Product Description
A colorful history of coins and currency from their very beginnings.
Money tells the story of coins and paper money from ancient to modern times. The book is an exciting collaboration by curators at the British Museum, home to one of the world's finest numismatic collections. Profusely illustrated with 545 color and archival images, Money traces the use of monetary exchange from a primitive barter system to the online, cashless systems operating today.
Money examines its subject with authority and imagination, covering its history through the ages and across the world:
- Ancient Mesopotamia, Greece and Egypt
- The Roman world
- Medieval Europe
- Islamic lands
- India and Southeast Asia
- China and the Far East
- Africa and Oceania
- The early modern period and the modern period.
Including modern developments, such as the introduction of the Euro and e-money, Money is an up-to-date, lively and thought provoking introduction to the subject. It will be of interest to history buffs, economists, bankers and general readers. The beautiful photographs are a fine resource for collectors.
Average Customer Review:
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
Beautifully produced survey., 1997-12-30
Written by the coins and medals experts of the British Museum, this handsomely designed work succinctly but comprehensively explores the entire history of money, from its earliest beginnings to the electronic transactions of the 1990's.
The book features over 550 beautiful color and black-and-white illustrations, with essays covering ancient and modern coinage in global perspective, and relating the moral, political, religious, and social meanings inevitably associated with so powerful a force. Highly recommended as an excellent introduction to a complex subject, or just for enjoyable and informative browsing.
(The "score" rating is an ineradicable feature of the page. This reviewer does not "score" books.)