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Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries within the Pyramids, Temples, Tombs, and Excavations, in Egypt and Nubia; and of a Journey to the Coast of the Red Sea, in Search of the Ancient Berenice; and another to the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon, with Plates Illustrative of the Researches and Operations of G. Belzoni in Egypt and Nubi; and of a Journey to the Coast of the Red Sea, in Search of The Ancient Berenice; and Another to The Oasis of Jupiter Ammon, By G. Belzoni, John Murray, London, 1820, First Edition. frontispiece + folding map, 533 pp, original calf, 11 x 9 , 4to. In fair condition. Ex-library of Ambassador College Library in Pasadena, California. Joints and spine have been poorly repaired with brown library tape. Original spine has been laid over top of tape. Spine slightly abraded and worn with red rot at the edges and ends. Burnish mark on front board right edge. Likely an ink stain? Numerous scratch marks to surface of the covers with rubbing to corners and edges. Corners bumped with loss of leather. Lovely decorative tooling to edges of boards. Front gutter repaired poorly with library tape as well. Light offsetting from frontis to title. Interior good with light toning and minor instance of foxing. Free of known marginalia. Binding remains intact. Folding plate in rear in good working order without tears. Lacking 44 plates. Please see photos. Giovanni Battista Belzoni (1778-1823) sometimes known as The Great Belzoni, was a prolific Italian explorer and pioneer archaeologist of Egyptian antiquities. He is best known for his removal to England of the seven-ton bust of Ramesses II, the clearing of sand from the entrance of the great temple at Abu Simbel, the discovering and documentation of the tomb of Seti I in 1817, including the Sarcophagus of Seti I, and the first to penetrate into the Pyramid of Khafre, the second pyramid of the Giza complex. From the text 156-157pp, A traveller is generally satisfied when he has seen the large hall, the gallery, the staircase, and as far as he can conveniently go: besides, he is taken up with the strange works he observes cut in various places, and painted on each side of the walls; so that when he comes to a narrow and difficult passage, or to have to descend to the bottom of a well or cavity, he decides taking such trouble… Of some of these tombs many persons could not withstand the suffocating air, which often causes fainting. A vast quantity of dust rises, so fine that it entered into the throat and nostrils, and chokes the nose and mouth to such a degree, that it requires great power of lungs to resist it and the strong effluvia of the mummies… but what a place of rest! Surrounded by bodies, by heaps of mummies in all directions; which, previous to my being accustomed to the sight, impressed me with horror. I could taste that the mummies were rather unpleasant to swallow… I sought a resting-place, found one, and contrived to sit; but when my weight bore on the body of an Egyptian, it crushed it like a band-box… I sunk altogether among the broken mummies, with a crash of bones, rags, and wooden cases, whcih raised such a dust as kept me motionless for a quarter of an hour. I could not pass without putting my face in contact with that of some decayed Egyptian. I could not avoid being covered with bones, legs, arms, and heads rolling from above… 1st edition of the great Padovan explorer Belzoni on the archeological discoveries of Egypt and Nubia. RAREB1820OTZR - 02/23 RAREB1820OTYR - 10/24 - HKREV187. Seller Inventory # RAREB1820OTYR
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