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Vivant Denon drew this image of the Sphinx of Giza around 1798, prior to its defacement. This image and written account (a part of the collection) is from the 1803 issue of Universal Magazine. From that same magazine, here is the written account in Denon's own words, "...Though its proportions are colossal, the outline is pure and graceful; the expression of the head is mild, gracious, and tranquil; the character is African, but the mouth, and lips of which are thick, has a softness and delicacy of execution truly admirable; it seems real life and flesh. Art must have been at a high pitch when this monument was executed; for, if the head wants what is called style, that is the say, the straight and bold lines which give expression to the figures under which the Greeks have designated their deities, yet sufficient justice has been rendered to the fine simplicity and character of nature which is displayed in this figure..." -- order postcard of Sphinx of Giza

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"se wo were fi na wosan kofa a yennki" (translation below)
"There is nothing wrong with going back to fetch what one has forgotten."
  -- Ashanti saying

This Collection is owned by The Freeman Institute. (Founder of The Freeman Institute Foundation) and is not for sale.
It will soon be used as a part of his plans to open Black History galleries
in American communities and selected cities internationally. The goal is to
educate and inspire young people with the "C. P. A. Concept".
 

     Capturing Hearts & Minds through the inspiration received from and knowledge contained in Return To Glory resources (film, book, etc.).  A combined strategic focus on this step, will allow RTG to be even more deliberate in achieving its goal of changing the distorted image of Black people by starting from their ancient beginnings instead of the traditional starting points of slavery, colonization or apartheid.
    
Proving the Point with documents and artifacts. Phase One has been completed by the development of The Freeman Institute Black History Collection of 3,000+ documents & artifacts -- with many already being exhibited online. The following, more comprehensive Phases will be implemented once a few Black History Gallery sites are located and additional finances are secured. Verification of the history will be established through collections and exhibitions of genuine historical documents and artifacts from the respective nation in which the Foundation has a presence.
    
Affecting Change & Future Life Goals is realized through partnerships with national and community-based service organizations with missions to impact behavior and alter life outcomes. The Foundation's desire is to assist by providing resources to help facilitate the kind of lasting change that will help individuals realize their true potential, regardless of race, gender or generation. Any ideas? email (cell: 410-991-9718) -- CPA concept was developed by Patricia Ware

If you have any relevant historic documents, artifacts, old books or photos to donate, please email a description of the piece and your contact information. All donations of historical artifacts, documents, photos or books are used for educational purposes and public display only. Donors will receive a letter of acknowledgement from the Freeman Institute Foundation and will be recognized for their contribution through the listing of the item when on display.

Own a full-size, 3-D replica of the Rosetta Stone.

 

black history, African American, black heritage, black history month, egypt, pyramids, rosetta stone, frederick douglass, george washington carver, booker t. washington, slave ship, abolition, british slave trade, phillis wheatley

- An Ever-Expanding Black History Collection -
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No images on this page may be used without permission.  © 2006-NOW Joel A. Freeman, Ph.D.

black history, African American, black heritage, black history month, egypt, pyramids, rosetta stone, frederick douglass, george washington carver, booker t. washington, slave ship, abolition, british slave trade, phillis wheatley

 

  1. A First Edition 55-page article entitled, "The Rosetta Stone" in Archaeologia: Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, Volume XVI, published by The Society of Antiquaries of London. 1812. Some of the first published articles about the Rosetta Stone. This is historic in light of the fact that the code to Hieroglyphics wasn't cracked until 1822 by Jean Champollion.
-- One and a half pages of the Gentleman's Magazine (August, 1802) stating, "...a treble inscription brought up from  Rosetta, in Egypt, where it was dug up by the French, and, with other antique fragments, made by capitulation the property of the British nation. Copies had been previously taken of it by its former possessors, who, with their accustomed vivacity, have attempted to illustrate it..." (This was written a full 20 years before the code to Hieroglyphics was cracked by Champollion.)


"Viewing the Rosetta Stone", 1874
London Illustrated engraving

  2. An original "Elephant-size" folio Victorian print (circa 1895) of the Rosetta Stone. Measures 21x14" on heavyweight paper.
-- An original "Elephant-size" folio Victorian print (circa 1895) of a gentleman viewing the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum. Measures 21x14" on heavyweight paper.
-- An 1815 engraving of the British Museum (its original, smaller site).

-- An original "Elephant-size" folio Victorian print (circa 1895) of the Rosetta Stone. Measures 21x14" on heavyweight paper.
-- An original "Elephant-size" folio Victorian print (circa 1895) of a gentleman viewing the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum. Measures 21x14" on heavyweight paper.
-- An 1815 engraving of the British Museum (its original, smaller site).
 


"Capture of Rosetta"

  3. A genuine issue of the January 7th, 1799 Connecticut Courant, detailing the "Landing of Buonaparte's army in Egypt" and its progress in Cairo. Fascinating content.

-- Authentic issue of the Salem Gazette (Dec. 7, 1798), containing a literal translation of General Napoleon Buonaparte's proclamation to the Arabs in Lower Egypt. Intriguing content.

<-- July 14, 1801 issue of the New England Palladium describing the capture of Rosetta, Egypt by British troops. The report comes from Major General J. H. Hutchinson. "It is with great pleasure that I am to inform you of the success of a corps of Turks and British under the command of Col. Spencer. They were ordered from hence about ten days ago, for the purpose of forcing the enemy from the town and castle of Rosetta, which commands the navigation of the Nile...


One of just 12-15 full-size
facsimiles of the famed Rosetta
Stone ever manufactured by
the British Museum. Very rare.


...We are now masters of the western branch of that river, and of course have opened a communication with the Delta, from which we shall derive the necessary supplies, as the French have scarcely any troops there, and none capable of making a serious resistance. The enemy had about 800 men at Rosetta when they were attacked. They made but a feeble effort to sustain themselves, and retired to the right bank of the Nile, leaving a few men and prisoners. They left a garrison at the fort, against which our batteries opened on the 16th infantry and it surrendered on the 19th infantry. The condition of the same as were granted to the castle of the Aboukir..."

-- In August 1799, just over a year after Napoleon launched his invasion of Egypt at Alexandria, a great discovery was made. Under the leadership of Lt. Pierre Bouchard, French soldiers were building up their defenses around the area of Fort St. Julian, near the northern city of Rosetta, when a soldier or engineer found in the ruins an ancient stone. With its cryptic inscriptions, it was immediately recognized as an object of great importance. It was sent to Cairo, where it was housed in the Institute d’Egypte. Members of Napoleon’s special civilian corps dispersed around the country were requested to go there at once. The rare map to the right is of the mouth of the Nile, picturing Fort Julian, now known as Fort Rashid -->

Map of Rosetta region at the
mouth of the Nile, with Fort Julian
on the West Bank of the river.

 

-- Description de l'Egypte, Rosetta Environs. Folio Sheet size: 55cm x 72cm. It has the Napoleonic "Sphinx" cartouche it the upper corner of the sheet. Not a reproduction or re-strike of any kind. This print was purchased nearly 40 years ago in Cairo. From: Description de l'Egypte ou recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont ete faites en Egypte pendant l'Expedition de l'Armee francaise. Dediee au Roi. France: Commission des sciences et arts d'Egypte. The completed work fills twenty-three volumes and contains engravings depicting 3,000 individual images. Description de L'Egypte documents many aspects of Egypt's history and culture and has sections devoted to antiquities, the modern state, and natural history. An atlas supplements the text. Description de L'Egypte was intended for an academic audience, and many copies of the first edition were distributed directly to institutions. However, it was clear even before the original production was complete that the title had a much broader appeal. The descriptions of Egyptian antiquities and religious monuments satisfied a curiosity about ancient cultures, religion, and mythology that had been sparked by the Romantic movement.

-- A Bit of History About the Rosetta Stone: Some scientists accompanied Napoleon's French campaign in Egypt (1798-1801). After Napoleon Bonaparte founded the Institut de l'Egypte in Cairo in 1798 some 50 became members of it. On July 15th, 1799, just over a year after Napoleon launched his invasion of Egypt at Alexandria, a great discovery was made. Under the command of Lt. Pierre-François Bouchard (1772-1832), French soldiers were building up their defenses around the area of Fort St. Julian, near the northern city of Rosetta, when a soldier or engineer found in the ruins an ancient stone. With its cryptic inscriptions, Bouchard immediately understood the importance of the stone and showed it to general Abdallah Jacques de Menou. It was immediately recognized as an object of great importance. It was sent to Cairo, where it was housed in the Institute d’Egypte. Members of Napoleon’s special civilian corps dispersed around the country were requested to go there at once. In 1801 the French had to surrender. A dispute arose about the results of the scientists - the French wishing to keep them, while the British considered them forfeit, in the name of King George III. In September 1801 English brevet Colonel Tomkyns Hilgrove Turner, who had fought at Aboukir Bay and Alexandria, went to visit Menou to procure the stone. Meanwhile the French scientist Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, writing to the English diplomat William Richard Hamilton threatened to burn all their discoveries, ominously referring to the burned Library of Alexandria. Turner cited the sixteenth article of the "Treaty of Alexandria". The British capitulated, and they insisted only on the delivery of the monuments. The French tried to hide the Stone in a boat despite the clauses of the capitulation, but failed. The French were allowed to take the imprints they had made previously, when embarking in Alexandria. General Menou handed it over grudgingly. A squad of artillerymen seized the stone without resistance. As they carted the magnificent ancient treasure through Alexandria, French soldiers and civilians collected on the streets and sputtered insults at them. In the spasmodic voyage from Egypt to England, many of the Egyptian antiquities were damaged. Because of the importance of the Rosetta Stone, however Colonel Turner personally accompanied this precious cargo on its journey aboard a frigate. The Rosetta Stone left Egypt from Alexandria and sailed into the English Channel in February 1802. At Deptford the stone was placed in a small boat and taken through customs. It was lodged at the quarters of the Society of Antiquaries so experts could examine it before being dispatched to its permanent station of public exhibition in the British Museum in London, England (since 1802).

  4. A three-volume 1803 English edition (quite rare) of "Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt During the Campaigns of General Bonaparte in That Country", written and illustrated by Vivant Denon, published by T.N. Longman & O. Rees (London). In the spring of 1797, with a direct assault against Britain out of the question, Napoleon Bonaparte suggested threatening Britain's rich commerce with India by invading Egypt. A unique feature of the expedition, which set sail on 19 May 1798, was the large number and high caliber of the attached civilians, among them Baron Dominique Vivant Denon (1747-1825). Denon was one of the founders of the Louvre Museum, and was responsible for saving many works of art and monuments of French culture from destruction during the French Revolution. Denon was entrusted by Napoleon to assemble a team of artists, archeologists, linguists and scholars to study the antiquities of Egypt for the first time since Antiquity. In addition to assisting in the formulation of practical measures for the rule of Egypt, the 167 savants accompanied the army to every corner of the country. Protected by the French troops, Denon was able to explore the country extensively. This book contains many etchings of Egypt, including the famous etching of the Sphinx of Giza shown at the top of this web page. -- order postcard of Sphinx of Giza


Rare 3-Volume Set by
Vivant Denon, 1803

   In the south, he reached Assouan; from Keneh he went to Kosseir. Their studies of the great monuments of ancient Egypt paved the way for the science of Egyptology. It was during this expedition that the Rosetta Stone was discovered, which ultimately enabled people to decipher and translate ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Denon's book was the first important fruit of the French expedition to Egypt. This is an early English translation of the work (apparently the first English edition was printed a year earlier), and contains a wealth of beautiful fold-out plates and maps, including contemporary scenes from Denon's travels, plans of ruins, engravings of the monuments and reproductions of some of the art in the ruins and temples.  Contemporary half leather binding with marbled boards and edges. 392, 312, 366pp. Illustrated with 57 engraved plates and maps. 8vo (standard sized book). CONDITION: Good to Very Good. All volumes: Rubbing and edge wear to boards and spine. Hinges cracked. Front board of Volume 1 loose but not yet detached. Split to centre of spine of Volume 2, binding still okay. Missing 5 plates, but has 2 uncalled for. Some sunning to page. Varying foxing to pages and plates, some plate just at edges, others have some spots to plates themselves. A few plates have tape repairs to reverse. Scattered dirt spots to pages. In general a tidy set, all text pages present, and text clear and readable, foxing to margins of text pages only.

  4. First Edition (American) book by Gaston Maspero, "The Dawn of Civilization / Egypt and Chaldea", 1894 (400 images)

  5. First Edition (London) book by Joseph Pollard, "The Land of the Monuments: Notes of Egyptian Travel", 1896

  6. March, 1873 Harper's Weekly article by Rev. William Hayes Ward, "Our Debt to Cadmus: Hieroglyphics"

  7. Original British Museum booklets, "History of the Rosetta Stone", written by Wallis Budge. Printed by Harrison and Sons, London) -- Four editions: 1922, 1939, 1951,1974)

  8. "Ancient History: Egyptian..." by Charles Rollin, 1854

  9. "The Hebrew Bible, With Respect to Egypt" (incl. maps), by Robert, Lord Bishop of Clogher. Printed for J Warcus, London, 1760 (3rd Edition, Corrected), 493 pages, bound with full original full calf leather.

  10. "The Story of the Nations: Ancient Egypt", by George Rawlinson, First Edition, 1887, with many illustrations.

  11. French edition of "L' Archeologie Egyptienne" by Gaston Maspero, 1887. Rare, with many illustrations.

  12. Leeds, England newspaper article erroneously announcing the death of Napoleon in Egypt. Intriguing.

  13. The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte by J.G. Lockhart (1886), 496 pages with 9 tipped-in illustrations and many wood engravings. London: Bickers & Sons, Leicester Square. Faversham School Prize full calf binding with marbled endpapers and edges. Prize bookplate on pastedown. Portrait frontispiece slight foxing. Text, slight foxing. Slight foxing in prelims and last few pages, otherwise clean. Plates, lovely and luminous.

  14. Hand written letter (Nov. 5th, 1805) by the former Chief Ordonnateur (Director) of the French Army during the Napoleonic Egyptian Campaign.

  15. "Egyptian Antiquities", produced by the British Museum for the Library of Entertaining Knowledge, and published by Knight London in 1832, this is a splendid 2 volume, 12mo size work. The two volumes have full page and other engravings and have around 800 pages in total. Really detailed work on Egyptian monuments, Rosetta Stone, buildings, sculptures, tombs, papyrus, etc., etc. In the original half calf boards.

  16.
Rare Original French Text Book, copyright 1900 -- "L'Expedition de Bonaparte en Egypte", Written by L.A. Thiers, with introduction by C. Fabregou, published by D.C. Heath & Company. Most of the book is written in French, with some English translation in the back. 100 pages. It is an old college text book from Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA.

  17.
L’Egypte, by old French traveller/diplomat/student of Egypt, Gabriel Charmes, published by CALMAN LEVY, Rue Auber, Paris, France, 1891, Chapters include, in part -- Mariette Pacha, Les Etudes Egyptologiques en Egypte, Les Pyramides D’Ounas et de Meydoum, Dier-El-Bahari, L’Institut D’Archeologie Orientale Du Caire, and more. Very antique volume of 396 rich crispy style pages in its original Calmann Levy, ‘L’EGYPTE’ soft card covers as published.


Jean
Champollion
in Egypt

  18. Lettre Ecrites D'Egypte et de Nubie en 1828 et 1829, by Champollionn le Jeune (Letters Written in Egypt and Nubia in 1828 and 1829 by Francois Champollion) with all illustrations intact. This very, very rare First Edition by the translator of Egyptian Hieroglyphics is seldom seen on the open market. Most copies are in large University or Public library rare book collections. This work is an important insight into the early work of one of the Fathers of Egyptology. These are his own reflections and opinions regarding the monuments of Egypt. It is important to remember that Champollion only ever made one trip to Egypt as he died soon after his return. A great loss to the science of Egyptology.
-- Jean-Francois Champollion, a 10 year old child saw some of the Egyptian artifacts and enquired about the strange pictures (Hieroglyphs) where he was told that no one yet understands what these pictures means. Since that time Champollion committed himself to decipher the Hieroglyphs. By the age of 16 he became a professor mastering 10 languages at the same time. Champollion then compares the two cartouches of PTOLEMY & CLEOPATRA found on the Rosetta stone which contains similar characters. He continued deciphering more cartouches and texts from the temple of El Karnak. It took Champollion 24 years until he published his work in a book " Precis du systeme Hieroglyphique ". Sadly Champollion died by a stroke on 1832 when he was 41 years old.
 

-- Two extremely rare First Edition French volumes, "Complete Summary of Archaeology" by Jean Champollion-Figeac (Published in Paris, 1825 and 1826, just a few years after he cracked the code to hieroglyphics in 1822). Divided into volumes. First: Monuments of architecture, Sculpture and Painting, including/understanding constructions of any kind, the statues, low-reliefs, figurines, tombs, furnace bridges, vases painted, mosaic, etc...with an introduction historical and finished by a vocabulary divides into volumes. Second: Containing the treaties on the engraved stones, the inscriptions, the medals, the utensils crowned and common, movable, weapons, etc, followed by the biographies of the most famous antique dealers, archéologieque bibliography and of a vocabulary.

  19. Dr. Thomas Young is the man who undertook of deciphering hieroglyphics had perhaps the keenest scientific imagination and the most versatile profundity of knowledge of his generation — one is tempted to say, of any generation. Young was none other than the demonstrator of the vibratory nature of light. Thomas Young was born into 'comfortable circumstances' at Milverton, England on June 13, 1773, towards the end of a period known as the Intellectual Revolution. He matured into the Age of Romanticism among such contemporaries as the poets Wordsworth and Shelley, the composers Beethoven and Schubert, the philosophers Hegel and Schopenhauer, and his own scientific colleagues Fresnel, Avagadro, Oersted and Faraday. Young was a precocious child who could read fluently at the age of two and read widely the classics. He started Latin at six, was tutored privately at first but later attended private schools. By the time he was sixteen he was proficient in Greek and Latin and was well acquainted with eight other languages, classical and modern. By the age of eighteen he was recognized as a truly accomplished scholar. In 1792, at age nineteen, Young decided on a career in medicine. The following year he presented a paper before the Royal Society in which he attributed the accommodation of the eye to its muscular structure; he was elected one year later to membership of the Society. After completing his medical studies at Edinburgh and Göttingen, he returned to London to practice but continued his scholarly studies at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He became financially independent on the death of an uncle and that allowed him to pursue his real interests.

Some investigations on sound and light, which he carried out in 1798, likely formed the starting point for his theory of interference. In fact, his interests and contributions were so legion that he made some anonymously to avoid the charge that he was neglecting his professional duties! In 1801 Thomas Young was appointed professor of natural philosophy at the Royal Institution, which provided him the opportunity of presenting lectures to popular audiences. Apparently, his lectures were not well suited to this kind of audience, being designed more for the specialist that the layman. He was appointed foreign secretary to the Royal Society in 1802, a post that he held to the end of his life. He resigned his professorial position at the Royal Institution, feeling that his duties were affecting his medical career. The same year he received the MB degree from Cambridge, and five years later, the degree of MD. It was during this period that Young conducted his now-famous experimental investigations on light. In 1800 he published his Experiments on Sound and Light in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society and presented a detailed account of his theory of interference in the Bakerian Lecture On the Theory of Light and Colors in 1801 [2]. In another Bakerian Lecture in 1803 entitled Experiments and Calculations Relative to Physical Optics he summarized his observations on interference and added several new phenomena. The importance of his work was not apparent to his contemporaries and his principle of interference remained more or less obscure for another fourteen years, when it was 'rediscovered' by Fresnel. Young made other significant contributions to physical optics in the areas of double refraction and dispersion.


 Dr. Thomas Young (1773-1879)

Young had his attention called to the Rosetta Stone by accident around 1814, and his usual rapacity for knowledge at once led him to speculate as to the possible aid this tri-lingual inscription might give in the solution of Egyptian problems. Resolving at once to attempt the solution himself, he set to work to learn Coptic, which was rightly  believed to represent the nearest existing approach to the ancient Egyptian language. His amazing facility in the acquisition of languages stood him in such good stead that within a year of his first efforts he had mastered Coptic and assured himself that the ancient Egyptian language was really similar to it, and had even made a tentative attempt at the translation of the Egyptian scroll. His results were only tentative, to be sure. Yet they constituted the very beginnings of our knowledge regarding the meaning of hieroglyphics. Just how far they carried has been a subject of ardent controversy ever since.  Not that there is any doubt about the specific facts; what is questioned is the exact importance of these facts. For it is undeniable that Young did not complete and perfect the discovery, and, as always in such matters, there is opportunity for difference of opinion as to the share of credit due to each of the workers who entered into the discovery.

Dr. Thomas Young's specific discoveries were these: (1). that many of the pictures of the hieroglyphics stand for the names of  the  objects actually delineated; (2). that other pictures are sometimes only symbolic; (3). that plural numbers are represented by repetition; (4). that numerals are  represented by dashes; (5). that hieroglyphics may read either from the right or from the left, but always from the direction in which the animals and human figures face; (6). that proper names are surrounded by a graven oval ring, making what, he called a cartouche; (7). that the cartouches of the preserved portion of the Rosetta stone stand for the name of Ptolemy alone ; (8). that the presence of a female figure  after such cartouches,  in other inscriptions, always denotes the female sex; (9). that within the cartouches the hieroglyphic symbols have a positively phonetic value, either alphabetic or syllabic ; and (10).  that  several different characters may have the same phonetic value.

Just what these phonetic values are, Dr. Young pointed out in the case of fourteen characters, representing nine sounds, six of which are accepted to-day as correctly representing the letters to which he ascribed them, and the three others as being correct regarding their essential or consonantal element.  It is  clear,  therefore,  that  he  was  on  the right  track thus far, and on the very verge of complete discovery. But, unfortunately, he failed to take the next step, which would have been to realize that the same phonetic values given the alphabetic characters within the cartouches, were often ascribed to them also when used in the general text of an inscription; in other  words, that the use of an alphabet was not confined to proper names.  This was the great secret which Young missed, but which his French successor, Jean Francois Champollion, working on the foundation that Young had laid, was enabled to ferret out. Young's initial studies of the  Rosetta stone were made in 1814  his later publications bore date of 1819.  Champollion's first announcement of results came in 1822; his second and more important one in  1824.  By this time,  through study of the cartouches of other inscriptions, he had made out almost the  complete  alphabet,  and  the " Riddle  of the Sphinx " was practically solved.  He proved that the Egyptians had developed a relatively complete alphabet (mostly neglecting the vowels, as early Semitic alphabets did also) centuries before the Phoenicians were heard of in history.

  20. Hardbound Volume IV of  American Quarterly Review (September and December, 1828). This 546 page book contains reviews of historical, scientific, and travel literature published by Carey, Lea & Carey, Chesnut Street, Philadelphia; 546 pages. Twenty-six of those pages are dedicated to reviewing Jean Champollion's May/June 1827 article published in the Bulletin Universal entitled, "Apercu des Resultats Historiques de la decouverte de l'alphabete Hieroglyphique Egyptienne" par M. Champollion le Jeune.

  21. Magnificent extremely rare plate/print (one of 511 plates), expertly backed with linen, of Thutmose III from the monumental 1843 work of Jean Champollion, the first to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs (20" x 27").
-- Rare First Edition copy of "L'Univers Pittoresque. Egypte Ancienne" by M. Champollion-Figeac (Jean Champollion), Paris, Firmin Didot, 1839. It contains 92 illustrations and an antique folding map of Egypt. First few pages have some foxing, with the rest in excellent condition. 500 pp., & 92 plates,1/2 maroon morocco with 5 raised bands & leather label, marbled bds. & endpapers.-- Very scarce First Edition, Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum, 1862. Details 250 exhibits. Published by Smith, 196 pages. Excellent condition. In fact, it appears to be unread. Over 6 pages, with three diagrams, dedicated to the Rosetta Stone.

  22. Intriguing early 1900s glass slide of the Rosetta Stone by Moore, Bond &Co. (Chicago).

  23. Two Copper engravings (22"x9" -- Battle Plan for Alexandria and Map of Nile) titled, "Plan of the Action of the 21st. of March Fought near ALEXANDRIA, by the French under General Menou, and the English under Sir Ralph Abercrombie" and also "A Map of the Western Branch of the Nile from the Latest Authorities". Issued in 1803 as part of Robert Thomas Wilson's "History of the British Expedition to Egypt To which is Subjoined a Sketch of the Present State of That Country and its Means of Defence".

  24. A fine 1719 original, copperplate engraved views of the Pyramids and of the Sphinx, Giza, Egypt, with engraved cursive commentary as borders: Description des Piramides d'Egypte . . . Avec une Description tres Curieuse du Sphinx, from Chatelain, Henri Abraham, Atlas Historique..., Volume 6, Amsterdam: . First edition. Excellent condition, heavy paper, crisp dark impression; uncolored as always (any color seen in these images/maps is applied by modern hands.) Dimensions: 17 1/2" x 21 1/4" (overall);

  25. This collection has 82 extremely rare original plates/prints ( from "Description de l'Égypte" from the Napoleonic Egyptian Campaign, circa 1820. These official plates/prints came from a huge lot sold in an auction in 2001, Paris -- the seller was the French Government -- from the cellars of the French Government Publications Office. Average plate/print size is 29 inches x 22 inches. Some of the plates in this collection are 56 inches long! --  (Description de l'Égypte was the result of the collaboration of prominent scholars, several famous European scientists, cartographers, topographers, and more than 160 artists and technicians. They accompanied Napoleon's army during Napoleon's expedition to Egypt in 1798. Their goal was to methodically collect information in areas as widely varied as architecture, geography, botany and the humanities. Description de l'Égypte was published in 23 volumes from 1809 to 1828 and includes over 900 plates.)   Regions depicted/represented by the official plates in this collection are: Thebes, Karnak, El Kab, Medynet-Abou, Hypogees, Elethyia, Heptanomide, Beny-Hasan, Tentyris, Memnonium, Byban El Molouk, Latopolis, Ile de Philae, Edfou, Louqsor and much, much more...


Description de l'Égypte:
Official plates/prints
previously owned by the
French Government.

  26. Maps of Egypt: -- Clouet (1768) -- Wilkinson (1796) -- Mallet (1719) --

  27. A ten inch plate made in Stockton-on-Tees by William Smith & Co. between 1825 and 1855 commemorating Napoleon Bonaparte’s campaign in Egypt that lasted from 1798 to 1801. The plate is transfer printed with what seems to be hand coloring under the glaze. It has no damage or crazing but there is minute bubbling of the transfer and glaze at the edges, which then goes over to the back of the plate much of the way around to varying degrees. The impressed mark reads 44 W. S. & Co. Wedgewood (Yorkshire) and this could indicate that the plate was made in 1844.

  28. Very rare Ancient Egyptian Statue of Queen Tiye. Origin: Upper Egypt (1415-1340 B.C.). Dimensions: Height: 6", Width: 5", Depth: 6". This statue was purchased from bona fide dealer in upper Egypt. This celebrated Nubian queen was the beloved and honored wife of Amen-Hetep III, who was one of the world's mightiest Pharaohs and conquerors. King Amen-Hetep III, had a very deep and unusual affection for Queen Tiye. In addition to the usual titles of a King's wife, Tiye is described as "Royal" daughter and "Royal" sister, when she was neither the daughter or the sister of a king, but of parents who were not of royal lineage. The full queenly titles which Tiye held in common with the great heiress princesses of Egypt, were bestowed on her by Amen-Hetep III, and were honorary. Although Tiye was a girl of common birth, she was a person of very strong character. Evident from records, she was a beautiful young Black queen. A woman of great intellect, ability, and a powerful influence. She shared the crown with her husband as though she had been its lineal heiress. Queen Tiye had such an important part in the affairs of Egypt, that foreign diplomats often appealed directly to her in matters affecting certain international relations. Queen Tiye was a full-blooded African. Although there is no hard evidence to support it, some believe that her son, Akhenaton and his wife, Nefertiti are thought to be the parents of King Tutankhamen, who is also known as "King Tut." As a symbol of the love Amen-Hetep III, had for Queen Tiye, he declared that so she was treated in life as his equal, she would be depicted in death. At the time of her death, she was given a full "Royal" burial.

   29. Very rare L'expédition d'Égypte, 1798-1801, par Clément de Lajonquière. Five large volumes in wraps, total of about 3400 pages! (1902, 2nd edition). Among the campaigns of the revolution, consigning Egypt is both one of the most popular and less well known. Thus began the monumental work of Clement Draveurs (Clément de La Jonquière). Published (about 100 years after the Napoleonic military campaign) from 1899 to 1907 under the auspices of the History Section of the État de l'Armée, Paris, he tells one of the most extraordinary adventures of the revolutionary period. Many testimonies, more or less reliable contemporaries; also numerous texts on the science of "oriental dream." The work of Georges Rigault on the last leg of the expedition to Egypt and those of Pierre de La Grèverie on Regiment Dromadaires round off the work of a master in the final volume.
Vol. I: 673 p., Vol. II: 632 p., Vol. III: 720 p., Vol. IV: 688 p., Vol. V: 692 p. A complete set. With numerous foldout maps. Vol. I: A rebinding copy. Rear cover missing, backstrip missing parts and frayed. Shaken. Internally excellent: text leaves clean and neat. Vol. II: Missing front wrap cover, else in excellent condition – tight and clean. Vol. III: a Very Good volume. Tight and clean with some wear to covers. Vol. IV: A rebinding volume – shaken, backstrip cracked. Covers off and frayed. Internally clean and neat. Vol. V: A Very Good volume. Tight and clean. Covers with some wear and leaves somewhat yellowed. A remarkable complete set.
  BACKGROUND:
(translated from French) In 1797, after the victory early, and unexpected, Napoleon in Italy, England remains the main enemy. One can oppose it either by attempting an invasion, either by intervening on its links with India. The conquest by Bonaparte of Ionian Islands in August 1797 opened the way to the Orient and reanimate the idea of conquest of Egypt, which would allow the opening of the Isthmus of Suez, thus controlling of a more commercial path runs to the riches of India. As a first step, in January and February 1798, the policy of the Executive moves to the invasion. Bonaparte examines all possibilities of invasion from ports in the north, the troops are assembled, a fleet is formed, but the operation seems far too risky and it is abandoned. But we must fight against England, and incidentally get rid of a Bonaparte too. Talleyrand, confirmed his analysis by the intervention of Magallon, will therefore attempt Eastern map. The decision to intervene in Egypt was taken on March 5, 1798. On August 22, 1799, Bonaparte, after the unfortunate expedition to Syria, even Egypt, called for new targeted France.He left the expedition under the command of Kleber, which does little to maintain in Egypt. But Kleber is totally convinced of the importance of scientific work, which continues, despite the setbacks and delays of the policy. It creates Similarly, on November 19, 1799 a commission to study more particularly modern Egypt. On Nov. 22, 1799, he took the decision to consolidate all the work of scholars of the commission in a unique work, the Description of Egypt. Kleber enters into negotiations with the British and the Ottomans, to evacuate honorably and Egypt to participate in military actions in Europe. An agreement was concluded on January 23, 1800 for the return in France, but its implementation is not possible, given the internal divisions among English, the sultan of procrastination and the resumption of hostilities in Egypt. After the victory of Heliopolis Kléber on the Ottomans, March 20, 1800, there is no question of return, but the morale of the troops, such as scholars rose. Unfortunately, on June 14, 1800, when the victory of Marengo, Kléber was assassinated in Cairo. The General Menou, being the oldest in the highest rank succeeded him as head of the army. Any momentum had been able to restore Kléber members of the expedition despite the failure of the draft back, disappears with him. Until the final departure to France, scholars no longer leave little near the Cairo and Alexandria in order to be ready to leave at the first opportunity. However Menou continues the work of reorganization and modernization begun by Bonaparte and continued by Kleber. To him we owe the fact that the publication of the description will not be provided by private funds but rather by the state, so that is recognized and sanctioned the importance of the work done by scholars. After many tribulations, scholars, gathered in Alexandria, obtain permission to leave Egypt on May 13, 1801, but the English do not want to pass up, unless they abandon all material collected during the exploration and their notes and sketches. The negotiations, sometimes tragic, lasting several months and it was not until September that the first members of the committee may leave Egyptian soil, having left in the hands of English the heaviest items that they had found, including the famous Rosetta Stone.

  30. First American edition (1815) of Travels by Edward Daniel Clarke, LLD (1769-1822), English mineralogist. Clarke was an accomplished traveler of considerable reputation. Travels In The Various Countries of Europe , Asia , and Africa. Part II, Section II, Volume III Greece , Egypt , and the Holy Land. The First American Edition. Published By Jacob Gillet, New York, 1815. Hardcover. Cloth Binding. Stamped Binding Decoration . 4.5" x 7" xii + 285 Pages. This book is a single volume of his Travels, containing Experiences in Egypt , plus the Greek Aegean Islands of Kos , Rhodes , Patmos , Naxos , Paros , etc.

  BACKGROUND: Edward Daniel Clarke, a Fellow of Jesus College at Cambridge University, together with a friend visited Egypt in 1801. There a war between the Napoleonic forces and the British was going on. So when news reached Cairo on the 31st August about a treaty being negotiated in Alexandria, Clarke hurried to inform the British commander in Egypt, general Hutchinson, about the information Carlo Rosetti, the imperial consul, had told him about Egyptian antiquities to be shipped from Alexandria to France.
After the capitulation of Alexandria, Clarke was of considerable use in securing for England the statues, sarcophagi, maps, manuscripts, etc., which had been collected by the French savants.

  31. The Annual Register for 1799.  The Napoleonic war was in full swing, French in central Egypt, battle of El-Arisch, Gaza, Jaffa, but pushed back at Acre (with an account of the siege of Acre), French arrive back in Cairo, loss of the French army in Syria, famous battle of Aboukir in Europe, French cross the Rhine many actions described throughout Europe, an important year in the war full reported many dispatches, state papers.  A large volume of 828 pages. 1st edition of 1800.
-- The Annual Register for 1800, 738 pages plus contents section, history as it happened written by people who were there.  The Napoleonic war was in full swing, Napoleon returns from Egypt to wide acclaim, a splendid feast is given in his honor, the new constitution gives him unbounded power, Britain rejects Napoleon’s overture of peace, the Royalists in France finally lay down their arms, siege of Geneva, Napoleon marches his army across the Alps, takes Milan with the decisive Battle of Maringo, the French cross the Rhine, Munich taken.  At home in Britain prison riots, bread riots, Malta and Curacao taken by the British, English fleet reaches Cadiz.  Plus many items from the London Gazette, plus all the usual state papers, natural history, useful projects, antiquities etc. 1st edition of 1801.

BACKGROUND:
The Annual Register first published in 1758. Sir Edmund Burke was an early editor and principal contributor, still widely recognized as the most valuable record of historical and political events, the most accurate accounts you can find, still used today as a reference by modern historians.  Living history written as it happened by people who were there.  Most of the military and naval articles are in the form of first hand dispatches from Officers in the field covering every conflict worldwide.  Each volume is presented in sections, History of Europe for the year, Monthly Chronicle, State Papers, Characters, Natural History, Useful Projects, Antiquities, Poetry and Review of books.  The section titled "The Monthly Chronicle" is of particular value to genealogists as it brings together news stories from all over the United Kingdom and Europe. Accidents, fires, explosions, riots, murder, robbery, important trials are all detailed throughout the year.  A fascinating snapshot of the years news. Life as it really was. Living history at its best.

  32. Much, much more...
 


Climbing the Great Pyramid, 1899 (Stereoview)

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