GENERAL i'ilOGRESS AT THE MUSEUM. l7 



In the First and Second Egyptian Rooms a series of enlarged 

 scenes from the Book of the Dead, illustrating the funeral 

 rites and the religious beliefs of the Egyptians, has been 

 arranged upon the walls. 



A temporary exhibition of Manuscripts, Books, Prints, 

 Drawings, and Medals, to illustrate the Coronations of 

 British Sovereigns, was on view in the King's Library during 

 the summer and autumn. 



Among the more important additions to the several 

 Departments the following may be noted : — 



In the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities 

 the collection of predynastic objects from Egypt, which has 

 been accumulating during recent years, has been augmented 

 by further specimens of a remote period, and a valuable 

 series of Egyptian antiquities of the eleventh and twelfth 

 and later dynasties has been presented by the Egypt Explo- 

 ration Fund ; and in the Assyrian section upwards of three 

 thousand cuneiform tablets have been acquired, of which the 

 greater number are of the early period of Babylonian history. 



The collection of English coins in the Department of Coins 

 and Medals has received an important addition in a series of 

 thirteen hundred silver pennies of the reigns of Henry II., 

 Richard I., John, and Henry III., selected from a great hoard 

 of nearly elevsn thousand pieces recently discovered at 

 Colchester. 



A remarkable portable altar of Rhenish work of the 

 thirteenth century has been acquired by the Department of 

 Mediaeval Antiquities ; which has also received, as a gift 

 from Mr. George Salting, f.s.a., a most valuable and artistic 

 gold reliquary, of French origin, of the beginning of the 

 fourteenth century. 



Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales 

 have been pleased to deposit among the Ethnographical 

 collections of the Museum a large selection of the ethno- 

 graphical specimens presented to them during their tour 

 round the world in 1901. 



In the Department of Printed Books further addi- 

 tions have been made during the year to the collections of 

 incunabula and early English books. 



Two collections of exceptional importance have been added 

 to the Department of Prints and Drawings. The first is 

 the series of drawings and etchings by ^forwich artists, 

 collected by Mr. James Reeve, of Norwich, and comprising 

 examples of John Sell Cotman and other members of the 

 Cotman family, and of John Crome and others. This series 

 105. B 



