Professor Adolf Michaelis (1835–1910) was a classical scholar specialising in Greek and Roman sculpture. He studied classical philology and archaeology at the University of Leipzig before being appointed Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Strasbourg in 1872. First published in 1882 and translated by Charles Augustus Fennel (1843–1916) a classicist and Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, these volumes provide a comprehensive catalogue with descriptions of all ancient Greek and Roman sculptures held in private collections in the United Kingdom between 1873 (when Michaelis started his survey of private collections) and 1882. Many classical sculptures were imported into Britain and private collections established during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Michaelis discusses in detail the history and context of this collecting in this exhaustive account, still used as a reference by scholars.