Monday 27 October 2008New Book “Encounters: Travel and Money in the Byzantine World”

New book celebrating 10 centuries of Byzantine, Islamic and Western art runner-up in prestigious award.

D Giles Limited is proud to announce that its recently published book, Encounters: Travel and Money in the Byzantine World, in association with the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham, and the British Museum, was nominated for the prestigious Art Newspaper and AXA Art Exhibition Catalogue Award 2007. This award was set up six years ago in order to recognise the innovative research and design of exhibition catalogues, which often goes unnoticed by the press. A shortlist of 25 works was drawn up from an impressive 183 entries, and the award was announced and presented by the 12th Duke of Devonshire on November 22nd.

Encounters: Travel and Money in the Byzantine World is a vibrant portrayal of the politics, trade, travel and commerce in the Byzantine empire. Over 70 rare coins, medals and related works of art chart the history of the area from the 5th Century AD to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. This highly accessible book, with 72 full-colour pages, goes further than other numismatic studies, putting into historical and social context the production and use of coins in the Byzantine empire. Co-authors Dr Barrie Cook and Dr. Eurydice Georganteli examine the spread of Byzantine money beyond the borders of the empire, the means through which this occurred and the response of other peoples and cultures to the iconography and value of Byzantine coins. They illustrate the widespread and complex role of Byzantine coinage in the medieval world, initially in the form of the gold solidus, and subsequently the hyperpyron, with coins shown to have been found in burial deposits as far flung as Britain and China.

The Authors
Eurydice Georganteli studied history of art and archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the University of Oxford. She has been a Bodossakis and an A.G. Leventis scholar at Oxford, fellow at Dumbarton Oaks, and Robinson scholar at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. She has worked for the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and taught at the University of Thessaly,Volos, before becoming in 2000 Curator of the Barber Institute Coin Collection and Lecturer at the University of Birmingham. Her museum work, teaching and publications focus on late Roman and Byzantine numismatics and art.

Barrie Cook studied history at the University of Manchester. In 1985 he joined the Department of Coins and Medals at the British Museum as Curator of Medieval and Early Modern Coinage. In this capacity he has catalogued several hundred new coin hoards from England. He is co-author of Money: A History,the Coin Atlas, co-editor and contributor to Money and History in the North Sea World 500-1250 and has published many articles on numismatic subjects. He was one of the organisers of the British Museum’s HSBC Money Gallery and has worked on many other exhibitions, including 14 specialist numismatic displays on subjects that range from the Dark Ages to World War II.

ENCOUNTERS
Travel and Money in the Byzantine World
Eurydice Georganteli and Barrie Cook
72 pages, 7” x 7” (180 x 180mm)
200 color illustrations
ISBN: 1-904832-27-X

Price: US$11.95 / UK£6.95, paperback with flaps
Publisher: D. Giles Limited, London

Distributed in the UK and Rest of World (excluding US and Canada) by
Antique Collectors’ Club
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Woodbridge
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Distributed in the US and Canada by
Antique Collectors’ Club
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Toll-free orders: 800-252-5231

For Further Information and Review Copies:
Liz Japes
Tel: 01273 480225
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For Illustrations and Interviews:
At The British Museum Press Office:,
Hannah Boulton or Joe Edwards
Tel: 020 7323 8522 or 020 7323 8583
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At The Barber Institute Press Office:,
Andrew Davies, Press and Marketing Officer
Tel: 0121 414 2946
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The Barber Institute of Fine Arts is among the world’s finest small galleries, with collections of painting, drawings, sculpture, coins and medals from antiquity to the early twentieth century. Housed in one of Birmingham's finest Art Deco buildings, located on the University of Birmingham’s main campus, it was designed by Robert Atkinson (1883-1952), a leading British architect of the 1920s and '30s. The Barber Institute maintains an active exhibition and classical music programme.