BAIKIE, James "Egyptian Antiquities in the Nile Valley" [Methuen, 1932]

BAIKIE, James. Egyptian Antiquities in the Nile Valley: A Descriptive Handbook.

London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1932. First edition. 7.5" x 5.25", xii + 308pp. Publisher’s blue  cloth, spine lettered in white; dust wrapper printed in black on olive stock with publisher’s price (22/6 net) to spine. Illustrated with 61 photographic plates and 106 plans and diagrams. Dust wrapper chipped and worn at spine ends with creasing, small losses, and surface wear; cloth lightly rubbed at extremities. Text clean with mild toning; plates and plans crisp and complete. Very Good in Good dust jacket.

Baikie’s handbook stands as a classic example of early 20th-century popular Egyptology, written at a moment when archaeological excavation, photography, and public fascination with ancient Egypt converged. Issued just after the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, the book reflects the interwar surge of interest in Egyptian antiquity, combining scholarly clarity with accessibility for the general reader. Particularly notable is the extensive visual apparatus: photographic plates of major monuments alongside detailed architectural plans that make the volume both a reference work and a visual survey of the Nile Valley’s principal sites. Survival of the original dust wrapper—especially one retaining the printed price—is uncommon for Methuen travel and antiquities titles of this period, and adds materially to the book’s desirability as a complete, well-preserved example of interwar archaeological publishing.