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40-572: Wilbour is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Charles Edwin Wilbour (1833–1896), American journalist and Egyptologist Charlotte Beebe Wilbour (1833–1914), American feminist, speaker, and writer Isaac Wilbour (1763–1837), American politician from Rhode Island See also [ edit ] Wilbur (disambiguation) Wilber (disambiguation) Wilbor (disambiguation) [REDACTED] Surname list This page lists people with

80-673: A scroll , an early form of a book. Papyrus was first known to have been used in Egypt (at least as far back as the First Dynasty ), as the papyrus plant was once abundant across the Nile Delta . It was also used throughout the Mediterranean region. Apart from writing material, ancient Egyptians employed papyrus in the construction of other artifacts , such as reed boats , mats , rope , sandals , and baskets . Papyrus

120-592: A co-laborer with Heinrich Karl Brugsch and Gaston Camille Charles Maspero in the field of Egyptology, accompanying the latter on five winter exploring expeditions up the Nile. Wilbour spent his winters in Egypt, working at sites throughout the country from 1880 until his death in 1896. He travelled from site to site by train, postal steamer, or hitching a lift on the steamer belonging to the Department of Antiquities . By

160-518: A file of letters between Charles Wilbour's wife, Charlotte, and noted Suffragists such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Isabella Beecher Hooker, among others. [1] The Wilbour Archival Collection documents the research and expeditions of Charles Edwin Wilbour (1833–1896), one of the first American Egyptologists. This collection includes a wide variety of materials such as articles, letters, inscriptions, notebooks, notes, publications, squeezes , bookplates, maps, and photographs. The bulk of

200-409: A hard surface with their edges slightly overlapping, and then another layer of strips is laid on top at right angles. The strips may have been soaked in water long enough for decomposition to begin, perhaps increasing adhesion, but this is not certain. The two layers possibly were glued together. While still moist, the two layers were hammered together, mashing the layers into a single sheet. The sheet

240-624: A loanword of unknown (perhaps Pre-Greek ) origin. Greek has a second word for it, βύβλος ( byblos ), said to derive from the name of the Phoenician city of Byblos . The Greek writer Theophrastus , who flourished during the 4th century BCE, uses papyros when referring to the plant used as a foodstuff and byblos for the same plant when used for nonfood products, such as cordage, basketry, or writing surfaces. The more specific term βίβλος biblos , which finds its way into English in such words as 'bibliography', 'bibliophile', and 'bible', refers to

280-629: A matter of decades; a 200-year-old papyrus was considered extraordinary. Imported papyrus once commonplace in Greece and Italy has since deteriorated beyond repair, but papyri are still being found in Egypt; extraordinary examples include the Elephantine papyri and the famous finds at Oxyrhynchus and Nag Hammadi . The Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum , containing the library of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus , Julius Caesar 's father-in-law,

320-747: Is different from Wikidata All set index articles Charles Edwin Wilbour Charles Edwin Wilbour was born in Little Compton, Rhode Island , on March 17, 1833. He received a classical education and entered Brown University , where he took a prize for proficiency in Greek and was noted for his thorough acquaintance with the ancient and modern languages, but did not graduate due to poor health. Having taught himself shorthand , when he had sufficiently recovered, he went to New York City in 1854 and became connected with

360-442: Is of highly rot-resistant cellulose , but storage in humid conditions can result in molds attacking and destroying the material. Library papyrus rolls were stored in wooden boxes and chests made in the form of statues. Papyrus scrolls were organized according to subject or author and identified with clay labels that specified their contents without having to unroll the scroll. In European conditions, papyrus seems to have lasted only

400-531: Is one of the world's most comprehensive research libraries for the study of ancient Egypt. The nucleus of the collection comes from the personal library of Charles Edwin Wilbour, an American Egyptologist who also assembled the museum's extensive Egyptian antiquities collection. With over 35,000 volumes, the Wilbour Library is an important resource for textual and visual information about the history of ancient Egypt. It also holds material on art and culture of

440-544: The New York Herald Tribune as a reporter. Wilbour also studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1859. Over the following eighteen years, he devoted himself to literary and journalistic work. In 1872, Wilbour began the study of Egyptian antiquities, visiting the principal libraries of the United States and Canada. He also owned a major paper manufacturing company, which eventually involved him in

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480-680: The Cambridge Antiquarian Society , one of the Papyri Graecae Magicae V, translated into English with commentary in 1853. Papyrus was made in several qualities and prices. Pliny the Elder and Isidore of Seville described six variations of papyrus that were sold in the Roman market of the day. These were graded by quality based on how fine, firm, white, and smooth the writing surface was. Grades ranged from

520-640: The Great Pyramid of Giza . For multiple millennia, papyrus was commonly rolled into scrolls as a form of storage. However, at some point late in its history, papyrus began being collected together in the form of codices akin to the modern book. This may have been mimicking the book-form of codices created with parchment . Early Christian writers soon adopted the codex form, and in the Greco-Roman world, it became common to cut sheets from papyrus rolls to form codices. Codices were an improvement on

560-587: The Islamic world , which originally learned of it from the Chinese. By the 12th century, parchment and paper were in use in the Byzantine Empire , but papyrus was still an option. Until the middle of the 19th century, only some isolated documents written on papyrus were known, and museums simply showed them as curiosities. They did not contain literary works. The first modern discovery of papyri rolls

600-601: The Merovingian chancery was with a document from 692 A.D., though it was known in Gaul until the middle of the following century. The latest certain dates for the use of papyrus in Europe are 1057 for a papal decree (typically conservative, all papal bulls were on papyrus until 1022), under Pope Victor II , and 1087 for an Arabic document. Its use in Egypt continued until it was replaced by less expensive paper introduced by

640-606: The Temple of Kom Ombo , which reflect his meticulousness and attention to detail. In addition, the sketches and photographs visually document objects and sites he visited. Of particular interest is a collection of sketches that provide impressions of inscriptions found on an unidentified sarcophagus. Not only do the photographs provide visual documentation of Wilbour's research, but they also illustrate various monuments in Aswan and other locations. The Wilbour Library of Egyptology today

680-761: The Wilbour Papyrus and the Elephantine Papyri , were put in storage by the hotel and not returned to his family for nearly half a century. At the request of his widow, Wilbour's papyri were donated to the Brooklyn Museum . Wilbour published "Rachel in the New World", from the French of Léon Beauvallet , with John W. Palmer (New York, 1856); and translated Victor Hugo's Les Misérables (1862–1863); he also published The Life of Jesus , from

720-411: The surname Wilbour . If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name (s) to the link. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wilbour&oldid=1040102660 " Category : Surnames Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description

760-566: The 18th century, a library of ancient papyri was found in Herculaneum , ripples of expectation spread among the learned men of the time. However, since these papyri were badly charred, their unscrolling and deciphering are still going on today. Papyrus was made from the stem of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus . The outer rind was first removed, and the sticky fibrous inner pith is cut lengthwise into thin strips about 40 cm (16 in) long. The strips were then placed side by side on

800-496: The French of Ernest Renan (1863). The Wilbour Library of Egyptology in the Brooklyn Museum is named for him as are Wilbour Hall and the Charles Edwin Wilbour Professorship at Brown University . In 1916, the children of Charles E. Wilbour donated Wilbour's collection of objects, his Egyptological library, and personal papers to the Brooklyn Museum . In 1932, the bequest of Victor Wilbour,

840-443: The ancient Middle East. Papyri Papyrus ( / p ə ˈ p aɪ r ə s / pə- PY -rəs ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface . It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus , a wetland sedge . Papyrus (plural: papyri or papyruses ) can also refer to a document written on sheets of such material, joined side by side and rolled up into

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880-1215: The collection housed at the Brooklyn Museum consists of Wilbour's letters, notebooks, and research notes. He wrote numerous detailed letters to his wife, Charlotte Beebe Wilbour , and his mother, Sarah Soule Wilbour, describing both ancient and nineteenth century Egypt. These letters also document some of the objects purchased by Wilbour that are currently found in the Brooklyn Museum. Jean Capart later published these letters in 1936 in his book Travels in Egypt . In addition, there are letters to Wilbour from renowned Egyptologists such as August Eisenlohr , Jan Herman Insigner , Gaston Maspero , Archibald Sayce , Heinrich Karl Brugsch , and W.M. Flinders Petrie regarding their research and publications. In addition to his letters, Wilbour's research notes and notebooks offer insight into his work and provide detailed accounts of his observations and travels. Additional items of interest are inscriptions that Wilbour copied directly from sites or publications, and copies of published inscriptions with his hand-written annotations. Of particular interest are Wilbour's hand written copies from inscriptions located in

920-524: The events leading to his voluntary self-exile. He obtained many city contracts apparently dealing with Tammany Hall in the heyday of the Tweed Ring . With the fall of William M. Tweed in the early 1870s, Wilbour decided to leave the United States. In 1874, he went abroad, consulting the archaeological collection of the British Museum and visiting prominent European libraries. He then became

960-484: The inner bark of the papyrus plant. Papyrus is also the etymon of 'paper', a similar substance. In the Egyptian language , papyrus was called wadj ( w3ḏ ), tjufy ( ṯwfy ) , or djet ( ḏt ). The word for the material papyrus is also used to designate documents written on sheets of it, often rolled up into scrolls. The plural for such documents is papyri. Historical papyri are given identifying names – generally

1000-440: The long strip scrolls required, several such sheets were united and placed so all the horizontal fibres parallel with the roll's length were on one side and all the vertical fibres on the other. Normally, texts were first written on the recto , the lines following the fibres, parallel to the long edges of the scroll. Secondarily, papyrus was often reused, writing across the fibres on the verso . One source used for determining

1040-416: The method by which papyrus was created in antiquity is through the examination of tombs in the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes , which housed a necropolis containing many murals displaying the process of papyrus-making. The Roman commander Pliny the Elder also describes the methods of preparing papyrus in his Naturalis Historia . In a dry climate , like that of Egypt, papyrus is stable, formed as it

1080-886: The name of the discoverer, first owner, or institution where they are kept – and numbered, such as " Papyrus Harris I ". Often an abbreviated form is used, such as "pHarris I". These documents provide important information on ancient writings; they give us the only extant copy of Menander , the Egyptian Book of the Dead , Egyptian treatises on medicine (the Ebers Papyrus ) and on surgery (the Edwin Smith papyrus ), Egyptian mathematical treatises (the Rhind papyrus ), and Egyptian folk tales (the Westcar Papyrus ). When, in

1120-511: The only son of Charles and Charlotte Wilbour, established the Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund. The purpose of this endowment was to financially assist in the purchasing of objects for the museum's Egyptian collection, support curatorial staff, and establish the Wilbour Library of Egyptology. As a result of the creation of this endowment, the Brooklyn Museum appointed Jean Capart (1877–1947) as Honorary Curator of Egyptology. Capart

1160-422: The papyrus scroll, as the papyrus was not pliable enough to fold without cracking, and a long roll, or scroll, was required to create large-volume texts. Papyrus had the advantage of being relatively cheap and easy to produce, but it was fragile and susceptible to both moisture and excessive dryness. Unless the papyrus was of perfect quality, the writing surface was irregular, and the range of media that could be used

1200-408: The superfine Augustan, which was produced in sheets of 13 digits (10 inches) wide, to the least expensive and most coarse, measuring six digits (four inches) wide. Materials deemed unusable for writing or less than six digits were considered commercial quality and were pasted edge to edge to be used only for wrapping. The English word "papyrus" derives, via Latin , from Greek πάπυρος ( papyros ),

1240-488: The surface. The main advantage of papyrus had been its cheaper raw material — the papyrus plant is easy to cultivate in a suitable climate and produces more writing material than animal hides (the most expensive books, made from foetal vellum would take up to dozens of bovine fetuses to produce). However, as trade networks declined, the availability of papyrus outside the range of the papyrus plant became limited and it thus lost its cost advantage. Papyrus' last appearance in

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1280-539: The time of his visit in 1886, however, Wilbour decided to buy a dahabiya (houseboat), which would accommodate him, his visiting family, and his library in greater comfort. On a visit to Aswan Wilbour purchased some papyri dug up on the island of Elephantine by local people. He did not realize the importance of his find and when he died in a hotel in Paris. His belongings, including the Brooklyn Papyrus ,

1320-556: The tourist trade was developed in 1962 by the Egyptian engineer Hassan Ragab using plants that had been reintroduced into Egypt in 1872 from France. Both Sicily and Egypt have centres of limited papyrus production. Papyrus is still used by communities living in the vicinity of swamps, to the extent that rural householders derive up to 75% of their income from swamp goods. Particularly in East and Central Africa, people harvest papyrus, which

1360-579: The wild. During the 1920s, when Egyptologist Battiscombe Gunn lived in Maadi , outside Cairo, he experimented with the manufacture of papyrus, growing the plant in his garden. He beat the sliced papyrus stalks between two layers of linen and produced successful examples of papyrus, one of which was exhibited in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The modern technique of papyrus production used in Egypt for

1400-502: Was also limited. Papyrus was gradually overtaken in Europe by a rival writing surface that rose in prominence known as parchment , which was made from animal skins . By the beginning of the fourth century A.D., the most important books began to be manufactured in parchment, and works worth preserving were transferred from papyrus to parchment. Parchment had significant advantages over papyrus, including higher durability in moist climates and being more conducive to writing on both sides of

1440-505: Was first manufactured in Egypt as far back as the third millennium BCE. The earliest archaeological evidence of papyrus was excavated in 2012 and 2013 at Wadi al-Jarf , an ancient Egyptian harbor located on the Red Sea coast. These documents, the Diary of Merer , date from c.  2560 –2550 BCE (end of the reign of Khufu ). The papyrus rolls describe the last years of building

1480-570: Was made at Herculaneum in 1752. Until then, the only papyri known had been a few surviving from medieval times. Scholarly investigations began with the Dutch historian Caspar Jacob Christiaan Reuvens (1793–1835). He wrote about the content of the Leyden papyrus , published in 1830. The first publication has been credited to the British scholar Charles Wycliffe Goodwin (1817–1878), who published for

1520-776: Was one of the first individuals to realize the scholarly value of Wilbour's papers. In 1936, Capart published Travels in Egypt , which contains Wilbour's letters regarding his expeditions. Shortly after the publication of these letters, the Department of Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art (ECAMEA) employed Walter Federn (1910–1967) “to classify the extensive collection of papers belonging to Charles Edwin Wilbour.” An additional collection of Wilbour family correspondence can be found in Special Collections at Hamilton College in Clinton , New York. These include

1560-472: Was preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius but has only been partially excavated. Sporadic attempts to revive the manufacture of papyrus have been made since the mid-18th century. Scottish explorer James Bruce experimented in the late 18th century with papyrus plants from Sudan , for papyrus had become extinct in Egypt. Also in the 18th century, Sicilian Saverio Landolina manufactured papyrus at Syracuse , where papyrus plants had continued to grow in

1600-472: Was then dried under pressure. After drying, the sheet was polished with a rounded object, possibly a stone, seashell , or round hardwood. Sheets, or Mollema, could be cut to fit the obligatory size or glued together to create a longer roll. The point where the Mollema are joined with glue is called the kollesis. A wooden stick would be attached to the last sheet in a roll, making it easier to handle. To form

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