Thompson, Joseph P.: Photographic views of Egypt, past and present (Boston, 1854)

PREFACE.

In the month of January, 1853, I found myself afloat
upon the Nile. Six months before, I had left New
York in the uncertainty of pulmonary disease, to try the
benefit of a year of travel in more genial climes. The
balmy air of Egypt brought healing to my lungs, and
with this came an almost boyish gush of life; so that in
the soul, as in the outer world, it was the " Season of
Vegetation" after the "Season of the Waters." For
three months the light of each "morning without clouds"
pictured in the mind the scenery of the Nile, the passing
scenes of Egyptian life, and the lingering monuments of
Egyptian history, in lines that can never be effaced; and
in the abundant leisure of boat life, these views were
transferred from the mind to paper. Each view was
taken by the light which itself threw upon the mind;—■
photographed by the outward upon the inward, and again
transferred from the inward to the. outward. These
impressions, as taken at the time, were laid by for future
reference. A few have been exhibited to friends in
public journals and in lectures; and now the whole are
bound together in this volume, for whoever cares to look