Bulletin for the Association for
the Study of Travel in Egypt and the Near East: Notes and Queries

Contents

No. 15 Spring 2003

click here for Summer Supplement details

Page no. Click on a link below for bulletin extracts
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Contents page including:

  • Details of Annual Subscriptions
    Members A: those from the EU, USA and Canada: £20 (€30) per annum
    Members B: those from elsewhere, all students: £12 (€20) per annum (Please give proof of status)
    Libraries wishing to receive the Bulletin of the Association may subscribe at a cost of £12 (€20) per annum (two issues)
  • Members of the Committee
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Editorial

In this Bulletin, the background theme is Ethiopia or Abyssinia, as it was chiefly known before the 20th century. Originally I intended to draw on material from travellers who ventured into this remote country during the 18th and 19th centuries. However, I found such a staggering array of accounts based on one event, that I decided to concentrate exclusively on that - the epic tale of the taking into captivity by the Emperor Theodore of Abyssinia of the Europeans in his country, and the expedition mounted by the British government to rescue them from his fastness of Magdala. Faced with this, how could I do other than devote this issue to the Abyssinian Expedition.
This Bulletin is the last of which I will be the Editor. I've enjoyed the job, but it is a lot of work and I need to get back to my own researches. Albertine Gaur is also retiring from the Book Editorship, and I thank her very much for all she has done. The Autumn Bulletin will be in the capable hands of Deborah Manley, who is exchanging organising your events to organising your reading. All material for the next Bulletin should therefore be sent to her at:
57 Plantation Road, Oxford OX2 6JE, tel/fax: 01865 310284.

Peta Rée

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Astene Events & Reports
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The Artemis of Milo
9

Abyssinian Expedition
10 News
11 Zoulla, Theodore
12 Two Much-Travelled Gunboats and their Personnel
16 John Mason Cook, Pilgrim Traffic, Foreign Officers
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Books & Reviews

  • John Fisher, Gentlemen Spies, Intelligence Agents in the British Empire and Beyond, (Stroud, Sutton Publishing, 2002) reviewed by Elizabeth French.
  • Alastair Hamilton, Arab Culture and Ottoman Magnificence in Antwerp's Golden Age, (The Arcadian Library in association with Oxford University Press, 2001) pp134, illus. and maps, £60 ISBN 0-19-714401-2, reviewed by Jennifer Scarce.
  • Roger O de Keersmaecker, The Temples of Semna and Kumma, Travellers' Graffiti from Egypt and the Sudan II (Antwerp, Graffito-Graffiti, 2003) pp46, illustrated, bibliography, €15.
  • Hugh Leach with Susan Maria Farrington, Strolling About on the Roof of the World: The first Hundred Years of The Royal Society for Asian Affairs (London, Routledge Curzon, 2002) pp212, 190 illus., hardback, £25 (ASTENE members £18, $37.50, cheques only, p & p £3.50 in UK; £4.20 to Europe; $7.75 to USA. Order from the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, 2 Belgrave Square, London, SW1X 8PJ. Tel: 020 7235 5122, fax: 020 7259 6771, e-mail: info@rsaa.org.uk
  • Robert Morrell, 'Budgie ...'The Life of Sir E.A.T. Wallis Budge. Egyptologist - Assyriologist - Keeper of the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum, 1892 to 1924 (Privately published, 2002) pp75, £5.66 inc. postage from R.W. Morrell, 43 Eugene Gardens, Nottingham, NG2 3LF, reviewed by John Taylor.
  • Barnaby Rogerson, The Prophet Muhammad (Little, Brown, 2003) hardback, £14.99 ISBN 0 316 86175 8.
  • Naim Turfan, Rise of the Young Turks. Politics, the Military and the Ottoman Collapse (London & New York, IB Taurus, 2000) pp.xix, 490, reviewed by Albertine Gaur.
  • Patricia Usick, Adventures in Egypt and Nubia. The Travels of William John Bankes (1786-1855), (British Museum Press, 2002), pp224, 66 col, 46 b/w illus., hardback, £25 ISBN 07141 1803 6, reviewed by Malcolm Wagstaff.
23 Research Resources
  • Institute of Ethiopian Studies
  • The Sudan Archive (Durham University Library)
  • New Dictionary of National Biography

    All members should have now received that very important Research Resource, available to ASTENE members only, the Yellow Pages, the list of our members and their interests. Our thanks are due to Neil Cooke for the exacting work needed to produce it.
24 Queries
27 Somewhere Completely Different
29 Elephants, Mules
30 Other Events
31 Prince Alamayou, The Railway
32 Theodore's Army After Magdala, The Captives

No. 15 Supplement

THANK YOU AND FAREWELL

The Spring Bulletin was the last to be edited by Peta Rée, and I take over as Editor with this Summer Supplement.

Ever since Janet Starkey started editing the Bulletin, it has made an important contribution to our study of travel m our region. Peta worked with Janet as Assistant Editor, with the Research Resources material as her particular contribution. When Janet stepped down, Peta took over - "just for one issue," she said. The Spring Bulletin was her fourth.

I take over with some trepidation. To follow in the footsteps of these two is a real challenge. I am sure all ASTENE members join me and the Committee in thanking Peta for her enthusiasm and the help she has given us all. At the same time we would like to thank Dr Albertine Gaur who has been Reviews Editor for the Bulletin for several issues. Her place will be taken by ASTENE Committee member Barnaby Rogerson.

The Bulletin in the Future

Timings of the publication of the Bulletin will change slightly. We plan an Autumn Bulletin in late September; a short Winter Bulletin going out with subscription renewals at the end of the year, mainly to bring events up-todate; a Spring Bulletin in April; and a short Summer Bulletin posted with AGM notices in June. So this year you get two issues rather close together!

Irish Involvement in Greek Culture

Conference at National University Galway, 19-21 September, 2003

The conference will explore the various ways in which Irish scholars, travellers, Philhellenes and writers have engaged with the Greek world. The Call for Papers covers five sessions: Travellers in Lands: Culture and Landscapes; Antiquarians, Artists and Collectors; Phillellenes and Fighters; Classical Tradition in Ireland; Greek Themes in Modern Irish Literature. Offers of papers should be addressed to session organisers, these are: Sessions 1 and 3: Christine Morris, School of Classics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2; Session 2: Christina Haywood Dept of Classics, University College Dublin, Dublin 4.

If ASTENE members plan to attend, please let me know, take ASTENE materials, and write the conference up for the Bulletin. (Ed)

A CLOSURE AT THE V & A

A TENE just got there in time for our visit to the Searight Collection in the V & A's Print Room, which will be reported in the next Bulletin. Charles Newton of the Paintings Department advises us: The Print Room will close for building works for about a year after 22 August 2003.

During this period the Print Room will be expanded and improved and two adjoining reading rooms developed to provide access to the Royal Institute of British Architects' Drawings and Manuscripts collection.

If you wish to visit during this period, please phone 020 7942 2562 for information about access. The annual closure for stocktaking for six weeks from 23 August will take place as usual.

From 7 October visits to see the Print Room material will be by appointment in the National Art Library. It will be necessary to order in advance of visiting and we regret that certain parts of the collection will from time to time be unavailable.