With booksellers from New York, London and from up country Victoria, Sydney and Adelaide plus my own small stall you can almost feel the buzz looking at our videos of the event.

I am pleased to say I met some really nice people at the fare and picked up several new customers who I have been able to help with their collecting. It was nice also to see many young people mostly students coming in from the University and sitting down and chatting about their own collecting.

I hope very much to see you next year at the Melbourne ANZAAB rare book fair, maybe you should book your tickets now. Once again we will be having a rare book week with many interesting events all around Melbourne. The dates are 26th-28th of July 2013. (40th ANZAAB RARE BOOK FAIR). We will also be having a fair in Sydney later next year.

Details: Melbourne, 27 – 29 July 2012 Wilson Hall, University of Melbourne Fri 27 July 6.30pm – 10pm / Sat 28 July 10am – 5pm / Sunday 29 July 10am – 5pm

Ankh Antiquarian Books will be offering a rare presentation edition of Pettigrew’s Egyptian Mummies 1834 with a note to the recipient, signed by the author. A complete set of William Matthew Flinders Petrie’s A History of Egypt. William Rae Wilson’s, Travels in Egypt and the Holy Land, a copy formerly owned by Prime Minister Robert Peel in excellent condition. A very early book on Napoleon’s arrival to St Helena on the Northumberland 1816, a very early children’s book, 1725, Children of God and two books on British Israelites and a Lepsius. Some very good signed editions, and some wonderful David Roberts plates from Egypt and the Holy Land will also feature.

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The Egypt Exploration Society (EES) has been working in Egypt since 1882. For over 120 years the Society has been making all aspects of the culture of ancient and historic Egypt (to 1900 AD) better known to the public. Their fieldwork and research is undertaken in Egypt itself and the results of this work are made available through their website, publications, and through events held in London and Cairo.

The Society is a registered UK charity and relies on subscriptions and donations to fund its work. Membership is open to anyone with an interest in ancient Egypt. If you have any questions regarding the EES please feel free to contact me.

Range: The science of Egyptology commenced in the late 18th century, when Napoleonic troops entered Egypt, fought the Battle of the Embabeh and General Bonaparte, observing the Pyramids, famously stated ‘Comrades, forty centuries look down upon us’. Napoleon included savants (learned men) in his Egyptian entourage, who described what they saw. This became the famous Description de la Egypte which spurred an interest in Egyptology in Europe. Through the savants’ work and the discovery of the famous Rosetta Stone, the Frenchman, Champollion, was able to directly translate Egyptian hieroglyphics for the first time.

Eventually, the English took control of Egypt and opened it to the world. Early tourist/explorer, Englishwoman Amelia Edwards, travelled in Egypt and penned the famous and very collectable A 1000 Miles up the Nile. Edwards founded the Egypt Exploration Fund (later the Egypt Exploration Society) in 1882.

The modern science of Egyptology and, to a large extent, Archaeology developed from these beginnings. From the early, technical books to travel classics like 1000 Miles up the Nile, Egyptological publications developed over the next 150 years into the plethora of good, general books we know and love today.

Availability: Most good booksellers have small Egyptian sections. However, there are a few specialist dealers (like Ankh Antiquarian Books, the Australian representative of the Egypt Exploration Society [UK]) which stock a more complete range of books on Egypt. Most people start with either Tutankhamen or the Pyramids and then broaden out into wherever their interests take them. A great area to collect in is the Amarna period of the Pharaoh Akhenaten and his queen, Nefertiti. Other favourites are Hatshepsut and Cleopatra VIII. There are journal reports, novels, art, tombs, mummies, animals, hieroglyphics, literature, modern Egypt, the Turkish occupation, architecture, early photography; really all sorts of areas you can explore within this subject.

Price-range: Books priced as low as $10 are common, but a fine set of the Description de la Egypt would cost you around $200,000. The average price for a very good first edition of 1000 Miles up the Nile is about $650. Depending on rarity, most good quality, collectable books in excellent condition would fall within the $120–$250 price range. With time, books on Egyptology do gain in value and can be an excellent investment, with a steady market of interested buyers.

Footnote: Ankh Antiquarian Books actively promotes Australian Egyptological and Ancient History societies. In Melbourne, courses are offered at Monash University (in Egyptology) and at Latrobe University (in Archaeology). In Sydney, Macquarie University has a large Egyptology faculty. For further information contact Ankh Antiquarian Books.

Here at Ankh Antiquarian Books we offer personal service and a great range of books and gifts to put the “Ankh” into your Tutankhamun experience. 

On another note if you are considering purchasing a subscription to KMT or Minerva magazines then Ankh Antiquarian Books is still the place for the lowest price for these magazines in Australia.  Some Australian bookshops border on the extreme in pricing their magazines and its nice to know you can still get value for money from a small boutique bookshop. 

I am sure that we are in for an exciting year of Egyptology in Melbourne and I look forward very much in welcoming new customers and old to enjoy visiting Ankh Antiquarian Books.

Please call, e-mail or phone and make an appointment to visit our specialist boutique establishment.

Call: 0398881990 or 0419395782

OR

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