The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians.: A New Edition, Revised and Corrected.

London: John Murray, , 1878. A restoration to life of the ancient Pharoahs The best edition of this keystone work of British Egyptology, carefully revised by Samuel Birch, this copy in an attractive contemporary binding. First published in 1837, The Quarterly Review referred to Wilkinson's minutely detailed and superbly illustrated work as a "restoration to life, as it were, of the ancient Pharaohs, and their subjects". With his meticulous observation and recording of sites (the illustrations are taken from his drawings), Wilkinson (1797-1875) was the first British Egyptologist properly to value the interpretation of Egyptian texts. He "arrived in Egypt on 22 November 1821. He soon became so fascinated with the land that he abandoned all thoughts of an army career and spent the next twelve years there... He accomplished an extraordinary amount of work at most of the major archaeological sites then known in Egypt and recorded them in his numerous notebooks and sketchbooks. His sketches are rendered with an accuracy and consistency that make them valuable evidence for monuments that were damaged or destroyed after he drew them" (ODNB). Birch (1813-1885) entered the British museum in 1836 as an assistant in the department of antiquities, eventually becoming head of the Egyptian and Assyrian branch. Among his numerous contributions to Egyptology, he wrote a hieroglyphical grammar, a dictionary, and a translation of The Book of the Dead. Birch's scrupulous pursuit of linguistic and textual analysis made him the only man capable of undertaking a meaningful revision of The Manners And Customs of the Ancient Egyptians. Working from Wilkinson's extensive notebooks and manuscripts alongside his own original material, Birch much enhanced the original. Three volumes, octavo (219 x 134 mm). Contemporary tree calf, spines with gilt raised bands, lettering and elaborate gilt decoration in compartments, brown morocco labels, covers bordered with a foliate gilt roll, board edges gilt, blind decoration to turn-ins, marbled endpapers and sides. With 75 plates, some coloured, some folding, text profusely illustrated with woodcuts. Christmas 1883 gift inscription to first blank. Couple of tips lightly worn, minor scuffs to sides, one recoloured, short closed tear to one leaf in vol. II, foxing to endpapers and occasionally to contents, but generally bright and clean. A very good set.