I was tipped off by Nicholas Thomas who I met in the tube about the display Concealed Histories: Uncovering the Story of Nazi Looting which reveals the problematic provenance of objects in the Gilbert Collection.

This beaker is thought to have belonged to Alfred Pringsheim, a Professor of Mathematics at Munich University:-

A clock, which belonged to Nathan Fränkel, a clockmaker in Frankfurt:-

The third item are gates from a monastery in Kiev owned by the dealers, J&S Goldschmidt. Interestingly, it does not speculate how they had acquired such an amazing piece of eighteenth-century Russian goldwork:-

The exhibition brings to public attention the complex issues surrounding provenance. My only regret is that it does not reveal more. For example, the Snuffbox which was seized from Maximilian von Goldschmidt-Rothschild, was given to the Frankfurt Museum. So, how and when was it sold to the Gilberts ?

Being in South Kensington, I thought I should call in on the small, but excellent exhibition, Landscape and Language, in the cases outside the National Art Library, about the way landscape, exploration, and topography have been reflected in, and inspired, artists’ books.

It begins with an early work by Richard Long – A Day’s Walk Past the Standing Stones of Penwith Peninsula, produced by the Coracle Press for Anthony d’Offay in 1990:-

Hamish Fulton was the other pioneer of the genre, with Twilight Horizons (1983) also produced by Coracle Press:-

Ian Hamilton Finlay had already collaborated with Simon Cutts who ran Coracle Press in a tiny book, Straks, published by Finlay in 1973:-

I liked the little self-published book by Stephen Willats documenting a walk in Roydon:-

Then, in a case all by itself, is Romilly Saumarez Smith, Newfoundland, a book of such refined photography (Verdi Yahooda), typography (Nicola Barnacle and Dan Edwards), layout and design, including anagrams by Gavin de Fiddli and M.M. Hamar Ritz that I am pleased to see it in such company:-