Bidspirit auction | CARTER HOWARD: (1874-1939) ´ I

CARTER HOWARD: (1874-1939) ´ I said to the foreman ”this, without doubt, is the entrance to the tomb-chamber” ´ - CARTER HOWARD: (1874-1939) English archaeologist and Egyptologist who discovered the Tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922. An interesting Autograph Manuscript, unsigned, eighteen pages (mostly written to the rectos of the feint ruled sheets of paper, neatly removed from a notebook), small 8vo, n.p., n.d., in pencil. Carter´s working manuscript, with many deletions and alterations, largely reads in chronological order (the first pages are paginated 1-10) although the later pages contain sentences and paragraphs (some repeated from earlier pages in the manuscript) which are disjointed and were evidently extracted from a larger work, Carter re-writing passages in order to polish his narrative. The manuscript reads, in part, ´Perhaps the reader may not be displeased if I here attempt to acquaint him with something of the life during summer residence in Upper Egypt. During the very hot spells [when the thermometer runs between a minimum of 95 F and a maximum of 115 F] and it is sufficiently oppresive (sic) to occasion considerable lassitude, the tedium of each day may be described in a few words. At half-past four in the morning one is awakened by the first glimmer of light perceptible.....Then at 5 pm (sic; am) suddenly the sun´s rise appears above the horizon decking everything with its golden light. The first hour or so of morning possess a charm; but long before midday has arrived this apparent freshness is succeeded by intense sunshine. Everything is turned into heat, and at noon you are obliged to creep under cover.....In the evening you sally forth, but by seven o´clock darkness is complete. The moon, if there be one, then becomes a great luxury.....Generally speaking the heat of the summer months at Western Thebes....is not so oppresive (sic) as one might expect. There is, however, one great drawback, and a source of much discomfort, this arises from sunset winds......Thus, after sundown, when the atmosphere within the house becomes oppressive, at times almost unberable, these winds detract from the comfort of enjoying the evening air.....When young and fit the body easily withstands these physical trials, in fact, the process of perspiring resulting from the heat dissipates most bodily ailments and generally speaking one is fitter in the warmer weather than during the winter. A far greater trial lies in the monotonous life during those summer months in Upper Egypt. The passing of months on end without companionship. The loneliness can at times become intolerable and without some mental interest or occupation it would, I believe, be suicidal. Fortunately for me....I had plenty of interests.....more than enough to keep me occupied......The rising of the Nile, which begins about the period of the summer solstice in June, and attains its greatest height about the autumnal equinox in September. This annual flood breeds thousands - one may say millions without exaggerating - of gnats amd midges, which are attracted at dark by your lamp and make any recreation like reading impossible. Added to these pests at night are the mosquitoes and the terrible sand-fly (of the dipterous family, Psychodidae......During the moonlight nights, which are so glorious in Egypt, I used to sail.....in a small sailing boat......a somewhat crazy craft from which I watched the flocks of pelican fishing......By lying on the bottom of the boat, under the cover of some straw, one could at times bump into these enormous gregarious fish-eating birds......Prior to my post as Inspector-General of the Department of Antiquities for Upper Egypt I was free to spend the hot summer months in Europe or England. But the prosecution of my new duties would not allow of such a luxury......I devoted much of my attention to studying the methods and customs of illicit diggers.....who were inveterate tomb-robbing- In.....this particular section of my work, I soon began to recognise the importance and urgency of a far greater source of trouble than illicit diggers that had to be dealt with, and that was a means of preventing the ever increasing conservation against the destruction of ancient monuments, especially the cutting out of sculptured reliefs and fresco paintings from the walls of tomb-chapels.....to sell to the unsuspecting collector whose primary object was the acquisition of antiquities.....A perfect chapel would be hacked and disfigured in one night.....But though hundreds - nay, thousands - of tombs have been opened, what remains of them today is a few hundred. The rest have been destroyed.....by the modern marauders......The natural inclination was to put steel gates upon all the more important and interesting chapels, which I commenced by doing wherever my funds made it possible.