Writing Late Egyptian Hieratic: A Beginner's Primer

Rating:
Summary: Sad
Review: Oh, this is a book with such potential that is ruined by presentation. The author has a unique view for a Western academic in that he taught in China, and there developed a vision of Egyptian seen in terms of Eastern brush caligraphy rather than Western or Middle Eastern pen calligraphy. But the presentation using a mid-Eighties computer fount designed by the author is so bad as to make the book virtually unusable for me. I really do hope he will reapproach the book with professional typographic help - if he is still in China, there must be many able to aid him.

If the reader simply wants to learn 'Egyptian' regardless of period or style, I must recommend J. P. Allen's Middle Egyptian. It is, of course, the language of a different period and uses heiroglyphics, not heiratic.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing graphics
Review: While the lessons are very good, clear and thoughtful, the images of the hieratic signs and the hieroglyphic bookhand are maybe the worst I've ever seen. Both were apparently done by hand and scanned in. Usually, I like that, but the resolution used was so low, it is sometimes hard to identify the actual signs. Readability is extremely poor, but no argument with the actual scholarship. There really is no competition for this otherwise very good book.

Rating:
Summary: Great Introduction to EGYPTIAN!
Review: Wow, this is a really great study of Egyptian handwriting and makes it so easy to teach myself how to write like an Egyptian.