The Illustrated Guide to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo

The Illustrated Guide to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, edited by Alessandro Bongioanni and Maria Sole Croce.  Paperback book published by The American University in Cairo Press 2001, 632 pages.

At the moment, here in Victoria, there is a bit of Egyptological mania going on… no, we aren’t building pyramids and no, we aren’t removing peoples brains through their noses …at least, not that I’m aware of.  The Melbourne Museum (it’s in Melbourne… and it’s a museum), has been lucky enough to exhibit the exhibition entitled “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs”.  I think this is what is known as a blockbuster exhibition.  Everyone’s going.  Some of my family went the other day and even with prebooked tickets they waited in line for more than an hour to get in… I think this gives you an idea on how popular this exhibition is.

So I think now is a good time to try and sell this guide to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.  Now is when Egypt fever is happening… six months from now it will be a distant memory… a bit like ancient Egypt.  Sure, this guide book is not going to be much help here in Melbourne, Victoria… at least, I don’t think they brought EVERYTHING over… but it should get all those Tutankhamun fans hyped and ready for the big event.  The excellent photographs and brief descriptions, are also perfect if you would rather sit at home and avoid the demonstrations, riots and general unrest (… that’s in Egypt… not Melbourne…), or the crowds (in Melbourne).  Of course anyone buying this book could actually use it in Cairo as intended.  Apparently if you do go to the Museum (not the one in Melbourne) not much is labeled in English and this guide book is the thing you want in your hand when looking at very dead people and their stuff. 

Anyway, I’ve written about this now because it’s topical here at the moment.  Recently I’ve sold a number of books on this subject.  Over the past 2 years I’ve become a little more selective in my ancient history purchases as this subject doesn’t seem to sell as well as I think I should.  Maybe now with all this interest and hype, things will change.