Twenty tales from beyond the veil from a mistress of the strange and other worldly
It is widely held that many of the finest writers of the classic ghostly and macabre story were women. Some would propose that this remains true among modern exponents of the craft. It was certainly true of Amelia Edwards whose collection of otherworldly fiction is highly regarded and extensive, notwithstanding her many other talents. It is interesting that Edwards came into contact with another famous ghost story writer, Charles Dickens, as a consequence of providing articles, poetry and stories for his magazine, Household Words. Whether by coincidence or design Edwards' literary style was so similar to Dickens' as to cause confusion as to the identity of the actual author of some stories. Whilst this will please Dickens aficionados, Edwards own work stands on its own merits as a fine collection of Victorian gothic tales. In later life Edwards became an Egyptologist and was responsible for the preservation of many priceless monuments and artefacts. Available in soft cover and hard cover with dust jacket. Leonaur hard covers make fine collectors editions featuring real cloth bindings, taped head and tail bands and gold foil lettering upon their spines.

Of all those admirable and doughty Victorian lady-travellers Miss Amelia Edwards is surely one of the brightest lights, and this, her classic introduction to ancient Egypt, still stands up like an obelisk above the bulk of learned tomes and endlessly churned out travel guides. Straightened means obliged her to earn her living, and she was already a successful writer and a talented artist and musician when, in middle-age, bad weather unexpectedly changed her life. Her painting holiday in France sabotaged, she took a boat from Marseilles to Alexandria, and hired a dahabiyah to venture up the Nile. The rest of her life she devoted tirelessly to the setting-up of professional excavation in Egypt, founding the Egypt Exploration Fund (with Reginald Stuart Poole) and establishing the first chair of Egyptology in England at University College, initially occupied by her protege Flinders Petrie. Nothing of the contagious enthusiasm and wonder she conveys, as the beauties of Egypt are daily unfolded before her, is lost from the subsequent research and painstaking erudition she crams into these pages. The joy is as fresh as when first felt, and the reader feels privileged to share these experiences with her.

“This is the most important of my books, and the one by which I most hope to be remembered – if I may hope to be remembered at all!” Amelia B Edwards, 1877. A chance visit to Egypt in 1873 by Amelia Edwards changed the future of British Egyptology forever. Her travelogue, A Thousand Miles up the Nile, would inspire generations to take up her cause to support and promote Egyptian cultural heritage. This modern reprint is accompanied by a new introduction by Carl Graves (the Egypt Exploration Society) and Anna Garnett (The Petrie Museum, UCL) reflecting on Amelia’s life and its legacy in Egyptology today. The original text is complimented by colour images of Amelia’s artwork made during or shortly after her travels, which have only previously been reproduced as black and white engravings. This is no ordinary reprint, but an essential companion to the best-seller.

'If modern Egypt is so far away that it takes three weeks to get there, ancient Egypt is infinitely more distant.' So wrote novelist, journalist, traveller and Egyptologist Amelia Edwards (1831-92) in this, the last published work of her career. Having first travelled to Egypt in 1873, in 1889-90 Edwards was invited to lecture in the United States, campaigning for the Egypt Exploration Fund, of which she was joint honorary secretary. In five months she addressed 100,000 people at over 110 meetings in sixteen states. First published in 1892, a month before her death, this book is a collection of her lectures, containing substantial illustrations, additions, notes, and references. Exhibiting both Edwards' ability to make abstruse subjects come alive without losing factual correctness, and the humour and enthusiasm with which she recounted her experiences, this book marks the culmination of twenty years' research and exploration.

Amelia Edwards' English translation of the Manual of Egyptian Archaeology by the renowned French Egyptologist Gaston Camille Charles Maspero (1846 1916) was originally published in 1887. The fifth edition reissued here appeared in 1902, ten years after Edwards' death, under the auspices of Maspero. Edwards' translation was important for generating public interest in Egyptology in Britain. It is a classic work of popular Egyptology that has served for years as an indispensable guide for students, amateur enthusiasts and professionals, and was long relied upon by British tourists visiting Egypt's ancient sites. The book contains chapters on civil and military architecture, religious architecture, ancient tombs, Egyptian painting and sculpture, and industrial art. There are detailed sections on the various materials used including stone, clay, glass, wood, ivory, leather, textile fabrics, iron, lead, and bronze. The volume is beautifully illustrated with over 300 engravings.

What had become of him? And what lad was that going up the path by which I had just come-that tall lad, half-running, half-walking, with a fishing-rod over his shoulder? I could have taken my oath that I had neither met nor passed him. Where then had he come from? And where was the man to whom I had spoken not three seconds ago, and who, at his limping pace, could not have made more than a couple of yards in the time?.My stupefaction was such that I stood quite still, looking after the lad with the fishing-rod till he disappeared in the gloom under the park-palings.

As enthralling as any work of fiction, A Thousand Miles up the Nile is the quintessential Victorian travel book. In 1873, Amelia B. Edwards, an upper-class Victorian spinster, spent the winter visiting the then largely unspoiled splendors of ancient Egypt. An accurate and sympathetic observer, she brings nineteenth-century Egypt to life. A Thousand Miles up the Nile was an instant hit in 1876, and is received with equal enthusiasm by modern readers. Fans of Elizabeth Peters Amelia Peabody Emerson series will see similarities between the two Amelias. More importantly, A Thousand Miles up the Nile provides a wealth of background information and detail that will increase the readers understanding and enjoyment of Peters novels. This Norton Creek Press edition of A Thousand Miles up the Nile is a reproduction of the illustrated 1890 edition by Routledge and Sons. Look for more of Edwards works from Norton Creek Press. Amelia B. Edwards was an author and co-founder of the Egypt Exploration Fund.