The British Museum Ancient Egypt Pop-up Book

A big square volume with a spine nearly 2” thick, this looks authoritative rather than playful with the imprimatur of the British Museum and photos of Egyptian artefacts and wall paintings. Once inside you discover eight spectacular pop-ups by wizard paper engineer David Hawcock. These include a Nile-going boat, complete with oar and sail, King Ramesses II in his chariot, Tutankhamun’s golden death mask, which can be folded and turned to reveal the mummified head and moving jaw. We also have Queen Hatshepsut’s temple, although mine failed to open up properly, an Egyptian villa, the Great Pyramid complex at Giza and Tutankhamun’s tomb at the moment of discovery by Howard Carter. In addition there are fold-out maps, a working shaduf for raising water, papyrus fragments and a board game. It is a sumptuous package, beautifully produced and sturdily crafted. And yet it remains as enigmatic as the sphinx, as if the author and paper engineer forgot to take the reader by the hand. Open up the book and you are straight into the first spread – no preamble or introduction to get your bearings. The text, by knowledgeable Eygptologist James Putnam, is approachable and informative, but physically quite difficult to read as you must peer over the boat’s sails or through the horses’ reins. More editorial intervention in the way of labels or numbered keys would have been helpful too. But these are minor quibbles, for the book remains an impressive three-dimensional guide to this fascinating civilization.