The Museum Book

A quirky and thought-provoking book, an unexpected pleasure to find it is written by Jan Mark, inspired author of such classics as Thunder and Lightnings , and the last she wrote before her death in 2006. She draws you in at once: ‘Suppose you went into a museum and you didn’t know what it was.’ It’s like opening a door into a strange and wonderful place crammed with treasures and curious objects. Addressing the reader always in the first person, she takes you on a tour of a virtual museum, making you see it with fresh eyes, musing on the source of the word ‘museum’, home of the Muses. She explains why people first began to collect things, from Peter the Great to Elias Ashmole, and how they learned to classify objects. She makes us think about objects taken from their place of origin, whether Elgin Marbles or Egyptian mummies, and the reasons for preserving the past. The greatest museum, she tells us, is our own memory. ‘It will never be full, there is always room for something new and strange and marvellous…’ A splendid legacy of a gifted writer, beautifully illustrated by Richard Holland.