Code-breaker's Secret Diaries

This book contains the letters and diaries of Champollion, whose work deciphering the Rosetta Stone paved the way for a huge upsurge in interest in the world of the ancient Egyptians. Armed with the knowledge recently obtained by the Napoleonic survey of Egypt and Champollion's new understanding of hieroglyphics, this book tells of his expedition to Egypt between May 1828 and March 1830, in his own words. The third edition has a new introduction by Richard Lebeau and a new preface by Joyce Tyldesley.