Food: The Gift of Osiris ( 2 Volume Set )

Complete 2 Volume Set in Slipcase. Small 4tos, Vol I - xxxiii + pp452 with pp42 of index to rear. Vol 2 - xxxiii + pp453-pp877 with pp42 index to rear. Both volumes profusely illustrated throughout in b/w with 10 unnumbered colour plates. Blue paper covered slipcase with illustration to front board and text to back in poor condition with 2 bottom edges split but still whole. Hardcovers in dust jackets, both jackets in new protective sleeves in very good+ condition with a little rubbing to edges. Bindings of black buckram with gilt titles to spines and gilt Osiris to front boards in very good+ condition with a tiny bit of rubbing to gilt on spine to Volume 2. Inside Vol 1 warmly inscribed by all three authors to 'Elizabeth' dated 1977. with all pages in volumes in very good+ condition, clean, bright and unmarked. This work that bridges the gap between Egyptology, anthropology, and nutritional science was the culmination of 15 years of exhaustive research. William Jefferson Darby (a renowned nutritionist), Paul Ghalioungui (an Egyptian physician and historian), and Louis E. Grivetti (a geographer and nutrition expert) didn't just list what ancient people ate, they explained why they ate it, using the god Osiris, the mythical deity of agriculture, fertility, and resurrection, as the ultimate symbol of how food sustained both the mortal body and the eternal soul in the afterlife. A very good and very scarce signed copy. This is a heavy set and may cost more postage overseas.…