Holding Egypt: tracing the reception of the Description de l’Égypte in nineteenth-century Great Britain

Any person with an interest in the history of Egyptology quickly learns of the monumental Description de l'Egypte, a result of research undertaken by French scholars during Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1798. The starting point for this study is the long-standing belief, particularly visible in English literature, that this nineteenth-century French corpus was the first point in the development of Egyptology. Yet despite this oft-repeated belief, the issues of where exactly the work went, or what people made of it have yet to be explored. This book attempts to test the broad notion that the Description was the seminal point in the development of Egyptology by exploring its reception in Great Britain, in the early nineteenth century.