BUDGE, E.A. Wallis

BUDGE, E.A. Wallis. The Book of The Dead. The papyrus of the Ani in the British Museum

 

Published by the British Museum 1895, London

 

 

 

SOLD

 

 

 

FIRST EDITION of Text volume. Large 4° (33 x 25.4 cm), clv, p. 377.  Original half green morocco covers detached. Discreet library stamp on title “presented by the trustees of the British Museum”. Internally very clean with occasional minimal foxing only.

The Papyrus of Ani is a papyrus scroll manuscript dated to c. 1250 BCE with cursive hieroglyphs and colour illustrations. According to Ancient Egyptian customs an individualised book was compiled for high ranking individuals upon their death, commonly known as the Book of the Dead, which contained spells and declarations that would help in the afterlife. The Papyrus of Ani was compiled for a Theban scribe named Ani. Sir E. A. Wallis Budge discovered the scroll, stole it from an Egyptian government storeroom and sent it to the Principal Librarian of the British Museum.