* * * * *

The first volume of Lady Duff Gordon's 'Letters from Egypt' was published
by Messrs. Macmillan and Co. in May, 1865, with a preface by her mother,
Mrs. Austin, who edited them, and was obliged to omit much that might
have given offence and made my mother's life uncomfortable--to say the
least--in Egypt. Before the end of the year the book went through three
editions.

In 1875 a volume containing the 'Last Letters from Egypt,' to which were
added 'Letters from the Cape,' reprinted from 'Vacation Tourists' (1864),
with a Memoir of my mother by myself, was published by Messrs. Macmillan
and Co. A second edition appeared in 1876.

I have now copied my mother's letters as they were written, omitting only
the purely family matter which is of no interest to the public. Edward
Lear's drawing of Luxor was printed in 'Three Generations of
Englishwomen,' edited by Mrs. Ross, but the other illustrations are now
reproduced for the first time.

The names of villages alluded to in the 'Letters' have been spelt as in
the Atlas published by the Egyptian Exploration Fund.

JANET ROSS.




LETTERS FROM EGYPT