BRITISH MUSEUM. 



GENERAL PROGRESS AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM, 

 BLOOMSBURY. 



In the absence of the special inrush of visitors to London caused 

 in 1924 by the first year of the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley, 

 the number of visitors to the British Museum in 1925 did not reach 

 the exceptional figures of the previous year. The total was, however, 

 in excess of that for 1923 and any previous year. The actuaA figure 

 was 1,109,785,-71,457 less than in 1924, but 14,432 more than in 1923. 



On the other hand, the attendances in the Reading Room continued 

 to grow, the number being 173,117, as compared with 171,070. In 

 the Newspaper Room and Departmental Students' Rooms the increase 

 was from 49,242 to 51,002. The figures for 1913 (Reading Room 

 243,659, other rooms 55,726) are still far from being recovered. Most 

 Departments showed a slight increase. 



The temporary exhibitions during the year included French lines 

 engravings of the eighteenth century ; Japanese paintings and repro- 

 ductions of early examples of the art ; copies of Indian wall-frescoe - 

 at Bagh ; objects brought by Sir Aurel Stein from his third expedition 

 to Central Asia ; and books and MSS. illustrating the history of the 

 English printed Bible, in connection with the quatercentenary of 

 Tyndale's first New Testament. 



Sunday afternoon lectures were given from April 26 to June 28, and 

 from November 22 to the end of the year, with varying success. 



The total number of separate objects incorporated in the collections 

 was 396,001, about 11,000 more than in 1924. There was a marked 

 increase in the number of books and pamphlets, and also in the 

 acquisitions of the Department of British and Mediaeval Antiquities. 



The figures are as follows : — 



Printed Books : 



Books and Pamphlets 36,506 



Serials and Parts of Volumes 108,330 



Maps and Atlases 1,078 



Music 9,473 



Newspapers (single numbers) 219,354 



Miscellaneous 2,691 



Manuscripts 610 



Oriental Printed Books and MSS • 2,434 



Prints and Drawings ... 4,003 



Prints and Drawings (Oriental) 188 



Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities 1,664 



Greek and Roman Antiquities 1,307 



British and Mediaeval Antiquities 3,027 



Ceramics and Ethnography 2,178 



Coins and Medals 3,158 



Total 396,001 



Among the most important accessions of the year, apart from the 

 third instalment of prints from the Albertina Collection at Vienna, and 

 the second instalment of the Gaster Hebrew MSS., which have been 

 mentioned in previous Reports, the two which stand out most con- 



