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Our beautiful world: art at the Natural History Museum, London

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2016

Ann Datta
Ann Datta*
Affiliation:
Library and Information Services, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD
*
Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Behind the scenes at the Natural History Museum is the world’s largest natural history library, with approximately one million printed books. But the crown jewels are the Library’s art collections, depicting rocks, minerals, fossils, plants and animals, and dating from the 17th to the 21st centuries. Its more than half a million individual items make this the largest collection of natural history art not only in the UK but in the world. Commercial exploitation of the collection has mostly been by publishers of books and journals, but others have seen opportunities for writing books about the illustrations, putting the art in exhibitions, printing the images on decorative items, and other marketing ventures. In 2003 the Library launched a website designed to promote the art collections further and make them accessible to a global audience.

Type
Research Article
Information
Art Libraries Journal , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , 2005 , pp. 15 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © The Art Libraries Society 2005

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