Further Information
A history of the Society’s first one hundred years can be found in the book published to coincide with the Society’s centenary in 1982 ‘Excavating in Egypt’ edited by T G H James (British Musum Press 1982) and a volume entitled 'The Egypt Exploration Society- the early years' edited by P Spencer (EES 2007) was published to mark the society's 125th anniversary, covering the work of the Society prior to the First World War. Additionally, biographies and bibliographies of famous (but necessarily dead) Egyptologists can be found in ‘Who Was Who in Egyptology’, the third edition of which, edited by Morris Bierbrier was published in 1995; a fourth edition is currently in preparation. Amelia Edwards’ account of her travels in Egypt ‘One Thousand Miles up the Nile’, originally published in 1877, has been reprinted by various publishers. There are two biographies of Miss Edwards: 'More Usefully Employed. Amelia B Edwards, writer, traveller and campaigner for ancient Egypt' by Brenda Moon (EES 2006) and ‘Amelia Edwards: Traveller, Novelist, and Egyptologist’ by Joan Rees (Rubican Press 1998) and a biography of Petrie, ‘Flinders Petrie: a life in archaeology’ by Margaret Drower was published by Gollancz in 1985. Petrie himself described his work in Egypt in two informative and entertaining books, ‘Ten years digging in Egypt’ (1892) and ‘Seventy Years in Archaeology’ (1931).
Howard Carter’s years working for the EES are well-covered in ‘Howard Carter before Tutankhamun’ by Nicholas Reeves and John Taylor (British Museum Press 1992) and his whole life is described in two biographies: ‘Howard Carter, the path to Tutankhamun’ by T G H James (KPI, 1992) and ‘Howard Carter and the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun’ by H V F Winstone (Constable, 1991).
A popular account of the EES/Leiden work at Saqqara can be found in ‘The Hidden Tombs of Memphis’ by Geoffrey Martin (Thames and Hudson 1991). Most of the Society’s archaeological work over the last 114 years has been published in its Excavation Memoirs, Archaeological Survey Memoirs and Texts from Excavations Memoirs, and in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. In recent years reports of current fieldwork have also appeared in the colour magazine Egyptian Archaeology. The Greek and Roman papyri found by Grenfell and Hunt are still being published on a regular basis as Graeco-Roman Memoirs.