REVIEW BY ANDREW FULTON
This volume is part of a series of books of ancient texts that Amber Books are publishing in hardback using traditional Chinese bookbinding methods that were first developed in the Ming Dynasty. The results are impressive but heavy!
The book is presented as written anonymously, but the text is that of the Papyrus of Ani as translated by Sir E A Wallis Budge (with an attribution on the copyright page). In the introduction, Nigel Fletcher-Jones (consultant editor) gives an excellent (if brief) summary of the concept of the ancient Egyptian ‘Coming Forth by Day’. At the end of the text, there is a useful glossary of some of the names used in the papyrus, including places and deities.
As highlighted in the introduction, the Book of the Dead is a complex document, but the ancient scribal commentaries (here called ‘Scribe’s Notes’) are helpful for understanding the text. Budge’s chapter division has also been retained when needed at the beginning of instructions to the priest or deceased, and each chapter begins with a capital letter. There are 15 chapters, including the ‘Hymns to Ra and Osiris’, the ‘Weighing of the Heart’, the ‘Gates and Pylons’, and the ‘Negative Confession’.
