Description
Book SynopsisThe great nineteenth-century British traveler Edward William Lane (1801–76) was the author of a number of highly influential works: An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians (1836), his translation of The Thousand and One Nights (1839–41), Selections from the Kur-an (1843), and the Arabic–English Lexicon (1863–93). Yet in 1831, publication of one of his greatest works, Description of Egypt, was delayed, and eventually dropped, mainly for financial reasons, by the publishing firm of John Murray. The manuscript was sold to the British Library by Lane’s widow in 1891, and was salvaged for publication as a hardcover book, in 2000, by Jason Thompson, nearly 170 years after its completion. Now available in paperback, this book, which takes the form of a journey through Egypt from north to south, with descriptions of all the ancient monuments and contemporary life that Lane explored along the way, will be of interest to both ancient and modern historians of Egypt, and is an essential companion to his Manners and Customs.
Trade Review‘’Jason Thompson’s exact and dedicated edition deserves much praise.’’—ASTENE Bulletin
“A major work’’—Daniel Pipes, Middle East Quarterly
"A valuable snapshot of the ruins in the 1820s before clearance and in some cases, destruction."—Morris Bierbrier, Egyptian Archaeology
Table of ContentsContents
Map of Egypt ix
List of Figures xi
List of Tables xv
List of Abbreviations xvii
Note on Transliteration, Translation, and Dates xix
Acknowledgments xxi
Introduction 1
Part One: Egyptology and Pharaonism to 1930
1. Egyptology and Pharaonism in Egypt before Tutankhamun 19
2. Nationalizing Tutankhamun 51
3. Western Egyptology in Egypt in the Wake of Tutankhamun, 1922–1930 81
4. Egyptian Egyptology and Pharaonism in the Wake of Tutankhamun, 1922–1930 109
Part Two: Tourism and Islamic, Coptic, and Greco–Roman Archaeologies
5. Consuming Antiquity: Western Tourism between Two Revolutions, 1919–1952 137
6. In the Shadow of Egyptology: Islamic Art and Archaeology to 1952 167
7. Copts and Archaeology: Sons of Saint Mark / Sons of the Pharaohs 197
8. Alexandria, Egypt, and the Greco–Roman Heritage 229
Part Three: Egyptology and Pharaonism to Nasser’s Revolution
9. Contesting Egyptology in the 1930s 263
10. Pharaonism and Its Challengers in the 1930s and 1940s 295
11. Egyptology in the Twilight of Empire and Monarchy, 1939–1952 329
12. Conclusion 355
Notes 369
Bibliography 449
Index 481
