David Roberts, born in 1796 near Edinburgh, was one of the most acclaimed landscape painters of the nineteenth century. In 1838 he left Europe for Egypt, where he drew all the main archaeological sites and Islamic monuments. These superb lithographs taken from his sketches and first published in London between 1842 and 1849 are a fine essay on his virtuosity and represent an unforgettable journey through time along the Nile Valley and across the Sinai peninsula.

Strap on your sturdiest sandals and start planning your trip to Egypt in 1250 BC. You may have heard the rumors: the language is perplexing, there are no tourist facilities, and an aggressive, egocentric pharaoh rules the land. But Egypt will be a must-see vacation destination for millennia to come! So don’t delay—visit now, before the Roman tourist hordes arrive. Drawing on contemporary sources and years of experience excavating in Egypt, archaeologist Donald P. Ryan guides the time-traveling tourist on a journey up the Nile, taking in the sights of Memphis, the pyramids, Thebes, and beyond. En route he offers useful advice on everything from deciphering hieroglyphs to deciding which god to petition in the event of a scorpion sting. So leave the protective amulets at home and banish all fear of being sold as a galley slave. This imaginative guide is all you need to survive and enjoy your visit to Egypt in its glorious age of empire.