Books by Toby Wilkinson

The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt is an absorbing masterpiece penned by renowned author Toby Wilkinson. Published in 2011 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, this book is a fascinating journey into the world of Ancient Egypt. The book offers a deep exploration into the rise and fall of one of the most enduring and intriguing civilizations in history. Wilkinson, with his profound knowledge of the subject, takes readers on an enthralling ride through the sands of time, revealing the captivating stories of pharaohs, pyramids, and the Nile. The narrative is filled with intriguing details about the culture, politics, and daily life of Ancient Egypt. Wilkinson's vivid storytelling and meticulous research make this book a must-read for history enthusiasts. If you're keen on immersing yourself in the mesmerizing world of Ancient Egypt, this book is your perfect companion. The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt, a publication of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, is a testament to Toby Wilkinson's prowess as a historian and an author.

Published to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the moment that Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon broke open Tutankhamuns tomb, a riveting account of the treasures they found, by one of Britains leading Egyptologists.

A vivid account of the men and women who revealed the treasures of Ancient Egypt to the world, from the first decipherment of hieroglyphics to the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun.

Reveals the greatest civilization of the ancient world through the lives of 100 men and women who experienced it at first hand. Featuring works of art and scenes of daily life, this work offers insights into the history and culture of the Nile Valley, offering glimpses of a vanished world, and a fresh perspective on a bewitching civilization.

A collection of letters in a small painted box passed down through three generations of a London family is the starting point for a vivid account of a three-month journey up and down the Nile in a bygone age. The letters, like a time capsule, bring to life a lost world of Edwardian travel and social mores, of Egypt on the brink of the modern age, of the great figures of Egyptology, of aristocrats and archaeologists. In 1907/08 Ferdinand Platt (known to his family as Ferdy) traveled to Egypt as personal physician to the ailing 8th Duke of Devonshire-one of the giant statesmen of the late Victorian age-and his family party, recounting his adventure in letters to his young wife in England. Throughout the journey Ferdy not only reported on the sights of the country around him, with his amateur Egyptologist's eye, and the people he met along the way (including Howard Carter and Winston Churchill) but also recorded his private thoughts and intimate observations of a formal and stratified society, soon to be witness to its own extinction. Introduced by Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson and Ferdy's great-nephew Julian Platt, the letters open an intriguing window onto travel in Egypt during the Belle Epoque and the golden age of Egyptology.

'Man perishes; his corpse turns to dust; all his relatives pass away. But writings make him remembered.'The fascination Ancient Egypt holds in our minds has many sources, but at the heart of it lie hieroglyphics. This extraordinary writing system was for many years seen as the ultimate challenge and puzzle before finally being cracked in the 1820s. Preserved carved in stone or inked on papyri, hieroglyphic writings give a unique insight into an awe-inspiring but also deeply mysterious culture.Toby Wilkinson has translated a rich selection of pieces, ranging from accounts of battles to hymns to stories to royal proclamations. This book is both very enjoyable and an essential resource for anyone wanting to study one of humankind's great civilizations.

From Herodotus's day to the present political upheavals, the steady flow of the Nile has been Egypt's heartbeat. It has shaped its geography, controlled its economy and moulded its civilisation. The same stretch of water which conveyed Pharaonic battleships, Ptolemaic grain ships, Roman troop-carriers and Victorian steamers today carries modern-day tourists past bankside settlements in which rural life - fishing, farming, flooding - continues much as it has for millennia. At this most critical juncture in the country's history, foremost Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson takes us on a journey up the Nile, north from Lake Victoria, from Cataract to Cataract, past the Aswan Dam, to the delta. The country is a palimpsest, every age has left its trace: as we pass the Nilometer on the island of Elephantine which since the days of the Pharaohs has measured the height of Nile floodwaters to predict the following season's agricultural yield and set the parameters for the entire Egyptian economy, the wonders of Giza which bear the scars of assault by nineteenth-century archaeologists and the modern-day unbridled urban expansion of Cairo - and in Egypt's earliest art (prehistoric images of fish-traps carved into cliffs) and the Arab Spring (fought on the bridges of Cairo) - the Nile is our guide to understanding the past and present of this unique, chaotic, vital, conservative yet rapidly changing land.