JG Wilkinson - Modern Egypt and Thebes - 1843

John Gardner Wilkinson
Modern Egypt and Thebes : Being a Description of Egypt, Including the Information Required for Travellers in that Country. Volume 1.
John Murray, London, 1843

xx, 476 pages, illustrations, folded map, errata ; 8vo

Modern Egypt and Thebes is a work by Sir John Gardner Wilkinson, one of the founders of British Egyptology. Originally a two-volume set (the second volume being focused on Thebes), it stands as both a pioneering travel guide and an early scholarly survey of Egypt’s geography, antiquities, and culture at a time when the country was only beginning to open to Western travelers.

John Gardner Wilkinson (1797–1875) was a pioneering English Egyptologist often called the father of British Egyptology. He documented ancient Egyptian sites, art, and daily life with exceptional accuracy during extensive travels in the 1820s–30s.

Wilkinson had spent more than a decade in Egypt between 1821 and 1833, exploring sites from Alexandria to Nubia and meticulously recording hieroglyphic inscriptions, architecture, and local customs. By the time he published Modern Egypt and Thebes, he was already well known for his earlier Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians (1837), which had brought the ancient civilization vividly to life for a general readership. His new book turned attention to the Egypt of his own day—offering both a detailed description of the country and a practical manual for scholars, diplomats, and adventurous tourists who wished to follow in his footsteps.

The work covers every aspect of the land and its people. Wilkinson describes the Nile’s course, the Delta and its agricultural life, the streets and monuments of Cairo, the great temples of Upper Egypt, and the ruins of Thebes (which form the core of the second volume). He also discusses the logistics of travel, local customs, religious practices, climate, trade, and the social conditions of Egyptians under Ottoman rule. The inclusion of folding maps, engraved plates, and site plans gave readers a visual sense of a landscape that, for most, could only be imagined.

As one of the earliest comprehensive English-language accounts of modern Egypt written by someone with archaeological training, the work occupies a significant place in the development of both Egyptology and travel literature. It predates the famous Murray and Baedeker guidebooks that would later dominate nineteenth-century travel and reflects a transitional moment when scientific curiosity, imperial exploration, and romantic fascination with the Orient all converged. Wilkinson’s measured tone and reliance on firsthand observation also distinguish it from the more fanciful travel writing of his contemporaries.

Today, Modern Egypt and Thebes remains a valuable historical source. It captures Egypt at a moment of rapid change, before large-scale archaeological excavations, steam navigation on the Nile, and mass tourism transformed the country. Scholars still consult it for its early documentation of monuments and for insight into nineteenth-century perceptions of Egypt. The book also reflects the complex interplay between Western scholarship and colonial attitudes, offering a window into how the British understood and represented Egypt in the decades before the Suez Canal and formal imperial involvement.

Volume 1 only (the second volume is dedicated to the area of ancient Thebes).
Hardcover, rebound in green cloth with label on spine. Minor wear. Modest foxing.

PS: I'll ship the book carefully packaged in bubble wrap, via An Post, the Irish Postal Service ("Registered Post, Tracking, Insurance included to protect your valuable items"). I will provide the tracking number once dispatched.