Handwritten autobiographical notes in pencil by Howard Carter, unsigned, 16 pages (mostly single-sided), 4.5 x 6.25, no date. The account begins with episodes of his life as Chief Inspector of the Upper Nile, a post in which he served from 1899 to 1904, opening: "Perhaps the reader may not be displeased if I here attempt to acquaint him with something of the life during summer residence in Upper Egypt." He writes of the oppressive heat in the summertime at Thebes and recalls encountering the "destruction of ancient monuments," in particular "the cutting out of sculptures, reliefs and fresco-paintings from the walls of tomb-chapels to sell to the unsuspecting collector whose primary appeal was the acquisition of antiquities."
He goes on to describe the excavation process, in part: "Clearing that shaft took the greater part of another two months. My description can give you no idea of the tediousness of the work: the fact, for instance, there was no means of arriving at any conclusion as to how deep we should have to go, nor the amount of material that would be required, made it all the more wearisome. However, at the end of November, the good news at last came. At the depth of more than 100 feet, the workmen reached the bottom, and revealed a doorway carefully sealed up with slabs of limestone. I examined it & found that the masonry by which it was closed had been built with due care. I said to the foreman 'this, without doubt, is the entrance to the Tomb-chamber' He nodded his assent, and muttered a prayer. My desire to remove a stone and peep through was almost irresistible. The foreman gave me a look of curiosity." In fine condition.
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