Vintage Egypt: Cruising The Nile in The Golden Age of Travel [Hardcover]

Alain Blottiere (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 2003

As wealthy tourists descended upon Egypt in the early-twentieth-century, a well-heeled jet set emerged in Cairo and Alexandria. Period photographs celebrate the glamour: a Bugatti at the foot of the pyramids, high tea served in jasmine-draped gardens. . .


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Men in white suits and Panama hats, women with perfectly set bobs, billboards for Hennessy cognac, palm trees and camels: Egypt in the first half of the 20th century had an allure that felt European but was distinctly exotic. This intriguing book shows what life was like for the privileged classes in Cairo and Alexandria during the British occupation. Blottiere, a Frenchman who has written novels and nonfiction works on Egypt, assembles an amazing array of many previously unpublished photographs of private homes, museums, landscapes and street scenes. Black & white or sepia-toned, the photographs depict such snapshots as a picnic in a palm grove in the early 1900s, a 1920s costume party in Cairo and the crew of the film Fires of Fate standing in the Temple of Luxor in 1923. Blottiere offers varying commentary for each image, sometimes giving background, other times simply stating the subject, photographer and year. Brief essays shed light on the era's conflicting undertones of glamour and political fragility.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

A new paperback edition of this tribute to the "golden years" of cosmopolitan Egypt.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: Flammarion (November 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 2080108883
• ISBN-13: 978-2080108883
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 1 x 10.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,064,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful look at Egypt through old photos, December 25, 2010

By 

James D. Crabtree "Doc Crabtree" (Fort Leavenworth, Kansas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vintage Egypt: Cruising the Nile in the Golden Age of Travel (Paperback)

This book is a collection of photographs from 1900 to 1960 but with special emphasis on the 1930s. It shows some sites which today are unrecognizable because of urban sprawl and modern construction. This book is the closest thing you will find to a time machine to take you back to an Egypt that was not yet overrun with tourists or has the threat of Islamofascism hanging over it. I absolutely loved it!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous!, January 19, 2011

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A. Gift - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vintage Egypt: Cruising the Nile in the Golden Age of Travel (Paperback)

The photos are beautiful and I am in love with this book. It truly captures the era and gives the feel for what it was like for tourist traveling to Egypt during this time.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars astonishing !, March 17, 2007

By 

Omar Alqayyeh "bookmania" (amman jordan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vintage Egypt: Cruising The Nile in The Golden Age of Travel (Hardcover)

i love egypt so i read any book written about it but you rarely can find a book like this one . this beautiful photos returns you to the golden era , to the glorious days of twenties and thirties when egypt was ruled by the mohmmed ali royal family . so impressed by it . you will never regret buying this book espesialy arab readers and egyptians .