Exhibition: Nile letters

McGill Library and Collections

Nile Letters: From Montrealers and Others is centered on the letters Peter Redpath sent to a friend in London while he was travelling up the Nile in Egypt in the winter of 1873. Peter Redpath was not the only notable McGill benefactor and supporter whose interest in ancient Egypt led to their embarking on journeys up the Nile in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. On display are some of the books and photographs, which were bequeathed or donated to the collections by several benefactors who made the journey. Where the names of the donors are known, they are indicated in the display.

Tourism on the Nile started quite early in the nineteenth century, but grew significantly from the 1850s onward, and even more dramatically after 1870 when the British travel firm Thomas Cook first offered a Cook’s tour by steamer up the Nile. Peter Redpath, however, like the other travellers whose accounts are used to describe the journey, travelled from Lower Egypt into Nubia in the traditional manner by sail boat, known as the dahabiyah.

See the above page for the full story.