This is a "booklet" the book I thought it was has over 300 pages. A very big waste of money!

As a long time fan of ancient Egyptian study, I wanted to pick this up to further understand a fascinating culture. This version is not for the casual reader and offers a rather in-depth look at the scrolls intended for burial and embalming of a body as prescribed in the 'Book of the Dead'. I tend to lean towards more educational depictions of historic cultures and this fit the bill. It is lengthy however and doesn't lean to the narrative, but will still give an enlightened view into ancient Egyptian funerary practices.

Budge's work is great. Yes, his style of English is out of date and his tranliterations are different. For example, modern writers prefer to transliterate "ntr" as: NEJER or NECHER. Budge uses NETER. Many points of Egyptian grammar remain very unclear and much of what passes for "modern translations" are more guess work than actual translations.
The real reason Budge is trashed so often has nothing to do with his translations at all!

After many, many years of study Budge abandoned the pure assertion that ancient Egypt was an "Oriental" or "Eastern culture". Based largely, I imagine, on Hegel's pure assertions that "The History of the World travels from East to West, for Europe is absolutely the end of History, Asia the beginning." These ideas have become part of European intellectual DOGMA. Africa is not a part of human history; Ancient Egypt belongs to Europe. This is pure DOGMA. But, perhaps we should expect Dogma from a German theologian!
But on the other hand, after years of objective study of the language, religion, society and customs of the ancient Egyptians, Budge was led screaming and kicking, I might add, to the realization that the religion of the Egyptians was BLACK AFRICAN. The concept of the "ka" and the "ba" are found almost everywhere in Black Africa today! The language was a BLACK AFRICAN language and the customs were purely African. The ancient Egyptians were: "African negroes" or "Nilotic negroes" wrote Budge in several of his later works. In spite of the anti-African racism that we find in his earlier and even his later works, Budge rose above the prejudices of his time and followed the facts. The facts led to the heart of Africa, not to Asia.
Many modern African scholars have confirmed that the language of ancient Egypt was a "typical Black African language. For example Dr. Theophile Obenga(ORIGINE COMMUNE DE L'EGYPTIEN ANCIEN DU COPTE ET DES LANGUES NEGRO-AFRICAINES MODERNES) has proven the genetic linguistic relationship between the language spoken by the ancient Egyptians, Coptic and modern Black African languages. No competent linguist can demonstrate that the language of ancient Egypt has any genetic relationship to the Semitic languages....it can not be done!!!
When you study the language of ancient Egypt you study an ancient Black African language, like it or not!!
In a nutshell, that is the real reason that Budge is so often trashed. And perhaps why he is so viciously trashed.......

I gave this book 5 stars simply for the reason being that Budge was the first to translate the Egyptian Text and offered a literal translation. In contrast, if anyone wants to read a mystical interpretation of the text the best available for this would be: (The Egyptian Book of the Dead : The Book of Coming Forth by Day by: Muata A. Ashbi)

Being an archaeologist, I know better than to claim that there is such a thing as a wrong or right inference. They are all just interpretations of available information that can be translated differently by another person (I believe this is why Budge included the original text--in order to give the reader a chance to make hs own inferences). The best way to judge an interpretation based on artifacts and proveniences is by the background and experience of the academic doing the translation. Being a celebrated Egyptologist for such a long period of time ought to count for something. I know I wouldn't disparage a fellow Archy based on the words of a fictional man from a movie that claimed pyramids were built by aliens.

I don't need to be anonymous, scared or ignorant of the "FACT" that Budge did not translate this wonderful papyrus for the general public to be eaten "WHOLE"; he is no different than Falkner and others who spent their personal time to translate what they thought about what it was saying for the minds of the above named individuals!!!

It is up to you to make a translation for yourself!!! Anybody's translation is just that--A TRANSLATION! Do you reviewer's NOT have the ability to learn the language and translate for you own personal archives??? I do and I have translated it for my own personal archives, however, it is not a permanent translation because the mind is ever far-reaching because it is not limited--unlike some of the reviewers comments that I've read here concerning this man. The same can and is said(by me atleast)about Falkner and others who attempt to make "MONEY" on a so-called "RIGHT, CORRECT and AUTHORIZED VERSION (TRANSLATION)" of the papyrus!!!

So, then, stop crying and be happy that at least Budge gave his work with "HIEROGLYPHS"--unlike other so-called "Authorities" on this African nation!!!

Sincerely yours,
Someone who thinks for HIMSELF!!!

As a former student of Egyptology, I must inform all potential readers that Budge's translations are very poor, and that much better translations of the Papyrus of Ani now exist. Budge also tends to exaggerate and sensationalize. If this book was supposed to be a literal translation, this wouldn't be the case. The inferior translations are mostly due to the age of the book. Advances in the field of Egyptian grammar make this text obsolete.

Budge's translation of the Papryrus of Ani is well done, and understandable to even those who are not as learned in Ancient Egypt as he. There are detailed analysises of each Chapter and Vignette, as well as extensive prefaces, introductions, and appendices regarding some information that should be known before reading the papyrus. My only complaint is that the appendices are almost longer than the papyrus itself, although most of the info is completely useful. There are also many copies of the original heiroglyphic translations included, as well as nice copies of plates and drawings from the original papyrus.