An army officer and politician, Richard William Howard Vyse (1784-53) also made his mark as an Egyptologist. This three-volume work, published in 1840-2, has remained an instructive resource in Egyptology up to the present day. Adopting the style of a journal, with illustrations and diagrams throughout, it narrates in detail his excavations at Giza, surveying and measuring the pyramids. Following Vyse's return to England, the work was continued by the engineer and surveyor John Shae Perring (1813-69). Vyse gives observations of his travels, and of the landscape, people and architecture he encountered, as well as details of the important work he carried out. Most notable was his discovery, using gunpowder, of four new chambers in the Great Pyramid containing 'quarry marks' - graffiti by the pyramid builders. Volume 1 (1840) covers the start of his travels in Egypt and the early excavations on the Great Pyramid.

The Ptolemaic period witnessed an enormous increase in the number of hieroglyphic signs and iconographic elements (composite crowns, scepters and cult objects). The ancient scribes exploited this complexity when composing the reliefs used in temple decoration, selecting particular words, hieroglyphic signs, and iconographic elements in order to create interconnected multiple layers of meaning, forming a tapestry of sound and sight. The Theology of Hathor of Dendera examines these techniques on both micro- and macro-levels, from their smallest details to their broadest thematic connections, foregrounding individual techniques to determine the words and phrases singled out for emphasis. By synthesizing their use in the three-dimensional space of the most important cult chamber in the Temple of Hathor at Dendera, this new method of analysis not only reveals the most essential characteristics of the local theology, but also shows how the ancient scribes envisioned the universe and the place of humankind within it.

His independent means as the son of a wealthy banker enabled Alexander Henry Rhind (1833 63) to devote his short life to antiquarianism. While reading for the Scottish bar, he studied and investigated Pictish remains, and pressed for the inclusion of archaeological sites in Ordnance Survey maps. On developing tubercular symptoms, he gave up his legal studies and passed the winters from 1855 to 1857 in Egypt, where he made the important studies and excavations recorded in this 1862 book. He focuses on the necropolis of Thebes, and in particular on the unplundered tomb of an eighteenth-dynasty official. Putting his work into the wider context of the history of ancient Egypt and the importance of the city of Thebes, he also describes the reuse of the necropolis ruins as homes for modern Egyptian peasants and as the centre of a thriving trade in antiquities, both genuine and forged."

In 1820, the English traveller Sir Frederick Henniker (1793-1825) set out for Egypt, which he would explore for nearly three years. He sailed up the Nile, calling it 'the least romantic, but most useful of rivers', stopping off at many places along the way. His adventures were varied: he was the first known person to climb to the apex of the Pyramid of Khafre at Giza, and he acquired a second-century coffin that is now in the British Museum. He claimed to have met Egypt's khedive, Muhammad Ali Pasha, with whom he discussed English horses and military campaigns. Heading next to Mount Sinai and Jerusalem, he was brutally attacked by bandits on the road to Jericho, leaving him injured and naked. He recovered and continued his journey through the Middle East and back to England, where he published this lively and often amusing account of his adventures in 1823.

The publisher and author John Taylor (1781 1864), who took an interest in various antiquarian matters, published this work in 1859. Using the measurements taken by the seventeenth-century archaeologist John Greaves and by the French savants who had examined the Great Pyramid at Giza during Napoleon's Egyptian expedition, he deduced the existence of a 'pyramid inch' (fractionally longer than the British inch), which was one twenty-fifth of the so-called 'sacred cubit' and was derived from ancient astronomical and time-measurement observations; and as a convinced Christian, he concluded that the British inch was therefore divinely inspired. His work was very influential and had a considerable following (the astronomer Charles Piazzi Smyth's 1864 book on Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid is also reissued in this series), but was later debunked by the more accurate surveys and measurements of Flinders Petrie, whose interest in Egypt was partly aroused by reading this book."

Margaret Benson (1865 1916), the fourth of six children of the archbishop of Canterbury E. W. Benson, was a brilliant scholar at Oxford who found an escape from the conventional life of housekeeping for her father when she travelled to Egypt for her health in 1895. She obtained permission to excavate a site, of which she candidly admits that the authorities had no expectations (or they would not have entrusted it to such inexperienced amateurs). She and her close friend Janet Gourlay (1863 1912), who had briefly studied archaeology under Flinders Petrie, published this account of their discoveries at the temple of Mut at Karnak in 1899. It contains an overview of the site and its context in Egyptian history, with an account of the three seasons of excavation and a section on Egyptian religion. The highly illustrated book concludes with translations of the many inscriptions found in the temple remains."

First published in 1930, this book collects all of the ancient Egyptian objects dating from before the Twenty Seventh Dynasty that were known to have been found at Greek archaeological sites prior to original publication. The book groups the items by find site, and photographs of many of the objects are included at the end of the text. The result is an interesting look at the material presence of ancient Egypt in the Aegean in the formative years of Greek civilization, without drawing any firm conclusions from the evidence provided.

Originally named Demetrio Papandriopulo and of Greek parentage, Giovanni D'Athanasi (1798 1854) became in 1815 the servant of Henry Salt (1780 1827), the traveller and antiquary who became British Consul in Egypt and a pioneer Egyptologist. (An account by J. J. Halls of Salt's life and career is also reissued in this series.) Between 1817 and 1827, D'Athanasi excavated on Salt's behalf at Thebes. Published in 1836, this book was intended to accompany the sale of the collection of antiquities amassed by Salt, in which D'Athanasi had a financial interest, but various delays meant that it came out after the main sale had taken place. As well as an often diverting account (in which many axes are ground) of Salt's activities at Giza, Thebes, Memphis and Abu Simbel, the book contains a complete catalogue of the collection, indicating which items were later acquired by the British Museum."

Originally published in 1947, this book presents the content of Stephen Glanville's inaugural lecture upon taking up the position of Professor of Egyptology at Cambridge University. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Egyptology, ancient history and archaeology.

Originally published in 1935, this book presents the content of the Frazer Lecture for that year, which was delivered by Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner at Cambridge University. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Egyptology, ancient history and archaeology.

Originally published between 1913 and 1914 for the Egypt Exploration Fund, these three excavation reports relating to the necropolis at Abydos are now reissued together in one volume. Following the important work carried out by Flinders Petrie - his two reports on The Royal Tombs (1900-1) and the three-part Abydos (1902-4) are also reissued in this series - Edouard Naville (1844-1926) began further excavation and recording of the site's cemeteries with Thomas Eric Peet (1882-1934) and others. Each report contains a section of valuable illustrative material, such as photographs and drawings of the discovered artefacts. Part 1, covering the 1909-10 season, includes chapters on pottery and mummified dogs. Part 2, written up by Peet, covers all the tomb work carried out between 1909 and 1912. Part 3, co-authored with W. L. S. Loat, covers the 1912-13 season, notably the discovery of an ibis cemetery.

'Man perishes; his corpse turns to dust; all his relatives pass away. But writings make him remembered' In ancient Egypt, words had magical power. Inscribed on tombs and temple walls, coffins and statues, or inked onto papyri, hieroglyphs give us a unique insight into the life of the Egyptian mind. Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson has freshly translated a rich and diverse range of ancient Egyptian writings into modern English, including tales of shipwreck and wonder, obelisk inscriptions, mortuary spells, funeral hymns, songs, satires and advice on life from a pharaoh to his son. Spanning over two millennia, this is the essential guide to a complex, sophisticated culture. Translated with an Introduction by Toby Wilkinson

A pioneering Egyptologist, Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942) excavated over fifty sites and trained a generation of archaeologists. His meticulous recording of artefacts and his sequence dating of pottery types found in Egypt and Palestine made Near Eastern archaeology a more rigorous and scientific discipline. This fully illustrated follow-up report of 1901 on the royal tombs at Abydos, capital of Upper Egypt, covers the early dynastic period (c.3100-c.2700 BCE). Petrie gives detailed descriptions of eight tombs and the associated finds. A chapter on the inscriptions is provided by Francis Llewellyn Griffith (1862-1934). Petrie wrote prolifically throughout his long career for both specialists and non-specialists. His preliminary report, The Royal Tombs of the First Dynasty (1900), and the three-part Abydos (1902-4) are among those works also reissued in this series.

A pioneering Egyptologist, Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942) excavated over fifty sites and trained a generation of archaeologists. The diversity of his work is revealed in these three excavation reports, reissued here together but originally published separately in 1911, 1913 and 1914. The first, an important resource on mummy portraits, records significant discoveries made during renewed work on the Roman necropolis at Hawara. Continued excavations at Memphis are also described. Petrie's work at Tarkhan, where he excavated numerous tombs, is written up in the second and third reports. Each report features a valuable section of illustrations, including photographs and drawings of the various sites and finds, most notably the lifelike mummy portraits. Petrie wrote prolifically throughout his long career, and a great many of his other publications - including earlier reports from both Hawara and Memphis - are also reissued in this series.

A pioneering Egyptologist, Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942) excavated over fifty sites and trained a generation of archaeologists. He also played a notable part in the preservation of a number of cuneiform tablets that became known collectively as the Tell el-Amarna letters. Petrie's Syria and Egypt (1898), containing summaries, is also reissued in this series, along with many of his other publications. The present work, first published in 1894 and richly illustrated, gives an account of the work that Petrie carried out in 1891-2. It contains detailed information about both the technical aspects of the dig and the array of artefacts found, including the tablet fragments of diplomatic correspondence from the fourteenth century BCE. The chapter on the tablets is provided by Archibald Sayce, Francis Llewellyn Griffth discusses ceramic inscriptions, and the flint tools are examined by F. C. J. Spurrell.

A pioneer of British Egyptology, Sir John Gardner Wilkinson (1797-1875) first travelled to Egypt in 1821, the year before Champollion published his breakthrough work on the Rosetta Stone. As public interest in Egypt grew, Wilkinson studied and sketched the country's major archaeological sites, most notably the tombs of Thebes. His celebrated Topography of Thebes and General View of Egypt (1835) and Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians (1837) are also reissued in this series. A remodelled and enlarged version of the former work, this two-volume guide of 1843 not only gives practical advice for the contemporary traveller, but also provides modern readers with a vivid snapshot of Egypt in the middle of the nineteenth century. Volume 2 includes further information and guidance about places to visit, including Mount Sinai, along with a section on the history of Egypt that focuses on the Islamic period but also incorporates chronological tables of rulers from the pharaohs onward.

Published in six volumes between 1894 and 1905, this collection served as a valuable reference work for students and scholars of Egyptology at a time when ongoing archaeological excavations were adding significantly to the understanding of one of the world's oldest civilisations. At the forefront of this research was Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942), whose pioneering methods made Near Eastern archaeology a much more systematic and scientific discipline. Many of his other publications are also reissued in this series. Britain's first professor of Egyptology from 1892, Petrie was conscious of the fact that there was no textbook he could recommend to his students. The work of Weidemann was in German and out of date, so Petrie and his collaborators incorporated the latest theories and discoveries in this English-language resource. In Volume 1 (1894), Petrie covers Egyptian history from its beginnings to the sixteenth dynasty.

Published in six volumes between 1894 and 1905, this collection served as a valuable reference work for students and scholars of Egyptology at a time when ongoing archaeological excavations were adding significantly to the understanding of one of the world's oldest civilisations. At the forefront of this research was Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942), whose pioneering methods made Near Eastern archaeology a much more systematic and scientific discipline. Many of his other publications are also reissued in this series. Britain's first professor of Egyptology from 1892, Petrie was conscious of the fact that there was no textbook he could recommend to his students. The work of Weidemann was in German and out of date, so Petrie and his collaborators incorporated the latest theories and discoveries in this English-language resource. In Volume 2 (1896), Petrie covers the seventeenth and eighteenth dynasties.

Published in six volumes between 1894 and 1905, this collection served as a valuable reference work for students and scholars of Egyptology at a time when ongoing archaeological excavations were adding significantly to the understanding of one of the world's oldest civilisations. At the forefront of this research was Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942), whose pioneering methods made Near Eastern archaeology a much more systematic and scientific discipline. Many of his other publications are also reissued in this series. Britain's first professor of Egyptology from 1892, Petrie was conscious of the fact that there was no textbook he could recommend to his students. The work of Weidemann was in German and out of date, so Petrie and his collaborators incorporated the latest theories and discoveries in this English-language resource. In Volume 3 (1905), Petrie covers Egyptian history from the nineteenth to the thirtieth dynasty.

Published in six volumes between 1894 and 1905, this collection served as a valuable reference work for students and scholars of Egyptology at a time when ongoing archaeological excavations were adding significantly to the understanding of one of the world's oldest civilisations. At the forefront of this research was Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942), whose pioneering methods made Near Eastern archaeology a much more systematic and scientific discipline. Many of his other publications are also reissued in this series. Britain's first professor of Egyptology from 1892, Petrie was conscious of the fact that there was no textbook he could recommend to his students. The work of Weidemann was in German and out of date, so Petrie and his collaborators incorporated the latest theories and discoveries in this English-language resource. Volume 4 (1899), written by John Pentland Mahaffy (1839-1919), covers the Ptolemaic dynasty, from 332 to 30 BCE.

Published in six volumes between 1894 and 1905, this collection served as a valuable reference work for students and scholars of Egyptology at a time when ongoing archaeological excavations were adding significantly to the understanding of one of the world's oldest civilisations. At the forefront of this research was Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942), whose pioneering methods made Near Eastern archaeology a much more systematic and scientific discipline. Many of his other publications are also reissued in this series. Britain's first professor of Egyptology from 1892, Petrie was conscious of the fact that there was no textbook he could recommend to his students. The work of Weidemann was in German and out of date, so Petrie and his collaborators incorporated the latest theories and discoveries in this English-language resource. Volume 5 (1898), written by Joseph Grafton Milne (1867-1951), covers the period of Roman rule from 30 BCE to 642 CE.

Published in six volumes between 1894 and 1905, this collection served as a valuable reference work for students and scholars of Egyptology at a time when ongoing archaeological excavations were adding significantly to the understanding of one of the world's oldest civilisations. At the forefront of this research was Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942), whose pioneering methods made Near Eastern archaeology a much more systematic and scientific discipline. Many of his other publications are also reissued in this series. Britain's first professor of Egyptology from 1892, Petrie was conscious of the fact that there was no textbook he could recommend to his students. The work of Weidemann was in German and out of date, so Petrie and his collaborators incorporated the latest theories and discoveries in this English-language resource. Volume 6 (1901), written by Stanley Lane-Poole (1854-1931), covers Arabic Egypt from 639 to 1517.

A pioneering Egyptologist, Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942) excavated over fifty sites and trained a generation of archaeologists. Now reissued in two volumes are the four excavation reports, published between 1931 and 1934, covering his extensive dig at Tell el-Ajjul in Palestine. The reports scrupulously record the finds of artefacts dating from the Copper Age and extending to the Hyksos period. Descriptions of the working party's struggles against malaria and the elements highlight Petrie's devotion to his work. Volume 1 combines the first two reports, first published in 1931 and 1932, and includes descriptions of various cemeteries, tombs, palaces and horse burials. Each report features a section of photographs and sketches of tombs, pottery, weapons and jewellery. Petrie wrote prolifically throughout his long career, and a great many of his Egyptological publications - for both specialists and non-specialists - are also reissued in this series.

A pioneering Egyptologist, Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942) excavated over fifty sites and trained a generation of archaeologists. Now reissued in two volumes are the four excavation reports, published between 1931 and 1934, covering his extensive dig at Tell el-Ajjul in Palestine. The reports scrupulously record the finds of artefacts dating from the Copper Age and extending to the Hyksos period. Descriptions of the working party's struggles against malaria and the elements highlight Petrie's devotion to his work. Volume 2 combines the final two excavation reports, first published in 1933 and 1934, and includes the significant discovery of the large tomb of the governor under Tutankhamun. Each report features a section of photographs and sketches of tombs, pottery, weapons and jewellery. Petrie wrote prolifically throughout his long career, and a great many of his Egyptological publications - for both specialists and non-specialists - are also reissued in this series.

A pioneering Egyptologist, Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942) excavated over fifty sites and trained a generation of archaeologists. Originally published between 1902 and 1904 for the Egypt Exploration Fund, this three-volume set of reports documents the excavations that Petrie initiated at one of ancient Egypt's most sacred sites, the necropolis at Abydos. These reports follow on from the findings published in The Royal Tombs of the First Dynasty (1900) and The Royal Tombs of the Earliest Dynasties (1901), both of which are reissued in this series. Volume 1 presents a detailed account of the objects found in the Osiris temenos (enclosure) and the cemetery known as 'G' during the dig of 1902. Eighty pages of plates illustrate the discoveries, which range from painted pottery to early dynastic graves. A chapter by Arthur Weigall (1880-1934) sheds light on the inscriptions.