AN EARLY TOUR GUIDE
TO THE NILE

BUDGE, E. A. WALLIS. THE NILE. Notes for Travellers in Egypt. London: Thos. Cook & Son; Cairo: Cooks' Tourist Office, 1890. 16mo. Original red limp cloth, stamped in gilt. Endpapers and all edges marbled. Half-title. [xvi], 311 pages. Folding map with Nile route traced in red, illustrations in the text. Spine cocked, slight edgewear. Otherwise, a fine copy.

FIRST EDITION of one of the earliest tourist guides to Egypt and the Nile River. E. A. Wallis Budge (1857-1934) "accomplished a remarkable volume of work" on the history, antiquities and ancient languages of Egypt and "[a]mong Egyptologists Budge was the best Semitic scholar of his generation" (DNB). The Nile was "drawn up for the use of those travellers who have a very few weeks to spend in Egypt, and who wish to carry in their memories some of the more important facts connected with the fast-perishing remains of one of the most interesting and ancient civilizations that has been developed on the face of the earth" (Preface). Thos. Cook and Son - the first worldwide travel agency, founded by Thomas Cook and continued by his descendents - presented a copy of the book "to every passenger under their Nile arrangements" (Introduction). The Nile proved to be extremely popular, appearing in numerous later editions for more than twenty years after its first publication.

Provenance: Ownership inscription of Margaret G. Stewart, "Cairo. February 9, 1892." This copy also contains a pressed flower (pages 178-179) - perhaps a souvenir of Ms. Stewart's visit to Egypt. BT000042.

$200

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