[EGYPTOLOGY]: MASPERO GASTON (1846-1916) French Egyptologist. A good collection of Ls.S., T.Ls.S., some signed documents etc. by Maspero, forty-nine pages (total), 8vo and folio, Cairo etc., c.1910-14. The majority of the letters (38) are in Arabic and untranslated, although with seven others in French, the latter enquiring as to whether or not Said Bey Khachaba and his consort have finished their excavations in the area granted to them from El-Ganaiem to Beni Adi; asking as to whom some keys to the doors of the Temple of the Sphinx should be deposited and explaining that they are currently in a museum; asking if two placards can be given to the inspector at Giza so that they can be placed at the Temple of the Sphinx; referring to the Temple of Seti I etc. Two of the letters bear ink annotations signed (initials) by Campbell Cowan Edgar (1870-1938) Scottish Egyptologist, in one stating ‘I have examined the ground and have no objection’ and providing his estimate for the cost of ‘a proper exploration’. Also including two pages featuring various hieroglyphic drawings in an unidentified hand, with annotations in Arabic and French. All with file holes and most with some age wear, small tears to the edges etc. G to about VG, 47

The Great Sphinx of Giza, the limestone statue of a reclining sphinx, a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion, is situated on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt. Maspero had conducted a survey of the Sphinx in 1886 and believed it to be ‘the most ancient monument in Egypt’.