A colorful history of coins and currency from their very beginnings.

Money tells the story of coins and paper money from ancient to modern times. The book is an exciting collaboration by curators at the British Museum, home to one of the world's finest numismatic collections. Profusely illustrated with 545 color and archival images, Money traces the use of monetary exchange from a primitive barter system to the online, cashless systems operating today.

Money examines its subject with authority and imagination, covering its history through the ages and across the world:

Ancient Mesopotamia, Greece and Egypt

The Roman world

Medieval Europe

Islamic lands

India and Southeast Asia

China and the Far East

Africa and Oceania

The early modern period and the modern period.

Including modern developments, such as the introduction of the Euro and e-money, Money is an up-to-date, lively and thought provoking introduction to the subject. It will be of interest to history buffs, economists, bankers and general readers. The beautiful photographs are a fine resource for collectors.

An untold number of books have chronicled--and even pictured--the history of money. These range from scholarly economic treatises to lavishly illustrated works to John Kenneth Galbraith's sweeping Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went (1975). This new look at the growth and development of ancient monetary systems and the origins of coinage occupies a niche somewhere in between. Williams is a curator in the Department of Coins and Medals at the British Museum and a specialist in Roman and Iron Age coins. In the context of today's increasingly "cashless society," this is a fascinating survey of the roles played by various cultures in the concept and evolution of money and exchange. Williams traces the rise and diversity of various mediums of exchange and coinage in Mesopotamia, ancient Greece and Egypt, the Roman world, medieval Europe, Islamic lands, and Asia, Africa, and Oceania. The text is superbly enhanced by more than 500 illustrations, more than 200 of which will be in color.

From simple exchange systems in earliest times to the increasingly cashless society of our own day, this fascinating book presents an accessible and authoritative introduction to the history of money. With the aid of over 500 illustrations, it explores the origins, spread and especially the cultural diversity of monetary exchange throughout the world, viewed against a broader economic and social background. The book begins by tracing the growth and development of monetary systems, from the ancient civilisations of Mesopotamia and Egypt to the establishment of coinage in the Greek and Roman world. The next chapters develop a broader world view, exploring the monetary systems of Europe during the Middle Ages, the Islamic world, India and China. In the final part of the book, the focus is on the processes by which money has become a global phenomenon, with chapters looking at the expanding role of money in early modern Europe and the Americas and the introduction of paper money and banking, the effect of European contacts on the local payment systems of Africa and Oceania, and concluding with an examination of the increasing impact of economic thought on monetary affairs.