The Book of the Dead

The translations of the Egyptian hymns and religious texts printed in this and the two following volumes form a representative collection of the various compositions which the Egyptian inscribed upon the walls of tombs and sarcophagi, coffins and funeral stelae, papyri and amulets, etc., in order to ensure the well-being of their dead in the world beyond the grave. These translations first appeared in the third volume of my work on The Book of The Dead, which was published under the title "The Chapters of Coming Forth by Day" at the end of the year 1897, where they seemed to be a necessary accompaniment to the edition of the hieroglyphic texts of Theban Recension and the hieroglyphic vocabulary thereto. The demand for that bulky and comparatively expensive work proved that it filled a want, but soon after its appearance frequent requests were made that the English translation might be issued in a smaller and handier form.