THE BRITISH MUSEUM BOOK OF GREEK AND...

THE BRITISH MUSEUM BOOK OF GREEK AND ROMAN ART by Lucilla Burn (Thames and Hudson: $24.95). The British Museum houses such a vast collection of ancient art that the dazzled visitor wonders how anything can be left in Greece, Egypt and the Middle East. Burn’s overview of the extraordinary trove, most of which was assembled during the 18th and 19th Centuries by archeologists and amateur scholar-collectors, covers the major cultures of the Mediterranean world from Cycladic Greece to the era of Constantine. A fine introduction for anyone planning a trip to London, or readers curious to know more about the cultures that established the aesthetic ideas and ideals of Western civilization.