The Egyptian Amduat: The Book of the Hidden Chamber [Anglais] [Relié]

I am also confused as to why the book was reviewed in such a negative light.. sloppy and disappointment are certainly not words I would use to describe this publication, not even close. This book has a nice heft to it, it is printed on quality paper, very sturdy dust jacket, the hardcover is a beautiful emerald color with silver metallic font, and the layout inside is quite pleasing, black font and color pictures. I am currently building a library on ancient Egypt, and I was specifically looking for photos of the actual chamber walls of Thutmosis III, and this is the only book so far that I have found containing them. It displays photos of each of the hours, all three registers, and while the pictures are smaller than what you see in the some of the larger Egyptology tomes (the book does measure 9x6), I am able to clearly identify all of the hieroglyphs and images on the walls. I use a magnifying glass for some of the tighter spots in the photos, but I think that kind of adds an extra dimension of fun and mystery to the text. There are also ink diagrams or schemas of each of the hours, and the glyphs are laid out nicely with the transliteration directly underneath, and the English translation below that. I'm not sure why people dislike this presentation, I actually find it to be quite useful. But then again, I'm not all that interested in other people's translations of Egyptian hieroglyphs anyway.. I see them more as guidelines than anything else. So if you are seeking, get this book! It is important, and a solid addition to the personal library. And even if it doesn't grab you when you first lay eyes on the contents, by all means hang onto it for future use. You'll be glad you did :-)

This book contains the text of the Amduat and a few minuscule photographs of the original, which was written on the wall of royal tombs. There is no comment at all and the hieroglyphs are printed in a dot-matrix version of the Theinhardt font; moreover, the transliteration and translation are placed immediately below the glyphs, a la Budge, making the book unusable for translation exercises. One of the authors, Erik Hornung, is famous for collating the text of the Amduat; the other one, Theodor Abt, probably wanted to disqualify the library of anybody misadvised enugh to buy this cheap and sloppy product. A photograph of the Nile on page one, taken by Abt, contributes to the sorry impression.

This book is ok but it is now a century later and it is presented in a format not all the much updated in presentation sytle than what is in old Dover Books for $3, so lower your epxectations quite a bit......on its best day this book would be a 19.95 softcover book and even that would be very over priced.

So dont get any expectation that the huge and greedy sticker prices implies a book in the $40 dollar price range as indicated, it doesnt even come close to that league of book at all, not even remotely close.

The book is ok for a rehashed and very very very antiquated and stolen presentation style but in no uncertain terms could this book ever qualify as a circa 2009 book in that price range, it isnt even close to that caliber.

So if you are ok with isnt this kind of Budge all over again except 11 times the cost then buy it, but be prepared for a major disappointment not like the authors other attempts which were a little more efficient in price.