NARRATIVE OF THE OPERATIONS AND RECENT DISCOVERIES WITHIN THE PYRAMIDS

BELZONI, Giovanni Battista.  NARRATIVE OF THE OPERATIONS AND RECENT DISCOVERIES WITHIN THE PYRAMIDS, TEMPLES, TOMBS, AND EXCAVATIONS, IN EGYPT AND NUBIA, and     PLATES ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE RESEARCHES AND OPERATIONS OF G. BELZONI IN EGYPT AND NUBIA. Two Volumes.                  

London: John Murray, 1821-1822. 4to. and folio. Text volume: Later half-vellum, boards; Atlas plate volume: Contemporary boards. Text volume: Lithographic frontispiece portrait, viii, v-xi, (i), xi-xix, 1-484, appendix 485-533 pages, 1 folding map, 2 plates; Atlas plate volume: (iii) pages, 44 plates on 34 sheets (2 folding), of which 40 hand colored (of which 19 lithographic and 25 engraved). Second edition. 

Rare early serious study of ancient Egyptian monuments and art as examined from an archaeological perspective.  According to Blackmer, Belzoni's Narrative is "the best English work of any importance to use lithography."  Known as "The Great Belzoni" Giovanni Battista (1778-1823) was one of the first and foremost archaeologists of Egypt.  He originally traveled to Egypt in 1815 to interest the Egyptian authorities in a hydraulic machine for irrigation that was unsuccessful.  He stayed and supervised several important archaeological excavations from 1815 to 1819, during which time he opened one of the two Great Pyramids at Giza and several Tombs of the Kings at Thebes (including that of Seti I).  He opened the temple of Abu Simbel, then journeyed to the Red Sea in search of the city of Berenice, and afterward to the oasis of Jupiter Ammon.  Upon his return to England he held an exhibition of antiquities---and full-scale models-- at the Egyptian Hall, Picadilly, which ran from 1821-1822, and was so successful that it was also shown in Paris and St. Petersburg.  A copy of Belzoni's work is recorded in the Library of Virginia by 1831 (also the second edition)--making it contemporary with the Egyptian Building at the Medical College of Virgnia, one of the earliest completely Egyptian styled buildings in the US.

The atlas volume comprises 44 lithographs and engravings on 34 leaves of plates with etchings after Belzoni and G. Scharf by A. Glio and L. Clark.  The colored lithographic illustrations used as many as eight colors on one plate, and Belzoni's Narrative is considered "the first English work of any importance to use lithography" by Michael Twyman.  Belzoni was an early pioneer in Egyptology.  The production of his book introduced Europe and Britain to the wonders of ancient Egypt and sparked a popularity for things Egyptian in British architecture, furniture and arts.  Text volume professionally and sympathetically rebound; Contemporary paper covered boards of plate volume repaired at an early date; one plate with a tear in upper portion; still an extremely handsome copy, with splendid coloring, in very good condition.

 

$13,500.00