Item #69297 Queen Moo and the Egyptian Sphinx. Augustus LE PLONGEON.
Queen Moo and the Egyptian Sphinx.

Queen Moo and the Egyptian Sphinx.

New York: Privately published, 1900. Second Edition. Hardcover. Large octavo. lxvi + 278pp. Original brown cloth lettered in gilt on spine, gilt silouhette image lettering on front board, beveled edges, top-edge-gilt, appendixes, index. Frontispiece portraits of both Le Plongeon and his wife, b&w illustrations & diagrams, 73 black and white plates engraved plates from photographs and drawings. The second edition of this work by Augustus Le Plongeon (1826 - 1908), French-American photographer, archeologist, explorer & author who studied the pre-Columbian ruins of America extensively, particularly those of the Mayan civilization on the northern Yucatán Peninsula, and he was one of the earliest proponents of Mayanism. Le Plongeon's writings contain many controversial theories regarding his belief that the Americas were the cradle of all civilization and were not well received by his contemporaries and were later disproven, but he left a lasting legacy in his photographs documenting the ancient ruins which he explored. The Plongeons were the first to excavate the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza, and they thought that they'd found evidence of an ancient Queen named Moo, and her royal court, detailed in the statues, bas reliefs, and statues that they found there, whose story they recount in this volume. They also believed that there had been an interchange between the ancient Maya and the Egyptians, and that Moo formed the model for the Egyptian Goddess Isis. Cloth lightly rubbed and darkened overall, a bit of chafing to all edges and points, corners and spine ends lightly bumped and chafed, page edges a little darkened. A few marks on the endpapers, owner's name on early blank, otherwise unmarked. Overall a tight, clean VG copy. (No dust jacket). Item #69297

Sold

See all items by