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Title: The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Papyrus of Ani in the British Museum by E. A. Wallis Budge ISBN: 0-486-21866-X Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 June, 1967 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.75 (4 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Ian Myles Slater on A Grand Antique
Comment: I hate to say a hard word about a volume so many (including myself) have found so intriguing. The Egyptian "Book of the Dead" - a collection of spells, prayers, hymns, and instructions for success in the afterlife - is a famous, and widely misunderstood document, well worth a first-hand examination. However, potential purchasers should be aware that this is a reproduction of a Victorian edition and translation, and that Budge, the editor and translator, was industrious, sincere, talented, and from time to time brilliant, but already a bit out of date in his approach to ancient Egyptian. This Dover reprint is a monument to obsolete scholarship.
The volume was intended as a companion to, or substitute for, an extremely beautiful facsimile edition of a papyrus copy, which Budge had obtained in Egypt, published in color by the British Museum. The passage of decades has only compounded the problems. Budge's transliteration is obsolete, and his polished translations run roughshod over Egyptian grammar (the interlinear versions being erroneous only over the meanings of specific words). His history of scholarship covers the early decades of Egyptology in more detail than most will find necessary, but of course misses that latter nineteenth century (as well as everything since).
Still, before the appearance of a recent, computer-assisted, facsimile edition, based on the British Museum facsimile, with modern translations (The University of Texas Press, as "The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead"), this was as close as most people would get to one of the major manuscripts of the New Kingdom's "guide to the next world". My first copy is filled with several decades of corrections and annotations, and I bought a second just to enjoy the beautiful hieroglyphic font in which the text is presented. I am not telling anyone not to buy it; just don't take it as the last word on anything.
Rating: 4
Summary: After 100+ years -- still the most complete
Comment: There a few modern Egyptologists (and a few outright hacks) that are quick to point out Budge's many errors in translation without looking at the publication date on the book. Budge more than makes up for this, however, by including his transliterations along with the original hieroglyphic text -- so that any wannabe Egyptologist can try his hand at doing better. It is the complete Papyrus of Ani, which is the most complete text yet found. It would have rated 5 stars save for two things: Budge's organization of the book, which is difficult to understand at first without considerable effort, and the fact that it does not include ALL of the chapters. The latter could have been solved by supplementing the book with parts of the Pyramid or Coffin Texts, which Budge discusses extensively in his introduction. Nonetheless, this is the first book the serious scholar should pick up on the subject, especially if he is a student of ancient Egyptian language.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good reference.
Comment: A good reference for the non-Egyptian reader who wants firsthand knowledge about life on the Nile. Budge's translation and use of the original text allow the Egyptologist to compare their own reading as well. Use of such a reference book will increase the reader's understanding of the rather complicated and in many ways foreign ideas in ancient Egyptian religion and rituals.
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Title: The Book of the Dead by E.A. Wallis Budge ISBN: 0517122839 Publisher: Gramercy Pub. Date: 23 January, 1995 List Price(USD): $9.99 |
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Title: An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary : With an Index of English Words, King List, and Geographical List with Indexes, List of Hieroglyphic Characters, Coptic and Semitic Alphabets (Vol 1) by E. A. Wallis Budge ISBN: 0486236153 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 May, 1978 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day by Raymond Faulkner, Ogden Goelet, Carol Andrews ISBN: 0811807673 Publisher: Chronicle Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 2000 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, Vol. 1 by Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge ISBN: 0486227804 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 June, 1973 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Gods of the Egyptians, Vol. 1 by E. A. Wallis Budge ISBN: 0486220559 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 June, 1969 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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