Literature and the Press.—Since the British occupation there has been a marked renaissance of Arabic learning and literature in Egypt. Societies formed for the encouragement of Arabic literature have brought to light important texts bearing on Mahommedan history, antiquities and religion. Numbers of magazines and reviews are published in Arabic which cater both for the needs of the moment and the advancement of learning. Side by side with these literary organs there exists a vernacular press largely devoted to nationalist propaganda. Prominent among these papers is Al Lewa (The Standard), founded in 1900. Other papers of a similar character are Al Omma, Al Moayad and Al Gerida. The Mokattam represents the views of the more enlightened and conservative section of the native population. In Cairo and Alexandria there are also published several newspapers in English and French.
Authorities.—(a) General descriptions, geography, travel, &c.: Description de l’Égypte, 10 folio vols. and atlas of 10 vols. (Paris, 1809-1822), compiled by the scientific commission sent to Egypt by Bonaparte; Clot Bey, Aperçu général sur l’Égypte, 2 vols. (Paris, 1840); Boinet Bey, Dictionnaire géographique de l’Égypte (Cairo, 1899); Murray’s and Baedeker’s handbooks and Guide Joanne; G. Ebers, Egypt, Descriptive, Historical and Picturesque, translated from the German edition of 1879 by Clara Bell, new edition, 2 vols. (London, 1887); Sir Gardiner Wilkinson, Modern Egypt and Thebes (2 vols., London, 1843); Lady Duff Gordon, Letters from Egypt, complete edition (London, 1902), an invaluable account of social conditions in the period 1862-1869; A. B. Edwards, A Thousand Miles up the Nile (2nd edition, London, n.d. [1889]); Pharaohs, Fellahs and Explorers (London, 1892); H. W. Mardon, Geography of Egypt ... (London, 1902), an excellent elementary text-book; D. G. Hogarth, The Nearer East (London, 1902), contains brief but suggestive chapters on Egypt; S. Lane Poole, Egypt (London, 1881); A. B. de Guerville, New Egypt, translated from the French (London, 1905); R. T. Kelly, Egypt Painted and Described (London, 1902). The best maps are those of the Survey Department, Cairo, on the scale of 1:50000 (1.3 in. to the mile).
(b) Administration: Sir John Bowring’s Report on Egypt ... to Lord Palmerston (London, 1840) shows the system obtaining at that period. For the study of the state of Egypt at the time of the British occupation, 1882, and the development of the country since, the most valuable documents[5] are:
I. Official.—The Reports on the Finances, Administration and Condition of Egypt, issued yearly since 1892 (the reports 1888-1891 were exclusively financial). Up to 1906 the reports were by Lord Cromer (Sir Evelyn Baring). They clearly picture the progress of the country. The following reports are specially valuable as exhibiting the difficulties which at the outset confronted the British administrators:—Correspondence respecting the Reorganization of Egypt (1883); Reports by Mr Villiers Stuart respecting Reorganization of Egypt (1883 and 1895); Despatch from Lord Dufferin forwarding the Decree constituting the New Political Institutions of Egypt (1883); Reports on the State of Egypt and the Progress of Administrative Reforms (1885); Reports by Sir H. D. Wolff on the Administration of Egypt (1887). Annual returns are published in Cairo in English or French by the various ministries, and British consular reports on the trade of Egypt and of Alexandria and of the tonnage and shipping of the Suez Canal are also issued yearly.
II. Non-official.—Lord Cromer, Modern Egypt (2 vols., 1908), an authoritative record; Alfred (Lord) Milner, England in Egypt, first published in 1892, the story being brought up to 1904 in the 11th edition; Sir A. Colvin, The Making of Modern Egypt (1906); J. Ward, Pyramids and Progress (1900); A. S. White, The Expansion of Egypt (1899); and F. W. Fuller, Egypt and the Hinterland (1901). See also the works cited in History, last section.
(c) Law: H. Lamba, De l’évolution de la condition juridique des Européens en Égypte (Paris, 1896); J. H. Scott, The Law affecting Foreigners in Egypt ... (Edinburgh, 1907); The Egyptian Codes (London, 1892).
(d) Irrigation, agriculture, geology, &c.: Despatch from Sir Evelyn Baring enclosing Report on the Condition of the Agricultural Population in Egypt (1888); Notes on Egyptian Crops (Cairo, 1896); Yacub Artin Bey, La Propriété foncière en Égypte (Bulak, 1885); Report on Perennial Irrigation and Flood Protection for Egypt, 1 vol. and atlas (Cairo, 1894). The reports (Egypt, No. 2, 1901, and Egypt, No. 2, 1904), by Sir William Garstin on irrigation projects on the Upper Nile are very valuable records—notably the 1904 report. W. Willcocks, Egyptian Irrigation (2nd ed., 1899); H. G. Lyons, The Physiography of the River Nile and its Basin (Cairo, 1906); Leigh Canney, The Meteorology of Egypt and its Influence on Disease (1897). Annual meteorological reports are issued by the Public Works Department, Cairo. The same department issues special irrigation reports. See for geology Carl von Zittel, Beiträge zur Geologie und Paläontologie der libyschen Wüste (Cassel, 1883); Reports of the Geological Survey of Egypt (Cairo, 1900, et seq.).
(e) Natural history, anthropology, &c.: F. Pruner, Ägyptens Naturgeschichte und Anthropologie (Erlangen, 1848); R. Hartmann, Naturgeschichtliche Skizze der Nilländer (Berlin, 1866); Captain G. E. Shelley, Birds of Egypt (London, 1872).
(F. R. C.)