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Adventures in Egypt and Nubia tells the story of the pioneer Egyptologist William John Bankes (1786-l855). A brilliant and volatile man, Bankes was the unexpected heir of the Kingston Lacy estate in Dorset, whose passion for exploration and discovery was surpassed only by his energy in investigating and recording.
Handsome, rich, and confident, Bankes studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he met Byron who became a lifelong friend, before setting out on the Grand Tour. A period spent in Spain and Portugal was followed by travels in the Near East, where a chance encounter with the Swiss explorer J. L. Burckhardt would inspire Bankes with a desire for serious archaeological research, far beyond the more leisurely pursuits of the average gentleman-traveller.
During the years 1815-19 Bankes criss-crossed Egypt and the Near East amassing a vast portfolio of notes and manuscripts, as well as drawings by his own hand and the artists who accompanied him on his novels. The accuracy and detail of Bankes's collection makes it an invaluable record of ancient monuments now lost or damaged. His extraordinary discoveries were a revelation to contemporary scholars and proved instrumental in the race to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics.
