This delightful book tells the story of how Cleopatra's needle, the popular Egyptian obelisk that is now located in Manhattan's Central Park, came to New York in January of 1881.-- Metropolitan Museum of Art website.
In the half-century between 1831 and 1881 three massive obelisks left Egypt for new lands. Prior to these journeys, the last large obelisk moved was the Vatican obelisk in 1586 – one of the great engineering achievements of the Renaissance. Roman emperors moved more than a dozen, but left no records of how they did it. The nineteenth-century engineers entrusted with transporting the obelisks across oceans had to invent new methods, and they were far from certain that they would work. As the three obelisks, bound for Paris, London and New York, sailed towards their new homes, the world held its breath. Newspapers reported the obelisks' daily progress, complete with dramatic illustrations of the heroic deeds of the engineers and crews struggling under nearly impossible conditions. When the obelisks finally arrived safely in their new homes, bands played Cleopatra's Needle Waltz and silver obelisk pencils dangled from fashionable ladies' necks. This turbulent era, caught up in obelisk mania, is recreated by Bob Brier in all its glory. Amid astounding tales of engineering dexterity and naval endurance, the individuals involved in transporting the obelisks and receiving them in their future homes are brought to life through their letters and diaries, newspaper articles and illustrations. Written by a renowned Egyptologist and author, this compelling book will fascinate all those interested in Egypt, its iconic monuments and the history of great endeavour.
"A deluxe book produced at the point that Harroun and Bierstadt dissolved their business ... The Artotypes in this book are some of the finest produced by Bierstadt. The pictorial record of this engineering feat is remarkable in itself; casing and tilting the obelisk, loading it into the side of the ship by removing part of the hull, pulling it out on a special dock in the Hudson and then moving it by custom made rail from the river to the site next to the Metropolitan Museum. The illustrations show the hieroglyphics, now mostly lost due to New York's polluted air, bright and clear."--Hanson Collection catalog, p. 82
The colorful story behind one of America's greatest monuments and of the ancient obelisks of Egypt, now scattered around the world. Conceived soon after the American Revolution ended, the great monument to George Washington was not finally completed until almost a century later; the great obelisk was finished in 1884, and remains the tallest stone structure in the world at 555 feet. The story behind its construction is a largely untold and intriguing piece of American history, which acclaimed historian John Steele Gordon relates with verve, connecting it to the colorful saga of the ancient obelisks of Egypt. Nobody knows how many obelisks were crafted in ancient Egypt, or even exactly how they were created and erected since they are made out of hard granite and few known tools of the time were strong enough to work granite. Generally placed in pairs at the entrances to temples, they have in modern times been ingeniously transported around the world to Istanbul, Paris, London, New York, and many other locations. Their stories illuminate that of the Washington Monument, once again open to the public following earthquake damage, and offer a new appreciation for perhaps the most iconic memorial in the country.
Dan Rawlins, a world-famous archaeologist working out of New York's Metropolitan Museum, asks his assistant to find half of an Egyptian ankh in the museum's collection. But she disappears, only to turn up murdered. The relic is nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, Jacinda El-Bahri, a Mossad agent, is on the run in Cairo after stealing the other half of the ankh from a powerful terrorist. Known as Salameh, he plans to use the relic's incredible energy to unleash a power of biblical proportions. Across three continents and three thousand years, the struggle to reunite the ancient artifacts rages. And Dan and Jacinda, caught in the throes of an ancient evil, may be the only hope for the modern world. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Dating from the beginning of historical memory, the obelisks of ancient Egypt—those tall, tapering shafts typically weighing from 200 to 500 tons—were carved from a single block of solid stone to commemorate the ruler of the moment. Many of these ancient monoliths, taken from Egypt as trophies of conquest and symbols of power through the efforts of extraordinary human labor and engineering ingenuity, were re-established in the capitals and seats of empire that also inherited Egypt’s burden of civilization. While near the climax of their historical potency, obelisks were erected by Alexandria, Nineveh, Constantinople, Rome, Paris, London, New York, etc. Fascinating as obelisks are as tracers of world history, the methods by which they have been moved and raised from ca. B.C. 1500 to A.D. 1880 (when the New York obelisk was raised) are more interesting still, and this epic history and associated engineering feats are encapsulated in this volume. The book records information, as far as we have it, on the building of the pyramids and the moving of the obelisks, together with various conjectures. What is certain is that the obelisks were moved great distances by man power alone. We do have a full record of the moving of the Vatican obelisk in 1586 from several contemporary accounts, most especially that of the project’s deviser and chief engineer, Domenico Fontana, and this move is the central concern of the book: it details how Fontana, with the enthusiastic backing of Pope Sixtus V, solved the problem by utilizing 48 capstans spread over what is now St. Peter’s Square, turned by the combined muscle power of men and horses. Full accounts are also given of the Paris, London, and New York obelisks. Of particular interest here are the various methods—including a pontoon built around a prone obelisk—by which the monoliths were transported on the high seas. Contemporary engravings are reproduced throughout.
This remarkable book details the work of one of the most extraordinary publishing enterprises in history. Censor-baiting, provocative, simultaneous publisher of the literary elite and of ‘dirty books’, Jack Kahane’s Obelisk Press published Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin, Lawrence Durrell, D. H. Lawrence, and James Joyce among others. At the same time Kahane subsidised his literary endeavours with cheap erotica and trash fiction from long-forgotten eccentrics such as New York Daily News’ Rome correspondent and self-styled ‘Marco Polo of Sex’ N. Reynolds Packard. Kahane’s business model was simple: if a book was banned in the UK and US it could be profitably published in Paris. Here, for the first time, Neil Pearson has pulled together the incendiary story of Obelisk, including biographies of Kahane and his major and minor authors, and a bibliography of Obelisk books. This beautifully written volume – part cultural history, part reference book – will be required reading for anyone interested in controversial writing, censorship, 1920s Paris, publishing history and authors such as Miller, Joyce and Nin.
Essun's missing daughter grows more powerful every day, and her choices may destroy the world in this "magnificent" Hugo Award winner and NYT Notable Book. (NPR) The season of endings grows darker, as civilization fades into the long cold night. Essun -- once Damaya, once Syenite, now avenger -- has found shelter, but not her daughter. Instead there is Alabaster Tenring, destroyer of the world, with a request. But if Essun does what he asks, it would seal the fate of the Stillness forever. Far away, her daughter Nassun is growing in power -- and her choices will break the world. N. K. Jemisin's award winning trilogy continues in the sequel to The Fifth Season.