Here is a self portrait by 19th century photographer of Middle Eastern scenes Felix Bonfils.  He was one of the earliest commercial photographers of the monuments of Egypt, Greece and Palestine with this articles focus being Egyptian monuments. The cards in question are from about c.1875 free of tourists and many of these sites are unexcavated. These cards are known as stereoviews which were meant to be viewed with a stereocope. The era of the stereoscope is from approximately c.1860 to c.1939. Felix Bonfils images were available as tourist souvenirs as individual photos and i ..read more

 The supposed success with finding King Hatshepsut has brought to light many new questions about the location of the mummy of her foremost courtier Senenmut. The thought that he may be among the unidentified royal mummies is intriguing. Though the finding of Hatshepsut was made by the presence of a tooth there is still a lot of faith being placed in DNA perhaps not with mummified tissue but with bone or teeth. Fortune has played its hand with the discovery of the intact tomb of Hatnofer and Ramose in the courtyard of their son Senenmut's prominent tomb at Sheik Abd el Qurna, TT71. Se ..read more

This talatat block features king Akhenaten in two complete scenes including on the left side of the face a crudely carved scene of the king beneath the rays of the Aten. These rays terminate in open hands above the scene of the king before an altar making offerings while wearing the white crown with his arms raised in exaltation. The second larger scene on the right side of the talatat face is slightly better executed and features the king in Sed festival robes beneath the rays of the Aten which terminate in hands holding alternating ankh signs and was scepters while a row of three attendan ..read more

The above is an 1870s view of the Sphinx and the great pyramid at Giza this is an early very rare French tissue card that has a second layer of tissue behind the tissue photograph which is colored in absurd pink and green so that when the light passes through these colors show through. As one can imagine these tissue windows are easily broken. Egypt is an uncommon subject of these tissue cards which often center around prominent rooms in European palaces and gardens. Francis Frith was an early photographer photographing Egypt's and Nubia's monuments in the late 1850s. The abov ..read more

Here we have the last pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty Horemheb with what is suspected to be his first wife Amenia. The statue was found in a chapel of the tomb of the pharaoh at Saqqara in the 1970s by the Anglo-Dutch Mission. Reliefs and statuary from the tomb complex are highly prized by a number of European museums who acquired their pieces in the first half of the 19th century. As you can see by the photo below sometime after its collection the statue was mutilated with the successful removal of Amenia's head and torso by thieves the remains of the statue is in the Luxor Museum of Anc ..read more

Gaston Maspero The Grolier Society London, UK 1904 Volume V I have had this series of 114-year-old books for many years but never read them. The author Gaston Maspero was the head of Egypt's Egyptian Museum and in charge of giving excavation permits in the late 19th century early 20th century. Mr. Maspero was chief Egyptologist and expert archaeologist of Oriental history. It must be noted that the use of and spelling of English words from 1904 differs from today's vocabulary. It must further be noted that interpretations of Egyptian hieroglyphs particularly names have also ..read more

Gaston Maspero The Grolier Society London, UK 1904 Volume 2 I have had this series of 114-year-old books for many years but never read them. The author Gaston Maspero was the head of Egypt's Egyptian Museum and in charge of giving excavation permits in the late 19th century early 20th century. Mr. Maspero was chief Egyptologist and expert archaeologist of Oriental history. It must be noted that the use of and spelling of English words from 1904 differs from today's vocabulary. It must further be noted that interpretations of Egyptian hieroglyphs particularly names have also c ..read more

The tragic fire of September 2, 2018, which destroyed Brazil's National Museum, as well as most of its collections, took with it one of South America's most important Egyptian collections likely including the lovely 23rd Dynasty mummy Sha-Amun-em-su and her coffin. The museum's website says this of her, "This coffin was a present offered by the Khedive of Egypt Ismail to the Emperor of Brazil D. Pedro II when he visited Egypt in 1876. D. Pedro II kept it standing upright in his study, near a window open one day, the coffin was hit by a window-catch, breaking part of its side. Its ..read more

Ahmed Fakhry The University of Chicago Press 1961 U.S.A. Library of Congress No. 61-8654 This 249 page read from the University of Chicago press contains many images and schematics to help in the explanation of the monuments including at the back of the book a listing of all the known Egyptian pyramids as of 1961 and their base measurements. The author is extremely knowledgeable on the subject and introduces interesting information that I have not heard before. Mr. Fakhry explains the pyramids in their apparent chronological order including their associated mortuary and valley temples. &nb ..read more

Where the mummied Kings of Egypt,wrapped in linen fold on fold, Couched for ages in their coffins, crowned with crowns of dusky gold, Lie in subterranean chambers, biding to the day of doom, Counterfeit life's hollow semblance in each mazy mountain tomb, Grisly in their gilded coffins, mocking masks of skin and bone, Yet remain in change unchanging, balking Nature of her own; Mured in mighty Mausoleums, walled in from the night and day, Lo, the mortal Kings of Egypt hold immortal Death at bay. For - so spake the Kings of Egypt - those colossal ones whose hand Held the peoples from&n ..read more