Quotes:Book of the Dead

H. P. Blavatsky

Book of the Dead. An ancient Egyptian ritualistic and occult work attributed to Thot‐Hermes. Found in the coffins of ancient mummies.

Source: H. P. Blavatsky, The Theosophical Glossary, art. Book of the Dead

Zirkoff, Boris

*Book of the Dead, The. Passages quoted have been checked by the English translation of the Theban Recension by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge; 2nd rev. and enl. ed., London, Kegan Paul; New York, E. P. Dutton & Co., 1928. 3 vols. in one.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 2, p. 523

*Book of the Dead. See Appendix to Volume X of the present Series, pp. 413-14, for comprehensive bibliographical data.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 3, p. 498

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 4, p. 635

*Book of the Dead, The, The Chapters of coming forth by Day. The English text according to the Theban recension in hieroglyphic edited from numerous papyri, with a translation, vocabulary, etc., by E. A. Wallis Budge. Plates. 3 vols. London: Kegan Paul & Co., 1898. 8-vo. 2nd ed., rev. and enl. 7 vols., 1909-11. 8-vo. (Books on Egypt and Chaldaea, vols. 6-8, 28-31).

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 6, p. 428

*Book of the Dead, The. Passages quoted have been checked by the English transl. of the Theban Recension by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge; 2nd rev. and enl. ed., London: Kegan Paul; New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1928, 3 vols. in one.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 9, p. 408

*Book of the Dead. Consult Bio-Bibliographical Index of Volume X in the present Series, for comprehensive information concerning the nature of this title and the various editions of the text.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 11, p. 568

*Book of the Dead. The conventional title given to collections of funerary texts (spells, incantations, hymns, invocations, litanies) which were during a period of at least 5,000 years cut or painted on walls of pyramids and tombs in Egypt, and painted on coffins and rolls of papyri. The earliest texts, ascribed to Thoth and directly connected with him, are—according to documents of the Xlth and XVIIth dynasties—entitled “Reu nu pert em hru” which means “Chapters of the Coming Forth [into] the Day.” During subsequent periods many additions were made, until under the XVIIIth dynasty the collection comprised nearly 200 distinct compositions, sayings or “chapters.”

There are three recensions of the Book of the Dead (Das Totenbuch, in German; Le Livre des Morts, in French): 1) The Heliopolitan recension, i.e., the texts inscribed in hieroglyphics upon the walls and chambers of the Pyramids during the Vth and Vlth dynasties, and the texts written in cursive hieroglyphics upon coffins of the 414 Xlth and Xllth dynasties. This recension is in accordance with the views held by the priests of Heliopolis; 2) The Theban recension, i.e., the texts written in hieroglyphics upon coffins and papyri from the XVIIIth to the XXIInd dynasties; and in hieratic characters upon papyri during the XXIst and XXIInd dynasties. Chiefly copied for the priests at Thebes and their families; 3) Saite (Saite-Ptolemaic) recension, i.e., texts written upon papyri and coffins in hieroglyphic, hieratic or demotic characters, from the XXVIth dynasty down to the Graeco-Roman period. This recension was in all probability supervised by the priests of Sais.

The title “Book of the Dead” is a translation of the Arabic “Kitâb al-Maggitun,” under which name any papyrus roll found with the mummies was sold by the Egyptian tomb-robbers.

The following gives a partial Bibliography which will be useful to the student:

Per-M-Hru. Das Todtenbuch der Aegypter naeh dem hieroglyphischen Papyrus in Turin, etc., Richard Lepsius, Leipzig, 1842, 4to.—Das Aegyptische Todtenbuch der XVIII bis XX Dynastie. Edited from various sources by E. Naville, Berlin, 1886, fol., 3 vols.—Chapitres supplémentaires du Livre des Morts, 162, 163, 163 (164-174). Translated and with Commentary by W. Pleyte, Leyden, 1881, 8vo., 3 pts.—Le Livre des Morts des Anciens Égyptiens. Complete translation of the Turin Papyrus and the Louvre MSS. With Notes and an analytical Index. P. Pierret, Paris, 1882. (In Vol. XXXIII of the Bibliothèque Orientale Elzévirienne.)—Le Papyrus de Neb-Qed, exemplaire hiéroglyphique du Livre des Morts. Edited and with a Mythological Introduction by Théodule Devéria. Translation of text by P. Pierret. Paris, A. Franck (F. Vieweg), 1872. Coloured Plates.—Grammaire Égyptienne, ou principes généraux de récriture sacrée Égyptienne, etc. Edited with a Preface by J. J. Champollion-Figeac, Paris, 1836, fol.—Facsimiles of two Papyri found in a tomb at Thebes. With a transl, by Samuel Birch, and an account of their discovery by A. H. Rhind. London, 1863.—Book of the Dead. A translation with Comm, of the 2nd and following chapters by P. Ie Page Renouf, Proceedings, Society of Biblical Archaeology, Vols. 14-19, 1892-97.—Le Pire-em-hrou, Chabas, in Compte rendu of the Oriental Congress, Vol. I, Paris, 1876, pp. 37 ff.—The Book of the Dead. Facsimile of the Papyrus of Ani in the British Museum. Edited by E. A. Wallis Budge and with an Introd, by P. Ie Page Renouf, London, 1890, fol.; 2nd ed. 1894.—Ditto, but with interlinear transliteration and translation, introd., etc. by Budge, London, 1895, 4to; also 1913.—The Book of the Dead. The Chapters of Coming Forth by Day. The Egyptian text according to the Theban recension in hieroglyphic, edited from numerous papyri, with a translation, vocabulary, etc., by E. A. Wallis Budge. London, 1898 [1897], 3 Vols., 8vo. Plates.—415 The Book of the Dead. An English translation of the Chapters, Hymns, etc., of the Theban Recension, with Introd., Notes, etc., by E. A. Wallis Budge. With 22 Plates and 420 vignettes. London, 1909-11, 3 Vols. [Books on Egypt and Chaldaea Series.]; 2nd rev. and enl. ed., 1910; 2nd impression thereof, 1923; 3rd impression, in one volume, 1928.

H. P. B. used on numerous occasions, especially for Isis Unveiled, portions of the translation by Samuel Birch, as published in Bunsen’s Egypt’s Place in Universal History, Engl, transl., London, 1848-67, in 5 Vols.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 10, pp. 413-415