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Library Journal Review

On November 26, 1922, Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon were rewarded after years of searching in the Valley of the Kings by their first sight of "the glint of gold" in the tomb of Tutankhamen. When they realized that the burial was virtually intact, the staggering responsibility for the recording, clearance, and conservation of this stupendous discovery became an immediate concern. Carter requested the assistance of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's (MMA) highly accomplished Theban Expedition photographer, Harry Burton. Between 1922 and 1933, Burton spent most of his time documenting every aspect of Carter's work on the tomb. This collection of 75 of his photographs, lavishly reproduced in duotone sepia, has been published in conjunction with the exhibition Wonderful Things!: The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun, the Harry Burton Photographs, which will be at the MMA from late December 2006 through April 2007. Allen (senior research associate, Egyptian art, MMA) provides the narrative captions and additional information in a separate section with thumbnails of each illustration. Readers familiar with the many other publications on Tutankhamen's tomb may recognize many of these photographs (albeit not always credited properly to Burton). Recommended for public and academic libraries. Edward K. Werner, St. Lucie Cty. Lib. Syst., Ft. Pierce, FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

Ancient Egypt lends itself well to handsomely illustrated volumes resplendent with color plates and minimal descriptions and text. This visually striking volume is unique in that it utilizes the black-and-white photographs made by British photographer Harry Burton to chronicle the discovery in early November 1922 of the small tomb of the politically insignificant 14th-century BCE pharaoh Tutankhamun. When Howard Carter finally found this lost tomb with its more than 5,400 objects, the discovery generated the modern and continuing passion for ancient Egypt. Carter realized the immensity of the task before him and the Metropolitan Museum's Egyptian Expedition required aid in the study and excavation of the items in the tomb. Burton's carefully prepared photographs of the objects found in the tomb in situ as well as the Valley of the Kings, Carter, individuals who participated in the discovery, and the tomb itself are a priceless record of this significant moment in the history of Egyptian archaeology. The beautiful 70 black-and-white plates printed in this study, selected from the more than 1,400 8 x 10 glass plates made by Burton, demonstrate the appeal of these artifacts from that day to the present. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. General readers; lower-division undergraduates through faculty. P. D. Thomas Wichita State University