Hilary Wilson on… Egypt and how to see it in 1912

By the beginning of the 20th century, Egypt had become a preferred winter resort for Western tourists, largely due to the entrepreneurship of Thomas Cook and his family. In 1910, one of a series of railway posters was captioned ‘Spend this winter in Egypt where a perfect climate is to be obtained’, and was illustrated with atmospheric Nile views by British watercolourist Augustus Osborne Lamplough. Under the supervision of Egyptian State Railways, Lamplough also wrote and illustrated a tourist guide entitled Egypt & How to See It. This book – available in English, German, and French editions – was revised for each winter season from 1907/8 until the outbreak of World War I. It is described as an aid to visitors, helping them to ‘economise time, money, and fatigue to the greatest advantage’ by giving up-to-date information on transport, accommodation, sightseeing, and prices. In our modern age of air travel, package holidays, and internet booking, it is easy to underestimate the complexities of arranging a tour of Egypt in the past. This useful book contained advice on everything from suitable clothing to official warnings about the social evils of baksheesh (tipping), information that enabled would-be tourists to plan and cost their itineraries.

Sites worth visiting

Without any claim to be ‘an infallible… reference to archaeologists’, Lamplough’s descriptions of sites worth visiting are historical records of the state of Egyptian monuments in Edwardian times. For example, Aswan is labelled ‘a winter resort rather than an archaeological centre’, while the Pyramids at Giza, ‘stripped of their brilliant white smooth casing…, appear barbarous, rude, rugged, almost meaningless, shapes of forgotten power’.

He notes that Upper Egypt, from Luxor to Aswan, ‘is Ptolemaic throughout’, calling the architecture of the great temples – Edfu, Esna, Kom Ombo – ‘far more elaborate and far less spontaneous’, with greater use of colour and ‘columns of every type of capital in one temple’.