L.2.c.11

Imprint: London: George Bell and Sons, York Street, Covent garden. 1874.

Half-leather folio volume, brown buckram boards blind-stamped with coat of arms on upper board, measuring 452 x 330 mm and containing 24 albumen prints, guard-mounted on card, of photographs from the Castellani Collection in the British Museum, with descriptive captions by Sir Charles Thomas Newton. Although numbered 1-20, plates 16, 17, 19 and 20 consist of two separate images. The selection of pieces photographed are from the purchases made by Newton for the museum from Count Alessandro Castellani, briefly described in David M. Wilson, 'The British Museum. A history' (British Museum Press, London, 2002): 'But this [purchase] was as nothing compared to the purchases made from Castellani in 1872 and 1873. In 1872 he spent £20,000 on a group of objects that included more gems and jewellery and an important tomb group from Taranto, not to mention a famous 'Etruscan' sarcophagus, finally recognized as a fake in 1935 [see prints 18-20]. In 1873, £27,000 was spent on another body of material assembled by Castellani, including the famous bronze head of Anahita in the guise of Aphrodite [see print 1], which Newton described as the finest bronze he had ever seen. Newton's friendship and influence with Gladstone, both a Trustee and at this time Prime Minister, may well have been crucial in this last acquisition.'