Books published by publisher BRITISH MUSEUM PRESS

The art of ancient Egypt is instantly recognisable and deeply appealing to children and adults of all ages. This attractive book shows that anyone can draw animals, people and places in the style of ancient Egyptian artists. Clear, easy-to-follow sketches show how to build up a drawing from simple basic shapes, and how to add colour and detail to create an accomplished final image. Photographs of real Egyptian artefacts give reference for authentic Egyptian colours and composition. Children can discover, by doing it for themselves, the rules that created the particular Egyptian ‘look’ and recreate it in their own individual designs and drawings. They can put different elements together to create their own Egyptian-inspired scenes. A must-have for anyone who has ever admired Egyptian art and wanted to pick up a pencil for themselves. Suitable for anyone from complete beginners to budding artists.

The British Museum's new introductory guide to Roman Britain combines an informative text with first-class design and is illustrated with plentiful artefacts from the museum's collections. Throughout the book the emphasis is on cultural interaction and change, showing the impact of the Roman presence, but also British survivals; the book starts, perhaps unusually for general guides of this kind, with a section on pre-Roman Britain, and ends with a chapter on Britons after Rome. In between we learn about the military, the new literate culture introduced by Rome, about the impact of Rome on the rural economy, and on life in the new towns, as well as about religion. Constant reference to archaeological finds and sites gives a sense of place, and also of regional variation.

The Lewis Chessmen were found on the Isle of Lewis in mysterious circumstances. Consisting of elaborately worked walrus ivory and whales teeth in the form of seated kings and queens, bishops, knights, warders and pawns, this curious chess set is strongly influenced by Norse culture. Of the 93 pieces known to us today, 11 pieces are in Edinburgh at the National Museum of Scotland, and 82 are in the British Museum, where they have delighted generations of visitors with their wonderfully expressive details. In this engaging story, Irving Finkel follows the many adventures of the chessmen after they came to light on a Scottish beach in the nineteenth century. It ends with the big surprise that befell them in September 1993, when they were all temporarily reunited for the first time since their separation, at a Special Exhibition of Chessmen at the British Museum.

Voices from Ancient Egypt is a reissue of the valuable introduction to ancient Egyptian literature first published in 1991. An anthology presenting translations of sixty documents from a golden age of ancient Egyptian culture (c. 2081-1600 BC), the documents illustrate all aspects of life and the place of literacy in an early civilisation. The 'voices' range from the high formal literature of religious rituals and royal monuments to the hurried requests of the bureaucrats and the jokes of harrassed workmen. They tell a tale not only of the intellectual beliefs of the elite, but of family feuds, love and murder, as well as the pastoral dreams of a society trying to attain its vision of absolute order in a chaotic universe.

The first title in a colourful new series of sticker books, "Aztecs", introduces the famous civilization of the Aztecs who flourished about 600 years ago in what is now central Mexico, before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores in 1519. The Aztecs had a sophisticated civilization based around their capital city, Tenochtitlan, and were skilled in making beautiful objects of mosaic, jade, stone, featherwork and metal. The book features six galleries which children will enjoy filling with stickers of real Aztec objects. Each gallery has a theme, such as Gods and Goddesses and Aztec Life and each space has a descriptive label so that children can identify and place the relevant object stickers in the display. While they have fun with the stickers, they are learning about the objects and the culture from which they come. The final gallery is an empty exhibition space which the children can furnish with their own choice of objects to create a completely personal Aztecs exhibition. The stickers are peelable, so if they are lifted up with care, the display can be re-created again and again. The book features approximately 100 colourful stickers.

Oxbow says: Among the finest treasures of the British Museum are eleven fragments of paintings from the tomb-chapel of the Egyptian official Nebamun, c.1350BC. Since 1997, a programme of conservation and research has focused on these paintings, making possible their publication in this superbly illustrated book. Richard Parkinson includes all the known background history to the paintings, from Luxor to London, along with detailed descriptions of the paintings accompanied by stunning colour photographs. Some of the scenes include funerary offerings, a banquet, Nebamun viewing the produce of the estate, agricultural scenes, fishing and fowling in the marshes and Nebamun's garden, providing insights not just into the life of an Egyptian official, but also more generally into Egyptian culture and society.