The Spell of Egypt

This is a gorgeous book. Hichens' descriptions of Egypt's most famous monuments are painterly and poetic. More of a romantic evocation than a 'mere' travel book, he takes you back to a more relaxed and serene era of gentle exploration in which it was still possible to commune with the Great Pyramid or the Temple of Hathor without an accompanying horde of camera-weilding tourists, souvenir-sellers and loudly-declaiming tour-guides.

Robert Smythe Hichens was a satirist and critic, having studi...