Michael Shamansky, Bookseller Inc.
Importer of European Publications in the Fine Arts
P.O. Box 3904, Kingston, New York 12402 Phone: 845-331-8519 Email: mshamans@artbooks.com

Item Number: 134693
Title: The Obelisk and the Englishman: The Pioneering Discoveries of Egyptologist William Bankes
Author: Seyler, Dorothy
Price: Not Available
ISBN: 9781633880368
Description: Amherst: Prometheus Books, 2015. 24cm., hardcover, 320pp. illus. Summary: William John Bankes (1786–1855) was a complex and talented member of England’s landed gentry. Scholarly, mischievous, and driven by curiosity about the unknown, he was a close friend of Lord Byron and achieved recognition on several fronts: as a daring explorer of ancient lands, notably Egypt and Petra; as a brilliant art collector, illustrator, and remodeler of Kingston Lacy, his family estate in Dorset; and, unfortunately, as the focus of a homophobic sex scandal, which forced him to leave his homeland. An amateur Egyptologist, Bankes was responsible for key discoveries as he explored the archaeology and history of Egypt and Syria. He traveled deeper into Egypt and Nubia than any other European before him and prepared over 1,400 site plans and drawings, many of temples now lost to the sand or under the waters of the Nile. Dorothy U. Seyler delves into Bankes’s life and accomplishments and also takes an intimate look into the mores, customs, and politics of the period. Along with detailed descriptions of temple sites, artifacts, and architecture, she includes diary entries from Bankes’s family and contemporaries, which give the reader insight into traditions and expectations of the time. Enhanced by many of Bankes’s drawings and paintings, this engaging story is full of vivid detail about the beginnings of Egyptology, Regency England, and a fascinating individual, and it sets the record straight about Bankes's crucial role in setting the stage for the work of later scholars.

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Michael Shamansky, Bookseller Inc.
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Phone: 845-331-8519
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Email: michael@artbooks.com

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