Egyptian Magic

E.A. Wallace Budge

Covers the powerful amulets that warded off evil spirits; the scarabs of immortality; the use of wax images and spirit placements; magical pictures and formulas; magic via the secret name; magic of sounds; rituals; curses; destruction of hostile magic; determination of fortunate dates; and many other practices of the ancient Nile dwellers.

Publisher: Dover
Paperback: 234 pages
Illustrated

From Fetish to God in Ancient Egypt

E.A. Wallace Budge

“The author, for many years the Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities in the British Museum, was one of the 20th century’s greatest Egyptologists… Part One contains the principal facts about the religious beliefs and thoughts of the Egyptians, and their conception of God and the ‘gods,’ their enneads and triads, the religions and systems of the great cities and more. Magic, the cult of animals, the cult of Osiris, and the Tuat, or Other World, are treated at some length. Part Two is devoted to a series of superb English translations of some 19 hymns (some of which are certainly models for biblical psalms); myths, both ritual and etiological; 15 legends of the gods, and a selection of important miscellaneous texts.”

Publisher: Dover
Paperback: 545 pages
Illustrated

The Mummy: A Handbook of Egyptian Funerary Archeology

E.A. Wallis Budge

Bitumen filling: “The arms, legs, hands and feet of such mummies break with a sound like the cracking of chemical glass tubing, they burn very freely, and give out great heat.” Preserved by natron: “The skin is found to be hard and hang loosely from the bones, in much the same way it hangs from the skeletons of dead monks preserved in the crypt beneath the Capuchin convent at Floriana, in Malta.“ Preserved in honey: “Once… they came across a sealed jar, and having opened it and found that it contained honey, they began to eat it… Someone in the party remarked that a hair in the honey turned round one of the fingers of the man who was dipping his bread in it, and as they drew it out, the body of a small child appeared with all its limbs complete and in a good state of preservation.” First edition appeared in 1893. GR

Publisher: Dover
Paperback: 513 pages

The Mysteries of Mithra

Franz Cumont

“The colorful religion of Mithra originated in Persia and enjoyed an immense popularity in the Roman Empire, becoming so powerful in the valleys of the Danube and Rhine and in Great Britain that for a time Europe almost became Mithraic. When Mithra and Early Christianity met, the result was a ferocious, implacable duel, whose marks can still be detected on the body of present-day Christian doctrine… Cumont reconstructs the characteristics of the principal divinities, the rituals, the mystery teachings, the liturgy and clergy, the attitude towards Mithra of the typical Roman soldier, the rapid dissemination of the religion in the early years of the Christian era.”

Publisher: Dover
Paperback: 239 pages
Illustrated

The Mystery Religions

Samuel Angus

From actual Roman and Greek sources, describes the rituals and philosophies of ancient “ecstatic” religions, out of which Christianity emerged victorious. Isis and Osiris, the Magna Mater, Dionysius, Mithra, Attis, and all other Mysteries, their histories, inner teachings, and importance.

Publisher: Dover
Paperback: 359 pages

Animals in Motion

Eadweard Muybridge

“Eadweard Muybridge developed chemical and mechanical techniques in photography to capture motion in sequences of action splits. After making a successful panorama of the City of San Francisco, via his method, he directed his attention to the movement of the horse. Over 4,000 stop-action photographs of horses, cats, lions, deer, kangaroos, etc.”

Publisher: Dover
Hardback: 416 pages
Illustrated

The Human Figure: The Complete Dresden Sketchbook

Albrecht Dürer

“Germany’s greatest painter” was “even more significant as an innovator in the field of woodcuts and engravings, and in the theory of proportions of the human figure.” A great explorer of perspective, Dürer created work which remains “surprisingly modern.” Bodies full front, bodies from the left, bodies from the right. The hand and arm in motion; studies of human proportion. “Stereometric constructions” that pre-date Cubism. Skeletal hands, positions of feet, walking studies. All meticulously rendered as the artist “pursued the subject in order to arrive at a workable system of constructing the human figure, suitable for artists.“ First published in 1523. GR

Publisher: Dover
Paperback: 335 pages
Illustrated

The Human Figure in Motion

Eadweard Muybridge

“This is the largest selection ever made from the famous Muybridge sequence of high-speed photographs of human motion. Containing 4,789 photographs, it illustrates 318 different types of action. Taken at a speed of 1/6000th of a second, these photographs show bone and muscle positions against ruled backgrounds. Almost all subjects are undraped, and all actions are shown from three angles: front, rear and three-quarter view.”

Publisher: Dover
Hardback: 390 pages
Illustrated

Muybridge’s Complete Human and Animal Locomotion, Volume 1

Eadweard Muybridge

“Of all the great pioneer-innovators of the 19th century, perhaps the least known is Eadweard Muybridge. Of all the great turning points in scientific, technological and artistic thought, undoubtedly the least known (because it has, effectively never been published) is Muybridge’s 11-volume pictorial treatise of human and animal life in motion. Present volumes combine Volumes 1 and 2: male nudes running, walking, leaping, twisting, boxing, wrestling, pole-vaulting, lifting and carrying heavy objects, climbing ladders, sitting, standing, etc.; 3 and 4: female nudes running, ascending and descending stairs, dancing, splashing, dressing and undressing, stooping, sweeping, making a bed and other domestic chores, spanking a child, feeding a dog in a series of movements shown in step-motion sequence; 781 plates (each plate a two-page spread) of nearly 300 separate actions split into as many as 50 individual shots per action; 532 of the plates show clothed and unclothed men, women, and children engaging in a wide variety of typical actions and activities.”

Publisher: Dover
Hardback: 629 pages
Illustrated

Muybridge’s Complete Human and Animal Locomotion, Volume 2

Eadweard Muybridge

“This volume comprises Volumes 5—males (pelvis cloth), 6—females (semi-nude and transparent drapery) and Children, 7—males and females (draped) and miscellaneous subjects, and 8—abnormal movements, males and females (nude and semi-nude) of the original 11-volume set. Most of the plates show three different simultaneous perspectives on a single action—front, rear and side or three-quarter view—which Muybridge achieved through his ingenious use of from 12 to 36 cameras and his own electromagnetic tripping device.”

Publisher: Dover
Hardback: 1 pages
Illustrated