This very large book from 2006 is by Dr. Zahi Hawass with photography by Sandro Vannini and I must say right off the start that the huge size makes the book difficult to read for any length of time for you need to orientate yourself into comfortable positions where you are not being crushed by the sheer weight.
The books pictures are beautiful with large pullouts of the walls of the emperors tombs in the valley of kings including a nice pullout of the strange outer coffin of Tutankhamen and the mummy believed by some, but not me, to be the pharaoh Ramses I.
Dr. Hawass has large pullouts which he places very helpful descriptions of the texts that of the "Amduat" and "the book of gates" as well as other sacred books which were drawn on the walls of the kings tombs from the valley of kings. It is at this point however that I wish Dr. Hawass spent more time in putting together a complete look at the "Amduat" and perhaps save some of the other sacred texts for another book.
Not enough can be said for the beautiful images which make the reader wish for the walls to be more complete in the pictures along with the descriptions. No one other than Dr.Hawass could put together such a document and though the book is beautiful and interesting the draw backs are as I have said mainly a desire to see more of the individual books particularly the "Amduat".
The other draw back is of course the enormous size which is only suitable to get comfortable position to read it, I found sitting on a blanket on a beach, even if I was carrying around the biggest book on the beach. The book concludes with a roundup of the works to preserve the tombs for the long run with the closing of some tombs.
The price tag, the size and the subject matter make this excellent book much more appealing to a mature reader than a younger one. I will happily now use this lovely book for years to come as solid reference material.
No comments:
Post a Comment