- Publisher
- Éditions Flblb
- Year of publication
- 2018
- Categories
- Adventure
- /
- Documentary
- /
- History
- /
- Humor
- /
- Biography
This three-volume comic is based on the lives of a couple of adventurers and pioneers of Egyptology’s travel diaries in the 19th century.
There was nothing in the early life of Giambattista Belzoni (1778-1823) that led one to believe he might become a pioneer of Egyptology. Born in Padua, he emigrated to England to flee Napoleon’s invasion of Italy. There, this six-foot giant was performing as a circus strongman when he made the acquaintance of Sarah Banes, the “Giraffe Lady,” later to become his wife.
Belzoni was the first to enter the temple of Abu Simbel, discover the incredibly important royal tombs, and open the pyramid of de Khafre at Giza, 600 years after the sons of Saladin.
In his thrilling travel diaries, he spends less time detailing his finds than he does his relationships with a gallery of colorful characters: pashas, kashefs, caimakans, peasants, interpreters, and the impish French Bernardino Drovetti who, madly jealous of Belzoni’s luck and intuition, did everything he could to hinder the explorer’s progress.
PRAISE
“Humorous and captivating, these ‘Travels’ avoid the usual boring pitfalls of historical comics.” ~ L’Obs
“A really terrific graphic novel about one of the forefathers of modern Egyptology.” ~ Emmanuel Laurentin, La Fabrique de l’histoire on France Culture
“Extraordinary. The lives of Giambattista and his wife are unbelievable.” ~ France Culture
“Rarely has a comic book paired wacky humour, faithful historical reconstruction and wild romanticism with such elegance.” ~ DBD Magazine
160 pages
Black and white
21.00 x 28.00 cm
Softcover with flaps
ISBN : 978-2-35761-147-4
20.00 €