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The first and only edition of Karl Richard Lepsius monumental twelve-volume production, Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien (trans: "Monuments from Egypt and Ethiopia") is one of the great works from the golden age of Egyptology. Published in Berlin between 1849 and 1859, Denkmäler was released in twelve elephant folio volumes, and contains 894 color plates depicting monuments and reproductions of hieroglyphic inscriptions. It also included some of the most accurate maps of Egypt and Nubia produced up to that time. Lepsius (1810 1884) was the son of a classicist, and after receiving a doctorate in Greek and Roman archaeology, travelled to Paris to study the emerging field of Egyptology under Jean Letronne, a student of Champollion. In 1842, he was commissioned by Prussian King Frederich Wilhelm IV to lead an expedition to Egypt and Nubia modelled on the scientific expedition undertaken during the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt forty years earlier. With a team of surveyors, draftsmen, and other specialists, the Prussian expedition reached Egypt later that year and made some of the first scientific studies of the pyramids of Giza, Abusir, and Saqqara. Additionally, Lepsius team identified 67 previously unknown pyramids and 130 tombs. The expedition travelled as far south Khartoum in Sudan, and visited such sites as Thebes, Karnak, and Luxor. They left Egypt in 1845. Lepsius would go on to make numerous contributions to the development of Egyptology, editing one of the first scientific journals devoted to the field (Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde), overseeing the publication of the magisterial Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien, commissioning the first hieroglyphic typeface, and translating important Egyptian texts. The twelve-volume Denkmäler, like the Description de l'Égypte, remains an important reference work for modern Egyptologists as it documents sites and records since lost or destroyed. The full series was divided by Lepsius into six "Abtheilung", or sections. Section II was dedicated to "Monuments of the Old Kingdom" (and includes Vols. III - IV), and Section III was dedicated to "Monument of the New Kingdom" (and includes Vols. IV - VIII). This listing includes the entirety of Sections II and III, with all original 457 plates intact. Bindings are in various conditions, but plates are all in Good or better condition. These volumes are continuous: the designation of the "Middle Kingdom", though proposed by Lepsius' teacher Christian Charles Josias von Bunsen in the mid-1840s, was not embraced by Lepsius himself. This work is extremely scarce. To the best of this seller's knowledge, a complete set has not been on the public market since 2014. Elephant Folios, Six Volumes [of Twelve]. Volumes III through VIII only. All volumes bear the ex librii of the "Chicago Theological Seminary" on the front pastedown (indicating an 1874 acquisition). Abtheilung II: Denkmaler des Alten Reichs [Monuments of the Old Kingdom] Vol. III: [Half title], [Title page], 81 plates [Plates I-LXXXI]. In Good minus condition. Quarter-bound in calf and green cloth boards, with light embossed design to boards. Leather and labels completely worn away from spine. Front board nearly separated from spine (still attached by strip of backing cloth). Significant wear to corners (boards exposed), significant wear to leather on corners and along joints, a major bump to bottom corner of back board, moderate discoloration to front board, moderate wear to boards overall, and significant discoloration overall. There is minimal age toning and very occasional foxing to plates. All plates present. Vol. IV: [Half title], [Title page], 72 plates [Plates LXXXII - CLIII]. In Good minus condition. Quarter-bound in calf and green cloth boards, with light embossed design to boards. Leather and labels completely worn away from spine. Front and back boards largely separated from spine, but still attached by backing cloth. Significant wear to corners. Seller Inventory # 1381484
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