How have objects have been created, used, interpreted and set loose in the world over the last 2500 years? Over this time, the West has developed particular attitudes to the material world, at the centre of which is the idea of the object. This set brings together over 50 scholars, in 1776 pages, to examine how the world of human subjects shapes and is shaped by the world of material objects.

Chapter titles are identical across each of the volumes. This gives the choice of reading about a specific period in one of the volumes, or following a theme across history by reading the relevant chapter in each of the six.

The themes (and chapter titles) are: Objecthood; Technology; Economic Objects; Everyday Objects; Art; Architecture; Bodily Objects; Object Worlds.

The six volumes cover: 1 – Antiquity (500 BCE to 500 CE); 2 – Medieval Age (500 to 1400); 3 – Renaissance (1400 to 1600); 4 – Age of Enlightenment (1600 to 1760); 5 – Age of Industry (1760 to 1900); 6 – Modern Age (1900 to the present).

The Cultural Histories Series
A Cultural History of Objects is part of The Cultural Histories Series. Titles are available both as printed hardcover sets for libraries needing just one subject or preferring a one-off purchase and tangible reference for their shelves, or as part of a fully-searchable digital library available to institutions by annual subscription or perpetual access (see www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com).

Table of contents

Volume 1: A Cultural History of Objects in Antiquity
Edited by Robin Osborne, University of Cambridge, UK

Volume 2: A Cultural History of Objects in the Medieval Age
Edited by Julie Lund, University of Oslo, Norway, and Sarah Semple, University of Durham, UK

Volume 3: A Cultural History of Objects in the Renaissance
Edited by James Symonds, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Volume 4: A Cultural History of Objects in the Age of Enlightenment
Edited by Audrey Horning, William & Mary, USA and Queen's University, Belfast, UK

Volume 5: A Cultural History of Objects in the Age of Industry
Edited by Carolyn White, University of Nevada, Reno, USA

Volume 6: A Cultural History of Objects in the Modern Age
Edited by Laurie Wilkie, University of California, Berkeley, USA, and John Chenoweth, University of Michigan, Dearborn, USA