to cover the lifetime (history) of the museum from it's conception until today - which he struggles with, as it is apparent that he is more of an academic writer than an enthusiastic teacher/guide. This is amply illustrated by his reference to a map on pages 20-21 of London in 1746 that has been reduced in size so that yes we can see the Thames clearly but certainly not any of the writing and even Londoners could only guess where different districts are. The author however uses the map to show the Museum's location in relation to other areas - which will totally lose manyt people (including this reader) as I couldn't fathom where Montague House that he was describing was on the map (and still can't).
In summary I did get to learn quite a lot from this small book - but if your expecting a thorough history you will be disappointed. This book gives only the outlines of the Museums history and some snippets concerning the decisions made about the Museum directions (concerning it's holdings and acquisitions) along with a brief glimpse at some of the more colourful directors & employees. Which is probably enough for most readers who don't want to be overburdened with detail. I would give the book 7 out of 10 as I felt the textual part of the book could have dropped the quotes and footnotes - and have been more focused on the story rather than showing us how academic the author is - it also needed more fluidity and a drop of humour.
In the main the book is very informative and even provides a few anecdotal stories that I found amusing. However because the available space is limited the author has to jump quickly from period to period in order to cover the lifetime (history) of the museum from it's conception until today - which he struggles with, as it is apparent that he is more of an academic writer than an enthusiastic teacher/guide. This is amply illustrated by his reference to a map on pages 20-21 of London in 1746 that has been reduced in size so that yes we can see the Thames clearly but certainly not any of the writing and even Londoners could only guess where different districts are. The author however uses the map to show the Museum's location in relation to other areas - which will totally lose manyt people (including this reader) as I couldn't fathom where Montague House that he was describing was on the map (and still can't).
In summary I did get to learn quite a lot from this small book - but if your expecting a thorough history you will be disappointed. This book gives only the outlines of the Museums history and some snippets concerning the decisions made about the Museum directions (concerning it's holdings and acquisitions) along with a brief glimpse at some of the more colourful directors & employees. Which is probably enough for most readers who don't want to be overburdened with detail. I would give the book 7 out of 10 as I felt the textual part of the book could have dropped the quotes and footnotes - and have been more focused on the story rather than showing us how academic the author is - it also needed more fluidity and a drop of humour.
April 10, 2019
A good introduction to one of the worlds best known - and perhaps controversial - museum.
You may be interested in my personal take in the museum
https://www.culturematters.org.uk/ind...
You may be interested in my personal take in the museum
https://www.culturematters.org.uk/ind...
August 8, 2023
Basic yet informative. A good introductory guide but lacks some well-needed critical engagement with some of the sources.
August 19, 2024
Very nice overview of the British museum, just also very unreflected when it comes to colonialism and Restitution
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews