Amelia Edwards new sketch album Online at the Griffith Institute

Amelia Edwards new sketch album

A previously unknown album of drawings by Amelia Edwards has recently been identified in the Archive. Erronously catalogued as a notebook belonging to F. Ll. Griffith when it was accessioned over 70 years ago, it was only when this group of documents was being assessed recently for another project that this particular gem came to light. The album contains a title-page, 26 pencil sketches and one watercolour, created by Miss Edwards during her one and only visit to Egypt in 1873-4. Some of these sketches were later used in her publication A Thousand Miles up the Nile, published in 1877. Amelia founded the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1882, and dedicated the rest of her life raising funds for British excavations in Egypt and raising awareness for the need to preserve its ancient monuments for future generations. This sketchbook now resides with the other Edwards papers in the Archive which include a further three albums containing sketches made in Egypt, the Dolomites and miscellanea.