Manners and Customs of The Ancient Egyptians; A Second Series of the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians; Including Their Private Life, Government, Laws, Arts, Manufactures, Religion, and Early History; Derived from a Comparison of the Paintings, Sculptures, and Monuments still Existing, with the Accounts of Ancient Authors
London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1837; 1841. First edition. Hardcover. 6 vol. 8vo. [5], vi-x, [1], viii-x, [1], xii-xxxii, [3], 2-406, [2]; [3], iv-xxxiv, [1], 2-446, [2]; [3], iv-xxiv, [1], 2-404, [2] (volume three lacks the publisher's advertisements); [3], iv-xxix, [2], 2-444, [2]; [3], iv-xxv, [2], 2-483, [3]; [3], vi-xi, [2], 2-37, [1] (lacks the publisher's advertisements) pp. Contemporary mottled calf boards with the spines in six compartments, spines lettered and decorated in gold, each spine with two morocco labels each, lettered in gold, boards' edges show gilt tooling; all edges marbled. Marbled endpapers and pastedowns; later endpapers. Volumes expertly and sympathetically rebacked. Volume one illustrated by a frontispiece, numerous in-text and full-page woodcuts and vignettes, with three plates, one of which is a fold-out; volume two illustrated by a frontispiece, nine plates, two of which are fold-out, and numerous in-text and full-page woodcuts; volume three illustrated by a frontispiece and two plates; volumes four and five illustrated by in-text and full-page woodcuts and vignettes; volume six is a supplemental volume, illustrated by seventy plates, many of which fold-out. Most illustrations are done in black and white, but several are chromolithographs. Volumes one, two, and three contain the errata slips, volumes four and five contain errata notices printed on the verso of the table of contents. Blackmer 1093. Lowndes 2923-2924. John Gardner Wilkinson was the son of a reverend and a classical scholar. His mother, the scholar, taught him how to draw. In 1821, upon his arrival to Egypt, Wilkinson abandoned his army career and spent twelve years traveling around the Nile, and the eastern and western deserts. He excavated at numerous Egyptian archaeological sites and drew the results of his work into his notebooks. Wilkinson's work was focused on ancient Thebes. He created the numbering system for the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. His map of Thebes was later published in a limited quantity by the Royal Society. His most important (and popular) publication was his Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians. His series contains a detailed, vivid narrative of daily life in ancient Egypt. Wilkinson relied on paintings in Egyptian tombs to create his picture of daily life in ancient Egypt. His series went through many publications, and Wilkinson later received a knighthood in 1839 for his work. J.G. Wilkinson helped to found the field of Egyptology in Great Britain, and his notebooks, sketches, and private collection of antiquities contain a legacy of significant archaeological study. His collections remain in England (many at the Bodleian). An early archaeologist, and one of the first Egyptologists, Wilkinson's series is a high spot in the publishing history of books on antiquity. Very Good. Item #00009601
A Very Good set with moderate wear to the extremities gently exposing many of the corners, and a rub to the front joint of volume six; front gutter in volume one neatly strengthened, a plate in volume six is incomplete, with a small portion of it removed.
Price: $1,650.00