Bücher von Henry Salt

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Appointed Britain's consul-general in Egypt in 1815, Henry Salt (1780-1827) involved himself deeply in the excavation of several historic sites and the collection of numerous antiquities. The most notable of these, found at Thebes, was the colossal bust of Rameses II which was acquired by the British Museum and is believed to have inspired Shelley's 'Ozymandias'. This 1825 publication, featuring Salt's careful reproductions and explanations of various inscriptions, made a valuable contribution to the understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphics. Following the innovative work on the Rosetta Stone carried out by Thomas Young, and the celebrated decipherment presented in 1822 by Jean-Francois Champollion, Salt helped to further elucidate the hieroglyphic alphabet, although later research has disproved some of his conclusions. A postscript notes how Champollion's 1824 Precis du systeme hieroglyphique des anciens Egyptiens (also reissued in this series) confirms several names of Egyptian gods and pharaohs which Salt had independently deciphered.