The omissions in the online version at Link I which I hinted at a moment ago are, specifically, (a) the absence of the Egyptian text/hieroglyphs (this is the much more serions omission) ; and, (b) the exclusion of Wallis Budge's "Bibliography." Thankfully, the Dover hard-copy edition of 1967 contains both the full measure of the original Egyptian hieroglyphs -- and for that reason is of far greater epistemological, hermeneutic and historical value than the online edition -- and the "Bibliography" (or, more correctly, the References).
There may be other omissions, but I suspect that even on closer and more exteded scrutiny they will be minor. It is only today (May 20, 2009) that I even thought of searching, and indeed searched, the Internet, for the first time ever, for an online version of the book; and it is only on May 21st that I attempted a comparison of my hard copy with the online version. I did not have a lot of time in which to do this, too many things demanding attention, but the impressions I have made will have to do for now [Note: The first draft of this blog post was penned and saved, but not published, on May 20, 2009. An update was inserted and completed on May 21st, when the post was published for the first time. Blogger records the date of the first saving, though I read that this dating set-up will soon change. If it has, it is not an automatic switch, or I would not have had to edit this chapter as I have. More updates on this post will surely follow, and I will remember to indicate the dates].
I have had a copy of the Dover edition for just over thirty one years now, going on thirty two, having bought the book on August 26th, 1997 at the Illini Union Bookshop at the University of Illinois, at Urbana-Champaign. It has been a constant source of inspiration during all that time, even as my life itself has gone through significant changes and rites of passage. Its influence has insinuated itself into my poetry, even, and into examples I occasionally use in my graduate and undergraduate classes.
I consider The Egyptian Book of the Dead to be one of the greatest and most awe-ispiring books of all time, and not just because it is an African text that temporally precedes many, if not most, of the world's great writings -- including the Bible and the Quran. It already articulated certain ideas which subsequent cultures, civilizations, histories, narratives and even religions came to associate, with no apologies or accommodations at all, with elsewhere and with other origins. For example: the ideas of the life hereafter, and of the one God (He of many names); and the meme of the "Son of God", and of what morphed into the Ten Commandments.
The blurb itself describes the book as "unquestionably one of the most influential books in all history ...[a book which] served as the most important repository of religious authority for some three thousand years." So my superlatives have a precursor -- indeed, precursors.
Via the book I have been inspired by aspects of the captivating life-story of Pepi II, for example (of Pepi and the Pigmy). Besides the content, the form that characterizes the book's conversations and incantations has itself greatly inspired me by its grandeur and example.
From time to time I will make brief comments on sections and aspects of the book, and on any related matters, as the moments at which I have Time shall prompt me. For now, enough.
Here, then, are the three links:
1. Link I (the "complete" E.A. Wallis Budge transliteration and translation): Click here
2. Link II: Click here
3. Link III: Click here
[Updates on: May 21, 22 and 23, 2009]
