Sir E. A. Wallis Budge (1857-1934) was Keeper of the British Museum's department of oriental antiquities from 1894 until his retirement in 1924. Carrying out many missions to Egypt in search of ancient objects, Budge was hugely successful in collecting papyri, statues and other artefacts for the trustees of the British Museum: numbering into the thousands and of great cultural and historical significance. Budge published well over 100 monographs, which shaped the development of future scholarship and are still of great academic value today, dealing with subjects such as Egyptian religion, history and literature.

First published in 1912, this work is the first of two volumes which deal explicitly with ancient Egyptian literature. Budge reproduces the most typical literature in hieroglyphic form, with the intention of providing the beginner with a series of books to read alongside translations. They are arranged here with English translations next to the original writing, and are complemented by a detailed introduction which provides a contextual framework for this fascinating material. Also including a number of other texts and a range of detailed images and hieroglyphics, this classic work will be of interest to scholars and students of Ancient Egyptian literature, language and history.