Kit's father is away AGAIN, and although she's supposed to be staying with her brother and sister, Kit steals away to visit her grandfather at Moonstone Manor. The costume museum once filled with extravagant wonders, is now an aging house with creaking floorboards and damp walls. The decadent fashion designs seem dull and lifeless. The fabrics worn and dusty. But there is still magic within Moonstone's walls, and Kit will soon discover that the old costumes hold their own secret splendour ...

The effective preparation of garments for display is essential for exhibitions of contemporary and historical dress. Costumes not only need to be visually appealing but also fully supported and historically accurate. This book provides a comprehensive guide to mounting costumes from the eighteenth century to the present day. It includes methods for adapting and shaping figures to create historical silhouettes, constructing underpinnings and making replicas and toiles using inexpensive and ...

From the mythical artefacts of the ancient world to saucy seaside postcards, The Antiques Magpie explores the wonderful world of antiques and collectables.With Antiques Roadshow regular Marc Allum as your guide, go in search of stolen masterpieces, explore the first museums, learn the secrets of the forgers and brush up on your auction technique.Meet the garden gnome insured for £1 million, track down Napoleon's toothbrush, find out how to spot a corpse in a Victorian photogr...

Classical theories of conservation are well known in the heritage community, but in the last two decades thinking has shifted, and classical theory has faced increasing criticism. Contemporary Theory of Conservation brings together current ideas in conservation theory, presenting a structured, coherent analysis of the subject for the first time. This engaging and readable text is split into 3 parts. The first, Fundamentals of conservation, addresses the identity of conservation itself, and...

Explaining and critically reviewing management procedures such as performance indicators and strategic planning, this book shows how techniques from mainstream management can be used to facilitate a holistic and professional approach to the business of conservation and collection preservation. It offers practical guidance on strategy, quantitative planning and condition surveying, and presents many solutions to the challenges faced by museum staff and conservation specialists. This new edi...

One of the problems which beset the practical conservation of stone buildings is the fragmentation of the disciplines involved. This book, with both volumes now available as one invaluable paperback, brings these disciplines together by the involvement of contributors with different experiences and approaches to the same material. Part one is an introduction to the complexities and background history of stone conservation followed by the most comprehensive description yet produced of the b...

The discovery of a previously unknown painting by an Italian Renaissance master, and how it went from media sensation to career-ending scandal.On the eve of its centennial celebrations in December 1969, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts announced the acquisition of an unknown and uncatalogued painting attributed to Raphael. Boston's coup made headlines around the world. Soon afterward, an Italian art sleuth began investigating the details of the painting's export from ...

Stop curating! And think what curating is all about. This book starts from this simple premise: thinking the activity of curating. To do that, it distinguishes between 'curating' and 'the curatorial'. If 'curating' is a gamut of professional practices for setting up exhibitions, then 'the curatorial' explores what takes place on the stage set up, both intentionally and unintentionally, by the curator. It therefore refers not to the staging of an event, but to the event of knowledge itself....

This book takes a look at the history and use of cut, rubbed and gauged brickwork; the use of tools and equipment and the differences between historic and contemporary bricks with a view to inform conservation and restoration decisions. The book uses case studies from England, Ireland and the US to illustrate the use of different materials and techniques on buildings ranging in age. Written by Dr. Gerard Lynch, the leading authority in this subject area, this book will be of particular int...

Following on from Rodney Castleden's best-selling study Minoans, this major contribution to our understanding of the crucial Mycenaean period clearly and effectively brings together research and knowledge we have accumulated since the discovery of the remains of the civilization of Mycenae in the 1870s.In lively prose, informed by the latest research and using a full bibliography and over 100 illustrations, this vivid study delivers the fundamentals of the Mycenaean civili...

The Conservation and Restoration of Ceramics brings together the wide range of current information relevant to the practising conservator. The book opens with a discussion of the fundamental nature of the ceramic medium, information which is of primary importance when selecting treatments or considering preventive conservation measures. Details on techniques are given in a series of chapters covering the restoration and conservation processes, but the emphasis is on the basic principles in...

How does a city and a nation deal with a legacy of perpetrating atrocity? How are contemporary identities negotiated and shaped in the face of concrete reminders of a past that most wish they did not have?Difficult Heritage focuses on the case of Nuremberg – a city whose name is indelibly linked with Nazism – to explore these questions and their implications. Using an original in-depth research, using archival, interview and ethnographic sources, it provides not only fasci...