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JEAN ALAZARD
L'Orient et la peinture française au XIXe siPcle d'EugPne Delacroix B Auguste Renoir [The Orient and French Painting in the Nineteenth Century from EugPne Delacroix to Auguste Renoir]. Paris: Plon, 1930. Middleton ND547.A49 1930

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AFTER THE END OF THE EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN, the fascination of the Orient continued to appeal to many French artists, who sought to introduce a flavor of exoticism into their work. This study gives an overview of the Orientalist artists and subjects that typified French Romanticism in the nineteenth century. The Western interest in Orientalist subject matter is carefully retraced from the monumental works of Antoine-Jean Gros, to the watercolors in Delacroix's travel sketchbooks from North Africa.
J.H.
THOMAS BARING
A Bibliographical Account and Collation of La Description de l'Égypte. London: Library of the London Institution, 1838. Photocopy of an original in the Library of Congress. Rare Z3656 L75 1838a
A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT and Collation of La Description de l'Égypte is an indispensable source for studying the genesis of the Egyptian expedition and the official publication of its scientific findings. It is a historical memoir based on the collections of the French scholars who participated in the Egyptian expedition, presented for the first time to the English reader. Baring's account is significant due to the political differences between France and England, and the fact that his account chronicles a French expedition from the view of the British.
N.M.
JEAN-MARIE CARRÉ
Voyageurs et écrivains français en Égypte de la fin de la domination turque B l'inauguration du canal de Suez [Travelers and French Writers in Egypt from the End of the Turkish Domination to the Inauguration of the Suez Canal], vol. II.
Cairo: The French Institute of Oriental Archeology, 1956. Anonymous loan
THIS STUDY IS ONE of two volumes of literary history analyzing French travel descriptions from the Middle Ages to the early nineteenth century dealing with Egypt. Works in this volume range from Gérard de Nerval's Voyage en Orient to the writings of Orientalist scholars like Théophile Gautier and Ernest Renan, and the journals of the painter EugPne Fromentin. The significance of these accounts in forming the historic, cultural, and a political framework for defining the East in the Western mind is critical to the study of colonialism.
J.H.
JAMES STEVENS CURL
The Egyptian Revival: An Introductory Study of a Recurring Theme in the History of Taste. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1982.Middleton CB 245 C87 1982

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AS THE TITLE SUGGESTS, Curl writes of the numerous Egyptian revivals, the most famous of which was the direct result of Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. Curl covers 2,000 years of revivalist art, beginning with the Greco-Roman absorption of Egyptian religion and artifacts, and ending with the twentieth-century fascination with Egypt. Here we can see a sketch of the sphinx at Giza made by Norden in 1756 and the inspired whimsical rococo sphinx in the European gardens at Veitschochheim (Bavaria, 1763-1775.)
M.D.
PHILIPPE DE MEULENAERE
Bibliographie raisonnée des témoignages oculaires imprimés de l'expédition d'Égypte [Comprehensive Bibliography of Printed Eye Witness Testimonies of the Egyptian Expedition] Paris: F. and R. Chamonal, 1993. Middleton DC225. M48
AFTER 1801, LARGE NUMBERS of cultural studies, histories, and travel descriptions of the campaign were published in France, as scholars, scientists, soldiers and explorers felt compelled to write about their extraordinary experiences in Egypt. The “Comprehensive Bibliography of Printed Eye Witness Testimonies of the Egyptian Expedition” is an essential guide to printed accounts written by the participants in the Egyptian campaign. De Meulenaere's book provides rich evidence regarding the large volume of these publications, and how the events of the Egyptian campaign continued to haunt readers and writers throughout the nineteenth century.
N.M.
CUVELIER DE TRIE
La Bataille d'Aboukir, ou les Arabes du désert [The Battle of Aboukir, or the Arabs of the Desert]. Paris: Barba, 1810. Anonymous loan
THE BATTLE OF ABOUKIR, or the Arabs of the Desert is a play which describes actual military scenes from the Egyptian campaign in the form of pantomime. This particular piece re-enacts key events from the battle of Aboukir, the last battle Napoleon fought on Egyptian soil. That popular playwrights, such as Cuvelier de Trie, wrote pieces based on the Egyptian campaign, demonstrates how much public life and culture continued to be affected by recent history after Napoleon's return to France in 1799.
N.M.
CONSTANTIN-FRANÇOIS DE CASSEBOEUF DE VOLNEY
Voyage en Syrie et en Égypte pendant les années 1783, 1784, et 1785: Suivi de considérations sur la guerre de Russes at des Turks, publiées en 1788 et 1789 [Voyage in Syria and in Egypt during the years 1783, 1784, and 1785: Followed by considerations on the war of the Russians and Turks, published in 1788 and 1789]. Paris: Bossange FrPres, 1822. Rare DS47 V78 1822
BEFORE THE EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN, Volney was the premier authority on the Near East in France. His two-volume travel description from the 1780s did not romanticize Egypt's history or current social and political condition, but discussed the ills that plagued the country and explored the military weakness of the Ottoman Empire. Because of these observations, Volney discouraged a conquest of Egypt, but supported his friend Bonaparte politically. Nevertheless, he declined the invitation to accompany the expedition in person. Napoleon brought along a copy of his book to Egypt, and it served as the standard reference source for the better-educated members of the campaign.
E.P.
VIVANT DENON
Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt [Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Égypte] Translated by Arthur Aiken. London: T.N. Longman & O. Rees, 1803. Middleton DT53 D43 1803a.
ONE OF THE MOST prominent scholars who accompanied Napoleon's expedition in order to study the monuments of Egypt, Denon published independently his own travel account in the form of the journals he kept in 1798/99. His text was illustrated with etchings of each of the sites that he visited. Denon was a witness to many of the battles and the difficulties involved with the campaign, yet he managed to visit and describe many ancient sites in spite of the dangers from native resistance. He frequently highlights the striking contrast between the achievements of the ancient Egyptians and the decline and decadence of their modern culture.
E.M.
JACQUES DEROGY
Bonaparte en Terre Sainte [Bonaparte in the Holy Land]. Paris: Fayard, 1992. Middleton DC226.P35 47 1992

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ILLUSTRATED HERE are maps of the campaign into Syria and the battle of Mount Thabor. Derogy's study gives a comprehensive account of Napoleon's aborted incursion into Palestine and the Holy Land. The work analyzes Bonaparte's campaign critically using historic research and investigative journalism. Derogy documents Bonaparte's progression northwards into Palestine, the capture of Gaza, and the onset of plague in Jaffa as central events of this extensive study.
J.H.
COMPTE [MATHIEU?] DUMAS
Krieg der Franzosen in Aegypten und Syrien am Ende des 18ten Jahrhunderts [War of the French in Egypt and Syria at the End of the Eighteenth Century]. Hamburg [Germany]: Perthes, 1800. Photocopy of original in the Bremen Stadt-Bibliothek. Rare uncataloged
DUMAS'S ACCOUNT reiterates the French versions of Napoleon's famous expedition. However, the importance of Dumas' book resides in the fact that it was the only contemporary account of the Egyptian campaign to be written in German. The book is rare even in Germany, and indeed we have been unable to locate another copy in the United States.
M.D.
FRAGMENT OF AN EGYPTIAN PAPYRUS
1500-1100 B.C.E.
11.5 x 13.5cm
From Pages from the Past: Original Leaves from Rare Books and Manuscripts. Washington, D.C.: Foliophiles, Inc., 1926. Rare Flat Z4 F6

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THIS PAPYRUS FRAGMENT is an example of the funerary spells that were deposited into Egyptian tombs. The purpose of these texts was to ensure a pleasant afterlife for the deceased and therefore, collectively, they have become known as the “Book of the Dead.” Interestingly, these particular texts were written not only for kings but were available for nobility as well.

Originally, the concept of afterlife was restricted to royalty. However, by the end of the old kingdom, tombs of the nobles were lavishly furnished, rivaling the King's pyramid. The nobles believed that they too could conquer death by worshipping Osiris and living virtuously. Access to the afterlife was accorded by a divine tribunal, weighing the heart of the deceased against the feather of truth representing Ma'at. Many Egyptians, however, tried to ensure safe passage to the afterlife by preserving the body and resorting to magical texts.

Napoleon's scholars were instantly fascinated by their findings of papyrus documents which they reproduced in great numbers in the Description de l'Égypte. However, at the time of the Description's publishing the meaning of the texts was not known, since Champollion deciphered hieroglyphics only at a later date in 1822. For this reason the papyrus documents were objects of marvel for the scholars.
M.D.

DARCY GRIMALDO GRIGSBY
Extremities: Painting Empire in Post-Revolutionary France. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2002. Middleton NX549 .A1 G76 2002

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THE AUTHOR FOCUSES on six paintings, produced by four French artists between 1797 and 1826, to define the historical and cultural context of France's empire and its colonial politics. Situations of political crises in the colonies translated into images of slavery, revolution, plague, death, revolt, sodomy, decapitation, cannibalism, massacre, degeneration, rape, miscegenation (cohabitation or marriage between persons of different races), and abduction. Arranged in chronological order within the texts, the paintings exemplify the potential of images to represent the cultural and racial differences.
C.S.
ERIK HORNUNG
L'Égypte ésotérique: Le savoir occulte des Égyptiens et son influence en occident [Esoteric Egypt: The Occult Knowledge of the Egyptians and its Influence on the West]
Monaco: Éditions du Rocher, 2001
Anonymous Loan
HORNUNG'S WORK explores the impact of ancient Egypt's occult knowledge on Western culture. He reveals that the gods, monuments, and symbols of ancient Egypt were a source of esoteric revelations to Western explorers. Such figures as Hermes Trismegistus and the Egyptian god Thot strongly influenced Western esoteric thought, religion and secret societies, such as the Freemasons.
E.P.
ABD AL-RAHMAN JABARTI
Napoleon in Egypt: Al-Jabarti's Chronicle of the First Seven Months of the French Occupation of Egypt, 1798. Princeton and New York: Markus Wiener Publishing, 1998. Middleton DC225 .J3413 1998

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THIS BOOK PRESENTS three versions of the first six months of the French invasion and occupation of Egypt in 1798 from the perspective of the country's foremost historian of the time. Abd al-Rahman Jabarti (1754-1822) was the first author to write a detailed chronicle about the European encounter with the Egyptians from a native perspective. He ridiculed Napoleon Bonaparte's claim to be sympathetic to Islam, while he approved of Western efficiency, organization, and scholarly abilities. In the second chronicle, he condemned the French occupation and its consequences. In the third part of his treatise, he chronicled the history of Egypt from 1688 to 1821. Jabarti's book is of great historical value because it represents one of the very few accounts that show the Egyptian perspective on the events of the French campaign.
C.S.
ALEXANDRE LACORRÉ
Journal inédit d'un commis aux vivres pendant l'expédition d'Égypte. Voyage B Malte et en Égypte, expédition de Syrie [Journal of a Commissary during the Egyptian Expedition. Travels to Malta and Egypt, Expedition into Syria]. Bordeaux: Émile Crugy, 1852. Middleton DC225 L23
THE NAPOLEONIC EXPEDITION into Egypt promised a gain in knowledge and military glory that inspired numerous writings on the campaigns. The diverse range of these testimonies is evident in the eyewitness account of Alexandre Lacorré, commissary (food supplier) to the campaign. Included in Lacorré's journal are descriptions of archeological discoveries, the revolt of Cairo, and the Syrian campaign.
J.H.
YVES LAISSUS
L'Égypte, une aventure savante, avec Bonaparte, Kléber, Menou, 1798-1801 [Egypt, a Scholarly Adventure, with Bonaparte, Kleber, Menou, 1798-1801]. Paris: Fayard, 1998. Middleton PJ1060 .F7 L37 1998

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THIS BOOK RECOUNTS the adventures and the work of the French scholars, technicians, and artists who accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in Egypt. It presents the scholars as pioneers of the modern study of the Orient in Europe. Laissus' admiration for this expedition is informed by a French perspective on its imperialist and colonizing venture.
C.S.
HENRY LAURENS
L'Expedition d'Égypte, 1798-1801 [The Egyptian Expedition, 1798-1801]. Paris: Armand Colin, 1989. Middleton DC225.L38 1989
LAURENS DISCUSSES the considerable impact of the French occupation of Egypt on Europe and the Near East that extended beyond the initial arrival of the French colonizers. He deals with the profound social, cultural, and economic effects of the invasion on the Egyptian people, and the widespread European fascination with Egypt that gave rise to an “Egyptian aesthetic.” The interaction between the two cultures produced interesting results. For example, Napoleon's official portrait painter, Michel Rigo, was commissioned to do a series of works depicting allied Arabic chieftains to decorate the general's headquarters in Cairo, but the intentions of the artist were often misunderstood by his sitters.
E.M.
ANGELA C. PAO
The Orient of the Boulevards: Exoticism, Empire, and the Nineteenth-Century French Theater. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998.
Middleton PQ543 P36 1998
THE ORIENT OF THE BOULEVARDS: Exoticism, Empire, and the Nineteenth-Century French Theater is an interesting study of the Egyptian campaign's impact on the French stage in the nineteenth century. It examines how “the Orient” was constructed in French theater plays, and reveals the processes by which popular culture helped shape nineteenth-century notions of race, ethnicity, and nationality.
N.M.
TODD PORTERFIELD
The Allure of Empire: Art in the Service of French Imperialism, 1798-1836. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998. Middleton N6847.P59 1998

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PORTERFIELD EXAMINES the ways in which art was used to justify and promote French colonialism beginning with the Egyptian expedition of Napoleon Bonaparte. He demonstrates that colonialism was a reaction to the conflict initiated by the French Revolution and a release for the pent-up conflicts of this political upheaval. The author also discusses the historical precedents for the establishment of a French Empire that would dominate the Orient in the context of the claims for moral superiority made by the French.
E.M.
TERENCE M. RUSSELL
The Napoleonic Survey of Egypt, Description de l'Égypte: The Monuments and Customs of Egypt, Selected Engravings and Texts. Vol. 1. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2001 Middleton DT60. R93 2001 v.1

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RUSSELL EDITED the first comprehensive modern English version of the Description de l'Égypte. These two volumes reproduce all of the engravings from the Antiquités volumes and an additional two hundred engravings selected from the Histoire naturelle and État moderne volumes. The texts that accompany these particular engravings have been faithfully translated so that the reader gains insight into how these monuments and customs were perceived two hundred years ago by Napoleon's scholars. In addition to the direct translation, Russell outlines the aims of the Egyptian campaign and its wider historical repercussions.

Here we see a copy of the frontispiece to Volume I of Antiquités, which was the first to be published in 1809. The complementary text explains the incorporation of imperial Napoleonic insignia into the overall decorative scheme of a plate that purports to be a scene from ancient Egypt. Not surprisingly, the publication of the first volume coincided with the height of Napoleon's power in Europe.
M.D.

TERENCE M. RUSSELL
The Napoleonic Survey of Egypt, Description de l'Égypte: The Monuments and Customs of Egypt, Selected Engravings and Texts. Vol. 2. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2001. Middleton DT60. R93 2001 V.2

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THIS BOOK is the continuation of Russell's critical modern English edition of the Description de l'Égypte. The engravings shown here are from the État moderne, Volume II. On the left hand side and in the separately reproduced plates, we can see various portrait studies and costumes of the local inhabitants of late eighteenth-century Egypt. Portrayed on the right is the most formidable Mameluke foe of the French occupiers, Murad-bey. Along with Ibrahim-bey, Murad-bey held supreme power until Napoleon's military invasion. Eventually, Murad became an ally to the French; hence the artist was able to capture the portrait reproduced here. Murad's piercing stare, scarred face, and sword serve to highlight his fearless nature. Menacingly, the engraver included the hilt of a dagger barely concealed beneath his garments.
M.D.
EDWARD W. SAID
Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books, 1978. Anonymous loan ;
SAID'S ORIENTALISM is a controversial study on how knowledge about the East promoted Western political ends. Using a post-structuralist approach, Said examines “the Orient” as a Western construct across such disciplines as anthropology, linguistics, psychology, and literature. The author argues that the “Orientalist” paradigm ultimately gave rise to misrepresentations and imperialism rather than promoting the dissemination of truth.
J.H.
CLAUDE-ÉTIENNE SAVARY
Lettres sur l'Égypte, oj l'on offre le parallPle des moeurs anciennes et modernes de ses habitants, oj l'on décrit l'état, le commerce, l'agriculture, le gouvernement du pays & la descente de St. Louis B Damiette, tirée de Joinville & des auteurs arabes, avec des cartes géographiques [Letters on Egypt, where one offers the parallel of the old and modern morals of its inhabitants, where one describes the state, commerce, farming, the government of the country & the descent of St. Louis to Damiette, drawn from Joinville & Arab authors, with geographic maps]. 3 v. in 1. A Paris, et se trouve chez Em. Flon B Bruxelles, 1786. Rare DT49 .S2 1786.

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SAVARY'S DESCRIPTION of Egypt pre-dated the Napoleonic campaign and provided the soldiers with a deceivingly optimist picture of the country. Compiled by Savary from writings by various authors, the work provides general descriptions of cities and ancient sites, the climate and agriculture, as well as religious and cultural aspects of the native Egyptians. This superficial approach to Egypt drew the resentment of Napoleonic soldiers, who, unlike Savary, experienced the harsh reality of the country.
J.H.
ROBERT SOLÉ
Les savants de Bonaparte [Bonaparte's scholars]. Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1998 Middleton DC 225. S65 1998
SOLÉ'S BOOK SYNTHESIZES the historical facts regarding the academy Napoleon took along on the Egyptian campaign. The last chapter of his study is dedicated to the Description de l'Égypte. A nice addition is the section which gives a short biography of the various scholars who participated in the campaign, frequently illustrated with their portraits. Here we can see Vivant Denon, whose travel description did much to popularize Egyptian themes in nineteenth-century French culture.
M.D.
PETRA TEN-DOESSCHATE-CHU
Dominique Vivant Denon, French Master of the Nineteenth-Century, vol. 121, pt. 2 of The Illustrated Bartsch. New York: Abaris Books, 1988
Middleton NE90 B213 v. 121 pt. 2

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THE PLATES FOUND in this book are the illustrations that accompanied the text of Vivant Denon's account of the campaign entitled Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt(Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Égypte), which is also included in this exhibition. All of the engravings were based on Denon's on-site drawings of Egyptian topography, costumes, battle scenes, and archeological discoveries. The plates shown here are an interior and a panoramic view of the Temple of Apollinopolis Magna at Edfu, which is the best-preserved ancient temple in Egypt to the present day. Archeological illustrations such as these contributed to the rise of Egyptomania during the Napoleonic era.
E.P.
VOLTAIRE
Essai sur les moeurs et l'esprit des nations [Essay on the Manners and Spirit of Nations] in: Oeuvres complPtes de Voltaire [The Complete Works of Voltaire], vol. 12. Paris: Garnier FrPres, 1877. Middleton PQ2070 1877
PUBLISHED IN 1756, Voltaire's Essai is the first modern comparative history of civilizations, which included a discussion of Asia. It deals with topics such as the different races of man or the antiquity of nations, defined in such broad terms as Arabia, India, China, and Egypt. There are sections dealing specifically with the Egyptian language, monuments, rites, and mysteries. Treatises like the Essai prepared the intellectual ground for the Egyptian campaign.
E.M.
VOLTAIRE
Mahomet, ou Le Fanatisme [Mohammed or Fanatism], vol. 2 in: Théâtre de Voltaire [Voltaire's Plays]. Londres, 1782. Rare Mini 848V889T
MAHOMET IS A PLAY in which Voltaire portrays the founder of Islam as a religious fanatic. His fanaticism is symbolized by the sword that he uses for violent conquest. However, Voltaire's criticism of religious radicalism is not confined to Islam, but extends to Christian religious narrow-mindedness and intolerance. For Voltaire, religious fanaticism is a universal phenomenon, which the Enlightenment opposes.
E.M.
GOTTFRIED WILHELM VON LEIBNITZ
Consilium Aegyptiacum published in: La Fascination de l'Égypte: du rLve au project [The Fascination of Egypt: From the Dream to the Project] by Ahmed Youssef. Paris: Harmattan, 1998. Middleton DC59.8 E3 Y68 1998
LEIBNITZ'S CONSILIUM AEGYPTIACUM is one of many plans developed in the eighteenth century for the conquest and colonization of Egypt. Enlightenment thinkers drew up these plans because they were interested in universal human progress and believed that exploring Egypt would help spread the ideals of the Enlightenment. Napoleon's Egyptian campaign was a realization of these intentions. Leibnitz (1646-1716), a German philosopher, wrote the Consilium Aegyptiacum as a treatise for Louis XIV of France. Although it is not known whether the king actually read this work, its existence is important because it proves that the idea of conquering Egypt gained currency in France as early as 1672.
E.P.

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