Audiobook · read by volunteers
Peeps at Many Lands: Egypt
R. Talbot Kelly (1861–1934)
Read by Sibella Denton · 10 chapters · 2 h 19
About the book
Egypt, as seen by a painter who knew it well. In this short travelogue from a series of books on exotic destinations, R. Talbot Kelly takes you through the history and daily life of a land that has fascinated visitors for thousands of years. He opens with its great antiquity and its landscape, then guides you through the streets and sights of Cairo before moving on to other regions. The tone is friendly and observant, the sort of account that a well-informed traveller might give to curious readers back home in the early twentieth century. Ten short chapters, read by Sibella Denton, fill a little over two hours. It is a pleasant, easy listen for anyone interested in Egypt, in travel writing of the Edwardian age or in the way earlier generations introduced the world to young readers.
Introduction
Robert George Talbot Kelly (1861-1934) was a British artist who became known for his paintings of Egypt, a country he visited many times and where he lived for a time. Peeps at Many Lands: Egypt was published in 1916 as part of an early twentieth-century series of illustrated travel books, each of which gave readers a brief portrait of an exotic destination. The format was popular, and the series was aimed at a general audience rather than at specialists.
A painter's eye is evident in the way the book is written. The author is interested in light, colour and atmosphere as well as in history and customs, and the chapters move easily between the ancient past and the Egypt of his own day. After opening sections on the country's antiquity and its land, the book devotes two chapters to Cairo and goes on to look at other aspects of Egyptian life. It reflects its period, of course, and the attitudes of a British visitor of the time are sometimes visible in the way people and places are described.
This LibriVox recording is read by Sibella Denton and runs for about two hours and twenty minutes. It is divided into ten files, each corresponding to a chapter, and is easy to follow. It makes a pleasing companion to more recent works about Egypt, giving a sense of how the country was presented to readers a little more than a century ago. Its chapter titles, from Its Antiquity and The Land to Cairo, show the order of the tour. For armchair travellers and lovers of early illustrated guides, it is a short and agreeable journey.
Public domain
R. Talbot Kelly died in 1934: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text