Denkmaeler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien Nach Den Zeichnungen Der Von Seiner Majestaet Dem Koenige Von Preussen Friedrich Wilhelm IV Nach Diesen Laendern Gesendeten Und In Den Jahren 1842-1845 Ausgefuehrten Wissenschaftlichen Expedition Auf Befehl Seiner Majestaet Herausgegeben Und Erlaeutert Von C. R. Lepsius - Erste Abtheilung Topographie Und Architectur ( - Sechste Abtheilung Inschriften Mit Ausschluss Der Hieroglyphischen)
In Volume I the maps are signed as drawn by H. Kiepert and lithographed by C. Monecke (and in two cases, engraved by J. Sulzer); in Volume II the map is signed as drawn and lithographed by C. Monecke. The other plates in Volumes I-VIII are signed as drawn by G. Erbkam, E. Weidenbach, J.J. Frey, Wild, Graeb, Otto Georgi, M. Weidenbach, J. Bonomi, E. Eirund or A. Schütze, and lithographed by W. Loeillot, G. Reubke, A. Haun, C. Monecke, E. Weidenbach, M. Weidenbach, A. Schütze, L. Oppenheim, Frentzel, F. Lentze or Bülow. Plate 153 of Volume IV, plates 266, 292-304 of Volume VIII and pl. 42 of Volume X are unsigned by draughtsman or lithographer.
In a few cases the name of a printer is also given - that of Mercier, L. Sachse & Co., L. Steffen & Co., W. Loeillot or C. Monecke.
The work is dedicated by the 'Herausgeber' to King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia.
References
N. Reeves, Ancient Egypt: the great discoveries (2000); A. Siliotti, Egypt lost and found (1998); E. Freier and S. Grunert, Reise durch Agypten: nach Zeichnungen der Lepsius-Expedition 1842-1845 (5. Aufl., 1996); F. Beaucour et al., The discovery of Egypt (1990); Karl Richard Lepsius (1810-1884): Akten der Tagung anlässlich seines 100. Todestages, 10.-12.7.1984 in Halle, ed. E. Freier and W.F. Reineke (1988).
Summary Note
No publication-date is printed on the title-pages, but plates 1-4 (maps) of Volume I all carry the publication-date of 1859. The title on the added title-page of Volume I is identical with that on the first, apart from the addition of the words, 'Blatt I-XLVI'.
Lepsius was sent to Egypt in 1842 by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia on the advice of his minister, J. Eichhorn, and the scientists, A. von Humboldt and R.W. Bunsen. His team included the British artists Joseph Bonomi and James William Wild. The expedition travelled as far as Sennar in the Sudan, making accurate recordings not only of ancient monuments and inscriptions but also of modern languages and contemporary geography.
Reproductions
A photographic reduction of the original edition was published in 7 vols. by Belles-Lettres of Geneva in 1972?-3.
Provenance
Presented by the German government in 1879 (see RA Annual Report for 1879, p. 49).
Binding Note
19th-century half brown morocco, brown paper-covered boards; spine lettered 'Denkmaeler Aus Aegypten Und Aethiopien Lepsius - I. Abtheilung I. Blatt I-LXVI ( - XII. Abtheilung VI. Blatt LXX-CXXVII.)' and 'R.A.'