A page from the annotated proofs of Sir Austen Henry Layard's 'Nineveh and its Remains', 1848 [Library reference: MS.42341].
Austen Layard's 'Nineveh and its Remains' was published in 1849 and was an instant success.
It was described by 'The Times' newspaper as 'the most extraordinary work of the present age'.
The success was in part due to Layard's style of writing and the exotic subject of his book, but also because the deciphering of Assyrian inscriptions found by him had implications for the origins of Christianity.
Indeed, some claimed Layard's book 'made the Bible true'.