"THERE BEFORE US LAY THE SEALED DOOR": ILLUSTRATED FIRST EDITION OF HOWARD CARTER'S DISCOVERY OF KING TUT'S TOMB, A SUPERB ASSOCIATION COPY FROM THE LIBRARY OF RENOWNED BRITISH CHEMIST AND EGYPTOLOGIST SIR ROBERT MOND

CARTER, Howard and MACE, A.C. The Tomb of Tutankhamen Discovered by the Late Earl of Carnarvon and Howard Carter. London: Cassell, 1923-33. Three volumes. Thick octavo, original brown cloth gilt with decorative gilt scarabs on front covers, patterned endpapers.

First edition of Carter's account of the discovery of King Tutankhamen's tomb, including the scarce third volume, a distinctive association copy with the armorial bookplates in Volumes I & II of British chemist, archaeologist and collector Sir Robert Mond, who was present when the lid to the sarcophagus in the Tomb of Tutankhamen was raised and they first glimpsed the "golden effigy of the young boy king." With 247 dramatic illustrations, in original gilt-stamped cloth.

When Carter entered King Tut's tomb in 1922, he bridged 3000 years separating the reign of the Boy-King from the modern world. This first detailed account, richly illustrated with hundreds of plates after photographs taken by Harry Burton, includes images from the discovery of Tut's sepulchral chamber, the excavation of the site, and hundreds of catalogued artifacts. Because of the Depression, the third and final volume, included here, was printed in limited numbers and is consequently quite scarce. Without very scarce dust jackets. From the library of Sir Robert Ludwig Mond, the noted British "chemist, industrialist and archaeologist… [who] followed the motto: 'Make yourself necessary," as seen on his bookplates in Volumes I & II. Mond had "a lifelong and creative interest in Egyptian archaeology, to which he made considerable contributions not only as benefactor but also as a worker in the field. He collaborated first with Percy Newberry, and then with Howard Carter" (ODB). Carter notes here that Mond was present when the lid to the sarcophagus in the Tomb of Tutankhamen was raised and they first glimpsed the "golden effigy of the young boy king" (II:51). Mond also assisted in "a first publication on the Theban tombs by Gardiner and Weigall… [and] played a large part in the restoration and protection of the Theban necropolis. Resuming work after the interruption of WWI, he initiated the preservation of the tomb of Rameses… His work in this and other excavations brought him into close and sometimes active collaboration with some of the most distinguished archaeologists of his time… He was a discriminating collector, exhibiting his collection magnificently in his own home in London and then bequeathing much of it to the British Museum" (ODNB).

Text and plates generally fresh with scattered foxing mainly to preliminaries and edges of Volume I. Very nearly fine in bright gilt-stamped cloth.