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Before going to Egypt, Amelia Edwards had
already achieved some success as a writer and
journalist. She was to become one of the most
prominent writers of her age, and her work
included several travel books, the most famous
of which is the record of her 6 month journey up
the River Nile,
A Thousand Miles Up the Nile.
Edwards and a friend chartered a dahabeeyah and
a crew and sailed up the Nile to Aswan and then
beyond the borders of Egypt into Nubia. This was
in 1873, a remarkable feat for two women at that
time.
Amelia began work on the book on her return
to England in 1874. She read extensively and
consulted respected Egyptologists on matters of
historical and archaeological detail. She also
took up the study of hieroglyphs. By 1878, she
was writing reviews and articles on Egyptology
for weekly journals such as The Academy, and
quickly became an authority in her own right.
Amelia Edwards' greatest work was the
founding of the Egypt Exploration Fund (now
Society). She was very concerned about the state
of the ancient monuments; many were suffering
from neglect; others were being vandalized. The
Egyptian government had neither the interest nor
the resources necessary to protect them. The
Fund was established in March, 1882. |
