cover image London 1753

London 1753

Sheila O'Connell. David R. Godine Publisher, $60 (288pp) ISBN 978-1-56792-247-9

Marking the 250th anniversary of the founding of the British Museum, this volume of items from the museum's collection brings alive the thriving and robust culture of mid 18th-century London, which was then at the zenith of international power. Profiling pictures of important as well as minor historical figures and scenes, and objects, such as coins and maps, that display cultural, social and economic significance, the catalogue, edited by an assistant keeper in the museum's Department of Prints and Drawings, takes the reader on a ride through British history in the year the British Museum made its debut.""It was in the city of Johnson and Garrick, Hogarth and Reynolds, that parliament set up the first national museum in the world."" One detailed print, by George Bickham after Louis Philippe Boitard, depicts an everyday scene of tailors dutifully working on their customers in their attic workshop. Every piece in the exhibit is accompanied by an artistic and historical description--when taken together, they bring the city into perspective. 30 color and 325 b&w illus.