Four Nineteenth-Century Book of the Dead Forgeries on Mummy Linen in the John Rylands Library, or: the Description de l’Égypte as a Faker’s Master Copy

Abstract

This article presents four pieces of textile decorated with Egyptian Book of the Dead texts and vignettes which are in the possession of the John Rylands Library, Manchester. As demonstrated, these manuscripts are forgeries made with the help of templates from the Description de l’Égypte. The article presents the evidence for this conclusion and traces the path of the hieroglyphic and hieratic texts on textiles into the library.