Dear Collector
Psst! This month we offer our Rosetta Stone, our own Tutankhamen’s tomb, our very own Egyptian treasure, the best thing we have had since Ptolemaic times.
The glossy brochure of a modern specialist in cultural tourism appraises the appeal of Egypt in these terms: “Indeed, the sheer antiquity and breadth of Egyptian civilization cannot but reduce the visitor to awe, whether it be Napoleon with his famous exhortation to his troops in front of the Pyramids that forty centuries looked down upon them, or the more humble modern traveller exploring the tombs in the Valley of the Kings.” Napoleon’s entourage of 160 savants produced the magnificent Description de l’Égypte, a survey in several volumes of all the French discovered in Egypt. Other influential travellers have since added innumerable books to the Egyptian ‘canon’. Tourists will undoubtedly start pouring back into the country once the current turmoil has abated, and many more travellers’ tales will be told.
There is, however, a significant void in published literature on the West’s contact with the land of the Pharaohs, suggested b
y Jessamine Price’s review of the compilation Travellers in Egypt: “It is unfortunate that we know less about travellers who did not leave such detailed records, and that there has been relatively little effort to research leisure travellers.” (Italics ours) It might be assumed that leisure travel did not exist before the advent of Thomas Cook package tours, but not so. There were obscure nineteenth-century travellers who were not Egyptologists, professional writers or artists, but motivated strictly by curiosity. Such records as they left have not enjoyed sufficient attention. To quote Gray’s Elegy: “Full many a flow’r is born to blush unseen / And waste its sweetness on the desert air.” It hardly seems possible, for instance, that in 1841 and early 1842 a cultured girl in her fourteenth year could have travelled all the way down the Nile to the Second Cataract (picture here from Africa and its Inhabitants, by Elisée Reclus), leaving a thorough account of the adventure. Yet, that is what Fanny Ward did. 
This month we offer Fanny’s manuscript diary.
Reverend Randall Ward (shown here), who had been appointed senior chaplain and acting archdeacon at Bombay, arrived in Egypt from the Indian sub-continent in early 1841. He would spend over a year touring Egypt, Nubia, Sinai and Palestine, before returning to Bombay. For much, if not all of this time, he was accompanied by his wife Frances, and daughters Fanny, Maria and Gertrude. (Either Fanny or Maria is the subject of the portrait here) The diary written by Randall Ward’s eldest daughter Fanny covers the family’s travels in Egypt and Nubia, commencing 24 August 1841 on the Mahmoudia Canal, and concluding on 29 January 1842 in Cairo, after months of journeying.
Some female Western travellers had visited these areas before. Indeed, among the seventy names the Wards found engraved on rocks overlooking the Second Cataract were those of three ladies. However, we do not know of any women travellers as young as Fanny who left so thorough a written record. She describes all that she sees in the greatest detail. Concerning the Nubians, she observes that “in appearance they are very dark but the young girls and children are good looking, with goodnatured agreeable faces, and very white teeth. Their hair is saturated with castor oil, and plaited in innumerable small tails over the forehead and back of the head, but the oil being melted by the heat is seen trickling down their faces, and a group may be scented at a great distance.” To learn more about Fanny Ward and her diary, read the full description in this month’s list.
Egypt at the time of the Wards’ visit was governed by Mehmet Ali Pasha, whose dynasty held power over the country until the early 1950s. It was during Mehmet Ali’s period that the fez or tarboosh became standard military headgear in the Egyptian army. From this time forward, the governors and other Egyptian celebrities are depicted wearing the tarboosh. Like many other book dealers, we sometimes branch out from works on paper when some curiosity takes our fancy. It was alluring, for instance, to believe that the bronze bust named ‘Ismail’ (shown here) represented the Khedive of Egypt and grandson of Mehmet Ali. But, who’s to know? Considering that the fez became ubiquitous following military reforms in the Ottoman Empire in the 1820s, also becoming the standard headgear for native units in colonial forces, the depiction could as easily be of an askari under one of the European powers. The sculpture is an appealing and decorative novelty, whatever its history.
In keeping with our theme this month, we have included many items on Egypt and the Nile, including the volume of Recent British Battles on Land and Sea covering the Egyptian revolution precipitated by Arabi Pasha. This is also the right volume for the final Frontier War in the Cape colony, and the Anglo-Zulu War. There are several other interesting books in the fields we normally cover. We hope you will like our list. Most of the items in it can be procured for fairly nominal baksheesh.
Best wishes
Lindsay and Wendy
Considering that the fez became ubiquitous following military reforms in the Ottoman Empire in the 1820s, also becoming the standard headgear for native units in colonial forces, the depiction could as easily be of an askari under one of the European powers. The sculpture is an appealing and decorative curiosity, whatever its history. £150.00
penned in black showing part of the family’s voyages to and from Bombay via the Red Sea, in the Mediterranean, their trips in the Nile delta and down the river as far as Wadi Halfa and the Second Cataract, plus a later journey, in blue ink, via Suez, to the Sinai peninsula and on to Jerusalem. 2. Another folding map, of ‘Syria and Palestine’, continuing in black ink the second route of the earlier map, with the inscription ‘Dark line indicates the Route of Revd Randall Ward detailed in Journal 1842.’ 3. A tiny ink sketch on card (38 x 74 mm) of a mountain scene, showing one of Randall Ward’s camps, with ‘Captain Morton 55 Regt’ (?) penned on the reverse. Covers somewhat rubbed with a little wear to extremities; trace of damp ingress to lower board with consequent stain to fore-edge of endpaper and final two leaves, not affecting text; upper hinge fragile, with archival tape reinforcing; some leaves working loose, but all present; moderate foxing. The loose Egypt map has some tears to the folds, with discreet repairs to the reverse, some foxing, and a trace of surface dirt; the other map is a little spotted, with some marginal repairs to the reverse. Author’s name signed on fly-leaf, in the same hand as the main text. On the verso facing the first diary page is the following message, conceivably in the same hand, though the script is larger: “The following interesting journal of a tour in Egypt + Nubia in 1841-2 was written without any assistance in its composition by Fanny Ward at the age of 13 years.” The handwriting of the running heads is somewhat different, though perhaps just an attempt at a more calligraphic style. We have no knowledge of the diary of the Sinai and Palestine trip, indicated in the writing on the second map. The Reverend Randall Ward, whom The Gentleman’s Magazine of 1839 notes in its ‘Ecclesiastical Preferments’ (p. 642) as having been appointed ‘senior chaplain and acting archdeacon at Bombay’, arrived in Egypt from the Indian sub-continent in early 1841. He would spend over a year touring Egypt, Nubia, Sinai and Palestine, before returning to Bombay. For much, if not all of this time, he was accompanied by his wife Frances, and daughters Fanny, Maria and Gertrude. The subject of the diary written by his eldest daughter Fanny is the family’s travels 
in Egypt and Nubia, commencing 24 August 1841 on the Mahmoudia Canal, and concluding on 29 January 1842 in Cairo, after months of journeying. Egypt at this time was governed by Mehmet Ali Pasha, whose dynasty held power over the country until the early 1950s. Fanny remarks that “Mohamed Ali though he detests us, is obliged to conciliate our nation, for he dreads our power, and whilst his own unfortunate subjects are ill treated and oppressed, and are slaves, to him and the people he employs in his service, the least slight or annoyance occasioned to us would be severely punished.” The Wards appear to have been of some means, having the leisure and funds to spend many months sailing a large boat in the Delta and all the way down to the second cataract and Wadi Halfa, with the assistance of crew or servants throughout. During this time, the girls’ schooling continued, but there was ample opportunity for meeting local people and exploring the landmarks of Egyptian civilization. Fanny had the benefit of prior knowledge of many of the sites visited, comparing her own impressions with those of earlier travellers such as Sir Gardener Wilkinson. Her observations on architecture and scenery are amazingly incisive. Concerning the temple at Philae (since moved to accommodate Lake Nasser), she writes: “The temple is partly in good preservation, and one of the most imposing we have yet seen; it is dedicated to Osiris, who is said to have been buried there, for which reason this island was held particularly sacred. After wandering over it in every direction admiring its elegant columns and lofty propyla, richly sculptured and adorned, our repast was spread on a small gateway apart from the great building and overlooking the river and mountains in the most picturesque part, and we had an occasional glimpse of our boat winding slowly at a great distance amongst the rocks …” Fanny remains an intelligent, upbeat observer throughout, even when danger threatens (as when menaced by Albanian soldiers) or serious difficulties arise (as when negotiating the First Cataract). Very occasionally she lapses into a naïve assessment of Egyptian life, commenting, for instance, that “the Nubian slaves [in a Cairo market] are the happiest, best dressed and best treated people in the Pasha’s dominions and in the market before they change owners, they seem well fed and very contented.” Whereas some female Western travellers had visited these areas before – indeed Fanny finds the names of three ladies among those engraved on a rock at the southermost point of the journey – there can surely not have been any as young who left so thorough a written record. The vivid diary written by a precocious young woman is the more remarkable considering that what we know of travel in Egypt during the period is derived from scholarly and literary adventurers. Fanny Ward, born in Bombay in 1827, died in Frankfurt in 1861. £1500.00
Grant, James: Recent British Battles on Land and Sea. With Numerous Illustrations (London: Cassell & Company, no date) Large 8vo; original green half-morocco with matching pebble-grained cloth sides; spine with raised bands gilt, and title lettered direct in gilt to second compartment; marbled edges and endpapers; pp. xi + (i) + 624, incl. index; woodcut illustrations and maps throughout. Boards a little rubbed, extremities worn,
especially to joints at head, and corners turned; hinges starting, but with archival tape reinforcing; earlier owner’s name signed verso of front free endpaper; moderate foxing throughout. A good copy. This, the fourth volume in the series, published circa. 1897, is complete in its own right, without indications internally or externally of belonging to a larger work. Very well illustrated with pictures from the contemporary illustrated press, including work by several well-known special correspondents, the book conveys the feel of the times, and covers the final Frontier War in South Africa, the Basotho Gun War, the Anglo-Zulu War, the Sekukuni Campaign, the First Anglo-Boer War, besides the conflicts in Afghanistan, the Sudan and Egypt, and some minor skirmishes. £60.00