In honor of my latest romance set in ancient Egypt, Ghost of the Nile, I’m sharing some Victorian trade (advertising) cards and other ephemera I’ve collected. I refer to my collection of odds and ends as “Egyptiana” – I find it hard to resist anything related to the subject of life along the Nile thousands of years ago. You should see my stack of serious research tomes!
I’m in the throes of an unexpected move, so a lot of my items are already packed, but I found a few things to share today. Here are my four Queens and their pets as visualized by Royal Doulton in the 1990’s:
And here’s a gorgeous Queen with cape from Royal Staffordshire – I liked it so much, I was inspired to write a scene in Magic of the Nile involving a cloak that has some similarities, although in my novel real feathers were used.
“An old book smells like ancient Egypt.” Ray Bradbury
“In ‘Plutarch,’ her voice begins to come out; there are actual 2,000-year-old quotes from Cleopatra, and they are sly and saucy.” Stacy Schiff
“I really don’t remember much about Cleopatra. There were a lot of other things going on.” Elizabeth Taylor
Here’s a clipping I own from an 1899 newspaper, of a well known actress playing Cleopatra:
And some real Egyptiana I’ve shared before, a blue steatite amulet bead from the real Princess of the Nile, Meritamun. I wrote a post about acquiring this little item. Which of course, may or may not be real!
And this late 1800’s drawing based on tomb art was one of the inspirations for Heron Marsh, the estate that figures prominently in Ghost of the Nile.
And the key to the Book of the Dead from the movie “Mummy” (one of my all time favorites), which sadly is only a reproduction of the movie prop and doesn’t actually open:
