PREFACE TO THE FOURTH AND REVISED EDITION.
Notwithstanding the fact that Egyptology is now recognised as a science, an exact and communicable knowledge of whose existence and scope it behoves all modern culture to take cognisance, this work of M.Maspero still remains the Handbook of Egyptian Archaeology.

But Egyptology is as yet in its infancy; whatever their age, Egyptologists will long die young.

Every year, almost every month, fresh material for the study is found, fresh light is thrown upon it by the progress of excavation, exploration, and research.

Hence it follows that, in the course of a few years, the standard text-books require considerable addition and modification if they are to be of the greatest value to students, who must always start from the foremost vantage-ground.
The increasing demand for the _Egyptian Archaeology_ by English and American tourists, as well as students, decided the English publishers to issue a new edition in as light and portable a form as possible.

This edition is carefully corrected, and contains the enlarged letterpress and many fresh illustrations necessary for incorporating within the book adequate accounts of the main archaeological results of recent Egyptian excavations.