The Victoria and Albert Museum’s new show of items taken by British soldiers from the court of Emperor Tewodros after the 1868 Battle of Maqdala had led to renewed calls for the valuable art objects and manuscripts to be repatriated. Reporter James Jeffrey looks at the history of the loot (there have been calls for its return from within Britain ever since it was taken) and the reasoning behind the British Library’s reluctance to relinquish the objects.