Customer Reviews

Egypt (Explorers & Artists)

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This book gives great colour reproductions of each of David Roberts prints from his 1842 edition of "egypt and Nubia". Each print out of these collectors editons are produced in sequence, along with notes from his diary. The author of this book has also included notes on each temple/monument and it's history. Alongside David Roberts prints are modern colour photos showing the same site today.

This is an illuminating book. It shows how much the egyptian monuments have changed in the last 150 years. Not always for the better. The island of philae is shown with it's monuments all brightly coloured with the orginal paint. Today they have been stripped bare back to the stone by the waters of the Aswan dam.

Many of the monuments Roberts shows in here are partially covered by sand and it is interesting to see how different they look when they have been fully excavated, or in the case of the nubian monuments - quite literally picked up and moved.

For anybody interested in ancient egypt, 19th century travel or lovely monumental art this book is a must. This is also the best place to see these prints for most people as the cost of the original prints these days is wildly expensive. You get the beauty without the cost...

As a lover of Egyptian history and of the works of the 19th century artist, David Roberts, this book shows the before and after of these ancient sites after excavation as never seen before. The wonderful and romantic images from Roberts as were first seen when he travelled to Egypt, are contrasted with current photographs of the same sites. Although saving these monuments to the ancient past is most important to the world , one can't help but to wish to come upon these wonders when Roberts captured them in his drawings. Truely a must for anyone who has been to Egypt, or simply wants to arm travel through history.A large book with full color plates.

This is a wonderful souvenir of Egypt, even if you haven't actually been there.

I picked up this book in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo last week while on a trip there. Of course it is cheaper on Amazon, but the shipping would have killed me as I live out of the country now.

The highlight, apart from the obvious beauty of the lithographs, is we can see what the temples were like just a couple hundred years ago. Startling features of the `then' drawings include how the temples were only partly excavated although flush with colorful painting still on the columns and glyphs. Roberts also included portraits of the Egyptian in the temples illustrating the costumes of the time and lending proper perspective to the grandiosity of the structures.

After just having finished a 10-day tour of Egypt, I long to go back in time to see the temples the way Roberts had. The `now' pictures offer the contrasting full excavation, but also the diminished color and detail of their painting as they stand today.

I bought this book on my last day in Cairo, holding off purchasing anything until I found THE thing and after surveying all of the other available books on Egypt, not just in the museum bookshop, but in all of the books shops I encountered. This is by far the most beautiful and memorable souvenir one could have. If you haven't been but have any interest in Egypt's beauty and mystery this book will suit you just as well as the seasoned traveler.

What it lacks in factual information (not the book's focus) it makes up for by capturing the imagination of not only an ancient time gone by, but also a more recent past of true exploration no longer available to us in the global village.

Landscape artist David Roberts has captured during his trip to Egypt in 1838 and 1839 some wonderful lithographs which rendered him famous. In this book are presented in chronological order 120 plates, accompanied by modern photographs by Antonio Attini, a short explanation and excerpts from Roberts' journal. The life of this lithographer is summarized, highlighting his most important achievements. A beautiful book for all to own.

This is a most amazing book, it has both water colours and photos of the sights of Ancient Egypt. As a reminder of a special holiday or a factual account it is the best. The size of the book makes it prominent coffee table book and easy to just pick up and dip into another wondeful page.

I had seen this book in a Cairo hotel lounge and loved it! So, I made sure to write down title, author, SSN #, etc. in order to find it at our local bookstore when we returned home. Yeupp... it was $95.00! I was thrilled when I found it online for a fraction of that cost so I ordered two. Both arrived in a very short period of time in perfect condition so I would use this vendor again. This was the identical book as in Cairo except that it had been printed by a different publisher. Fabulous artist, good commentary -- one of the most interesting that I've seen on Egypt. It's strictly a "coffee table" book rather than a long treatise on ancient Egyptian structures so this lets your mind wander to a time when the Egyptian antiquities were being re-discovered by the European cultures in the 1800's. The addition of current day photos makes an interesting comparison.

This book is no more available in France (I'm from Paris), and I saw some sketches of David Roberts a trip in Aswan, so wished discover his work. I am delighted with this book. The high quality of printing, the intersting texts (even for a french citizen) are what was expecting. The most spectacular sketches are those of Isis temple that show the paintings on columns and ceiling nowadays disapeared. It is also fascinating to see the evolution of egyptian civilisation from 19th century and today, regarding way of life and architecture.
In one word : thank you mister Roberts.

Many books on David Robert's are small or not generous enough to allow you full scope to enjoy his paintings or they focus on his Levantine paintings.

This book is probably the best around that is not to expensive but gives you a feel for his grand Egyptian paintings. Some really nice ones of Sphinx, pyramids and also some of the lesser temples feature. The only other book which is now out of print that deals with this subject well is Peter Clayton's the Re-discovery of Ancient Egypt. Thames and Hudson.

As in the previous Roberts books, this format of a real-life photograph side by side with the artist's rendering of the same scene gives the reader a very reflective perspective into the Ancient World.

This is a most interesting and beautifully photograph and drawn comparison of ancient and modern Egypt of David Roberts Lithographs. This book is for anyone interested in Egypt. A beautiful coffee table book