John Boardman, Andrew Parkin and Sally Waite (eds) On the fascination of objects: Greek and Etruscan art in the Shefton Collection

Abstract

This beautifully produced book is a celebration of Brian Shefton’s activities in collecting antiquities for the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Thirteen scholars have collaborated to produce a series of discussions of particular objects or groups of objects in the collection, and these are prefaced by a short memoir of Brian Shefton by John Prag, and a short account of the development of the collection by Antony Spawforth and Andrew Parkin. The book not only does what it says on the can (the title was in fact supplied by Brian Shefton himself), by revealing the fascination of the objects in the collection, but reveals much of the fascination of the man behind the collection. The hundreds of classical archaeologists in whom Brian took an interest will find their memories warmly revived by this book; those who never knew him will acquire at least something of the flavour of the man, or perhaps better something of his accent.