BEITISH MUSEUM. 7 



sacrifices as a part of the funeral ceremonies of princes, all combined to 

 form an exhibition of quite exceptional importance and of popular 

 interest. Other exhibitions included fine modern foreign printing ; 

 drawings, engravings, and woodcuts by Dtirer ; drawings and engravings 

 by Goya and by Bewick ; Chinese woodcuts ; Japanese colour-prints ; 

 early maps (in connection with the International Geographical Congress) ; 

 gifts received from or through the National Art -Collections Fund since 

 its foundation ; antiquities from the site of Lubaantun in British 

 Honduras ; and objects from Mr. Campbell Thompson's excavations at 

 Kuyunjik (Nineveh). 



The Royal Commission on National Museums and Galleries issued an 

 Interim Report in the autumn, in which the Commissioners recommended 

 as urgently necessary the provision of additional accommodation for the 

 Library, including the eventual reconstruction of the entire book -stack 

 and the removal of the whole Newspaper Department to Hendon. 

 These recommendations have been accepted by H.M. Government, and 

 work will be begun in 1929. At the same time (and made contingent on 

 the acceptance of the Commission's proposals) Sir Joseph Duveen made 

 the munificent offer to provide new and better accommodation for the 

 Elgin and Nereid Marbles. Plans for carrying this offer into effect have 

 been under consideration. The remaining needs of the Museum will be 

 dealt with in the Commission's final report. 



The total number of objects added to the collection in 1928 was 

 428,802, a decrease of 33,440 on the figures for the previous year. The 

 diminution was almost whoUy accounted for by a falling-off in news- 

 papers and serials. 



The figures for the several Departments are as foUows : — 

 Printed Books : 



Books and Pamphlets 33,821 



Serials and Parts of Volumes 98,693 



Maps and Atlases 1,191 



Music 10,637 



Newspapers (single numbers) 268,519 



Miscellaneous 2,497 



Manuscripts 603 



Oriental Printed Books and MSS 1,995 



Prints and Drawings 3,097 



Prints and Drawings (Oriental) ... 613 



Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities 1,397 



Greek and Roman Antiquities 148 



British and Mediaeval Aiitiquities ... ... 562 



Ceramics and Ethnography 1,153 



Coins and Medals 3,876 



Total 428,802 



The principal acquisitions of the several Departments are as follows. 

 Descriptions of the most interesting, often accompanied by illustrations, 

 may be found in the issues of the British Museum Quarterly relating to 

 the year. Special attention may be called to the two Roman gold 

 medallions recording the recovery of Britain after the rebellion of 

 Allectus ; the seventh-century Frankish buckle presented to the Museum 

 in honour of Mr. 0. M. Dalton on the occasion of his retirement ; and 



