A charming blog post, Walk Like an Egyptian, talks about the connection between novelist and travel writer Amelia B. Edwards and the development of modern Egyptology.
After Edwards visited Egypt in 1873 and wrote A Thousand Miles up the Nile, she founded the Egypt Exploration Fund, which supported the efforts of Flinders Petrie, the founder of modern, scientific Egyptology. (Howard Carter, who discovered King Tuthankamen’s tomb, was a student of Petrie’s.)
The blog points out that women novelists and Egyptology go arm-in-arm. For instance, Agatha Christie (Death Comes as the End, Death on the Nile) and Elizabeth Peters (the Amelia Peabody novels) both spent time excavating along the banks of the Nile. In fact, it’s clear that Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody is based on Amelia B. Edwards, and the action in the first Amelia Peabody book, Crocodile on the Sandbank is based on Edwards’ voyage as told in A Thousand Miles up the Nile.
A Thousand Miles up the Nile is still available in various editions. My very own Norton Creek Press edition is, in my opinion, the best available, because it’s an exact reproduction of the lavishly illustrated second edition, with the whole story in one volume, will no illustrations omitted. (Some editions are only the first volume of a two-volume edition, and most omit the illustrations.)
A Thousand Miles up the Nile is a leisurely and well-written narrative of her time in Egypt, detailing both the ancient monuments and the contemporary people she encountered. As with all Victorian travel writing, it’s a product of a vanished age. But in this case it’s a product of a vanished age talking about another, much older vanished age. The dual perspective casts intriguing shadows!
As enthralling as any work of fiction, A Thousand Miles up the Nile is the quintessential Victorian travel book. In 1873, Amelia B. Edwards, an upper-class Victorian spinster, spent the winter visiting the then largely unspoiled splendors of ancient Egypt.
As enthralling as any work of fiction, A Thousand Miles up the Nile is the quintessential Victorian travel book. In 1873, Amelia B. Edwards, an upper-class Victorian spinster, spent the winter visiting the then largely unspoiled splendors of ancient Egypt.
The Great Rock-Cut Temple, Abou Simbel, Nubia.
An accurate and sympathetic observer, Edwards brings nineteenth-century Egypt to life. A Thousand Miles up the Nile was an instant hit in 1876, and is received with equal enthusiasm by modern readers.
This Norton Creek Press edition of A Thousand Miles up the Nile is a complete, single-volume reproduction of the lavishly illustrated 1890 edition by Routledge and Sons, which routinely sells for over $100. The engravings are not as crisp as in the original, which was a masterpiece of the Victorian printer’s art, but you will be delighted by both the book and its illustrations.
Amelia B. Edwards = Amelia Peabody Emerson?
Fans of Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody Emerson mystery novels will be struck by the similarities between the two Amelias. It’s not just their first names, but many of the scenes and major plot elements in Peter’s First Amelia book, Crocodile on the Sandbank, are straight from A Thousand Miles Up the Nile. That means that A Thousand Miles up the Nile is a compelling and detailed sourcebook that provides a wealth of background information, bringing Peters’ excellent books even more vividly to life.
Look for more of Edwards’ works from Norton Creek Press.
About Amelia B. Edwards
Amelia B. Edwards was an author and co-founder of the Egypt Exploration Fund (now the Egypt Exploration Society in 1882. She wrote a famous book on egyptology (Pharoahs, Fellahs, and Explorers) and translated Gaston Maspero’s book, Manual of Egyptian Archaeology).
A Testimonial
I recently finished A Thousand Miles Up the Nile. This is one of the most wonderful books I have ever read. I can only imagine what it must have been like to read such a book in 1876! I was very sad when it ended. I wanted another 500 pages. Thank you very much for bringing such a great read to my attention.
A Thousand Miles up the Nile is still available in various editions. My very own Norton Creek Press edition is, in my opinion, the best available, because it’s an exact reproduction of the lavishly illustrated second edition, with the whole story in one volume, will no illustrations omitted. (Some editions are only the first volume of a two-volume edition, and most omit the illustrations.)
