The Book of The Dead: The Hieroglyphic Transcript of the Papyrus of ANI, the Translation into English and an Introduction by E.A. Wallis Budge, Late Keeper of the Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities in the British Museum VG gm cat2

New Hyde Park, NY: University Books Bell Publishing Company, 1960. Reprint. Hardcover. VG Very Good/No Dust Jacket. Jumbo octavo, [23cm/9.25inche], full chrome-embossed navy-blue cloth sans dust jacket, pp. xiv, 704, indexed. Please feel free to inquire as to particulars and/or additional photographs. ... The Papyrus of Ani is a papyrus manuscript in the form of a scroll with cursive hieroglyphs and color illustrations that was created c. 1250 BCE, during the Nineteenth Dynasty of the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt. Egyptians compiled an individualized book for certain people upon their death, called the Book of Going Forth by Day, more commonly known as the Book of the Dead, typically containing declarations and spells to help the deceased in their afterlife. The Papyrus of Ani is the manuscript compiled for the Theban scribe Ani. Sir Ernest Budge, (1857–1934), was an Egyptologist, attached to the British Museum who made numerous trips to Egypt and the Sudan on behalf of the museum to buy antiquities, and  contributed substantially to its collection of cuneiform tablets, manuscripts, and papyri. In 1920, he was knighted for his service to Egyptology and the British Museum.  ...  Budge was also interested in the paranormal, and believed in spirits and hauntings. He had a number of friends in the Ghost Club (British Library, Manuscript Collections, Ghost Club Archives), a group in London committed to the study of alternative religions and the spirit world. He told his many friends stories of hauntings and other uncanny experiences. Many people in his day who were involved with the occult and spiritualism after losing their faith in Christianity were dedicated to Budge's works, particularly his translation of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Such writers as the poet William Butler Yeats and James Joyce studied and were influenced by this work of ancient religion. Budge's works on Egyptian religion have remained consistently in print since they entered the public domain. Budge was a member of the literary and open-minded Savile Club in London, proposed by his friend H. Rider Haggard in 1889, and accepted in 1891. He was a much sought-after dinner guest in London, his humorous stories and anecdotes being famous in his circle. He enjoyed the company of the well-born, many of whom he met when they brought to the British Museum the scarabs and statuettes they had purchased while on holiday in Egypt. Budge never lacked for an invitation to a country house in the summer or to a fashionable townhouse during the London season. Agatha Christie's Murder in Mesopotamia, was influenced by the exploits of her husband, Sir Max Mallowan, who was later employed by the British Museum as a field director of several expeditions in the Near East.




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