Operations Carried On at the Pyramids of Gizeh in 1837

An army officer and politician, Richard William Howard Vyse (1784-53) also made his mark as an Egyptologist. This three-volume work, published in 1840-2, has remained an instructive resource in Egyptology up to the present day. Adopting the style of a journal, with illustrations and diagrams throughout, it narrates in detail his excavations at Giza, surveying and measuring the pyramids. Following Vyse's return to England, the work was continued by the engineer and surveyor John Shae Perring (1813-69). Vyse gives observations of his travels, and of the landscape, people and architecture he encountered, as well as details of the important work he carried out. Most notable was his discovery, using gunpowder, of four new chambers in the Great Pyramid containing 'quarry marks' - graffiti by the pyramid builders. Volume 2 (1840) contains detailed descriptions of the excavation of several pyramids and their contents, and appendices with extensive measurements.