PREFACE. THE Egyptian Antiquities described in the accompanying Catalogue were collected by Sir Charles Nicholson during a Tour made in Egypt in the year 1856-57. The Catalogue has been prepared under the superintendence of Joseph Bonomi, Esq., F.S.A. Mr. Birch, the Director of the Department of Egyptian Antiquities at the British Museum, has kindly furnished Translations of some of the Papyri and Stela. The owner of the Collection is, however, under the most special obligation to his friend, the Rev. D. I. Heath, M.A., late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, who has given Translations of all the fragments of Hieratic, as also of considerable portions of the hieroglyphic writing, whether on inscribed mummy cloth, papyrus, or wood, These are all found to be excerpts from the celebrated "Ritual, or Book of the Dead;" and they present, it is believed, the first occasion in which so large a portion of this ancient and mysterious religious formula has ever appeared in English. Some portions of the Greek inscriptions have been deciphered by Professor H. Malden, of University College, London; whilst the Coptic fragments have been most obligingly translated by C. W. Goodwin, Esq., M.A., of the Inner Temple, a gentleman distinguished for his philological attainments, and for his profound acquaintance with early Egyptian literature. |