The Tell El-Amarna Tablets

MERCER, S.A.B.

Published by Toronto: Macmillan, 1939

About this Item

Two volumes. Octavo, The limited Nile Edition in full morocco with slipcase. Near fine condition. First edition, one of 100 copies in full morocco SIGNED BY MERCER, of this translation of the important Amarna cuneiform tablets. With photographic frontispiece in each volume and folding map at rear of Volume II. Amarna, 190 miles south of Cairo, is the site of the pharaoh Ikhnaton's capitol city, Akhetaton (the Horizon of Aton), founded in 1350 BC and abandoned 30 years later, after the death of Ikhnaton. The site was discovered in 1824, and has been excavated by several noted archaeologists, including Howard Carter and Flinders Petrie. It was at this site that the now-famous painted limestone bust of Nefertiti in her flat-topped crown was discovered. In 1887, "a peasant woman is said to have been digging, on the site of the ruins of Akhetaton, for dust to fertilize her garden, when she came across what turned out to be about 300 cuneiform tablets. The news of the discovery spread rapidly, and the tablets were soon scattered… they were hawked about among the dealers… still others were lost, and some were destroyed." Mercer's work transliterates and translates all of the tablets available in museums and private collections, "almost all letters which passed between Egypt and various rulers and countries of the Nearer Orient.". Seller Inventory # 319

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Tell El-Amarna Tablets

Publisher: Toronto: Macmillan

Publication Date: 1939

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Near Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket

Edition: 1st Edition