Middle East

From Fetish to God in Ancient Egypt – Wallis Budge – First Edition 1934

First edition published by Oxford University Press in 1934. Large octavo, 545 pages with 240 illustrations. Decorated cloth covered boards and with most of the rare dust jacket, with repaired separation to rear corner and large chip to base of spine. The book rarely appears with its jacket. A very good copy. A substantial book.

A history of the progress of Egyptian religious beliefs and related mythology during ancient times.

Chapter subjects include … The Religions of Ancient Egypt; Predynastic Cults – Animism – Fetishism – Gods and Goddesses of Fetish Origin etc ; Magic the Foundation of Egyptian Religions; Magical Rituals and Spells; The Magician – His Powers and Works; The Family of Gebb and Nut; Hathor and the Hathor-Goddesses; Gods – Stellar, Borrowed and Foreign; Osiris the Rival of Ra; The Judgement of the Dead; Life Beyond the Grave etc etc

Wallis Budge (1857-1934) one of a group of top Egyptologists to be associated with the British Museum. Born into poor circumstances he made London and the British Museum as a young man. He was so well liked and he was sponsored through Cambridge by Gladstone and Smith (of W.H. Smith fame). He studied the work of Layard, knew Alfred Sayce well (see out original letter by Sayce), learned from Assyriologist George Smith (Voyager hero). It was not long until he was in charge of building the collection which he did in a grand scale. His most distinguished acquisition maybe the Papyrus of Ani “Book of the Dead”. He wrote many books on his subject. This his final and enduring work.

Budge – a lifetime devoted to Egyptology.

$160.00

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Unusual Engraving of “Birds from the Levant” – Thomas Shaw -1738

Engraved in copper by Thomas Shaw (1694-1751) and published as part of “Travels or Observations relating to Several Parts of Barbary and the Levant”.

Printed and published at “The Theatre’ Oxford.

Presented matted, ready to frame, 40cm by 30cm. Engraving in excellent condition.

The birds are the Hou-baara, Rhaad, Boo-ank and the Kittanria. We understand one of them is the Arabian Bustard and another a Willow Ptarmigan but we prefer there native names.

Fine bird engraving 280 years old.

$120.00

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The Tomb of Iurudef – A Memphite Official in the Reign of Ramesses II – Maarten Raven

First edition published jointly by the National Museum of Antiquities Leiden and the Egypt Exploration Society, London.

The Principal author Maarten Raven is a leading Egyptologist and curator of Egyptology at Leiden. Since 1975 he has been active in the field at Saqqara at a New kingdom archaeological burial site a joint Dutch and British concern.

Large quarto, 82 pages plus 55 full page plates of artefacts, including the frontispiece. Printed to a high standard and in fine condition.

A great wealth of material has been found, preserved and catalogued from the sands of the city of the dead of ancient Memphis. Of considerable importance was the discovery of the tomb of Iurudef as a part of the tomb structure of his Master the Overseer of the Treasury Tia, brother-in-law to Ramesses II. The tomb can be dated to the first half of the Nineteenth Dynasty. The excavators discovered further chambers and in total some seventy burials were found.

The publication is presented at the highest technical standard. A useful Preface and List of Plates, with a Staff List and suitable historical introductions. Follows a logical progression … the Superstructure; the Substructure; Coffins and Related Objects; Catalogue of Objects; Pottery; Skeletal remains

The Tomb of Iurudef was shared with many others.

$70.00

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Sport in Many Lands (Europe, Asia, Africa and America) by H.A. Leveson known as “Old Shakarry”

“Old Shekarry” was Major Henry Astbury Leveson and he was one of the great 19th Century traveller hunters. He went everywhere and had a shot at everything. His recollections of the Man Eating Bengal Tiger do add a little balance.

Published posthumously as a sort of compilation of his other works on a grander scale. Published by Warne, London and New York in 1890. Royal octavo, 597 pages with towards 200 illustrations. Delightful decorative covers – all in very good condition. A beauty really.

We start with a special memoir on Leveson by H.F. which reassures one that here was a man who lead a full life, with a distinguished military career to back up his private interests.

The book proper starts at home with Her Majesty’s Buckhounds and the chasing of the red deer. Off to Bavaria, the Alps and the Chamois. Wild Fowl shooting and the marsh lands of the Somme .. (what a different place they were to become). The exotic and hog hunting in India … Bears, Tigers and Leopards before the formidable yet vulnerable Elephant,. Up in the Himalaya and some interesting travel notes before more shooting. Into the Middle East and the sad markets in wives and slaves. The hard life of the Bedouins around the Suez and blasting Hyena. South Africa and the “bok” in all its forms and, sadly, the quagga (they have all gone). After the challenge of the Lion we move up to Abyssinia and reflections on native customs. A different part of the world the North American “Rockies” and a narrow escape from a grizzly bear … into the prairies and the mode of hunting adopted by the Red Indians. A skirmish with the Red Indians gives the buffalo a chance!

Old Shakarry from a different era – travel and hunting – in Many Lands

$160.00

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Tamarisk Gerbil – Original Hand Coloured Copper Engraving – Schreber 1775

A rare and delightful hand-coloured copper engraving of the desert living Tamarisk Gerbil by D.R. Nitschmann for Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber (1739-1810) published as part of his classic work on mammals “Die Saughthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen” published circa 1775.

Strong plate mark, paper size 28cm by 20cm. Engraving quality very fine with good strong original colouring. Very good condition.

Gerbils of course popular pets at one time … they have a habit of digging themselves into holes if let loose in the garden … so watch out for this fella.

Price $120.00 unframed

18thC engraving of the popular rather cute gerbil

$120.00

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Mare Rubrum (The Red Sea) – Petrus Bertius -1602

An original copper engraved miniature map of the Red Sea region, one of the earliest to focus on this region. With north orientated to the right showing Yemen and the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula and Egypt with place names and rivers in some detail, mountain regions illustrated, shallow marshy areas highlighted. Later colouring as always. 12.5cm by 8.5cm.

Engraved by Petrus Kaerius for the great geographer Petrus Bertius and published by Cornelis Claesz in Amsterdam in 1602 for the “Tabularum Geographicarum Contractarum Libri”. Refer expert Geffrey King’s authoritative work on miniature maps.

Price $120.00 unframed

Red sea region over 400 year old.

$120.00

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From Fetish to God in Ancient Egypt – Wallis Budge – First Edition 1934

Unusual Engraving of “Birds from the Levant” – Thomas Shaw -1738

The Tomb of Iurudef – A Memphite Official in the Reign of Ramesses II – Maarten Raven

Sport in Many Lands (Europe, Asia, Africa and America) by H.A. Leveson known as “Old Shakarry”

Tamarisk Gerbil – Original Hand Coloured Copper Engraving – Schreber 1775

Mare Rubrum (The Red Sea) – Petrus Bertius -1602

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