Egyptian Texts (in alphabetical order)

Budge, E. A. Wallis: An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Reading Book for Beginners, Dover paperback, 1993 reprint of a book originally published in 1896, 593 pages.
Contains a hefty selection of texts from all periods, with translations for some of them. Words are separted and there are transliterations at the bottom of each page and a vocabulary in the back. Both are in Budge's early style (as in his grammar), which is obsolete and contains many misreadings, so should not be relied upon. The texts are not the most current readings but are reliable in most cases.

Contents:

Translations:

The Tale of the Two Brothers
The Possessed Princess of Bekhten
The Litanies of Seker
Colophons
The Stelae of Nekht-Amsu
The Battle of Kadesh
The Annals of Ramesses III
A Hymn to Amen-Ra
Texts:

The Tale of the Two Brothers
The Possessed Princess of Bekhten
The Festival Songs of Isis and Nephthys
Colophons
The Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys
The Litanies of Seker
The Inscription of Una (Weni)
The Inscription of Khmenu-Hetep
Inscriptions on the base of the Obelisk of Hatshepsut
Inscriptions of Nekht-Amsu
The Battle of Kadesh
Annals of Ramesses III
The Stele of Pi-ankhi-meri-Amen
The Decree of Canopus
The Precepts of Kaqemna
The Precepts of Ptah-hetep
The Travels of an Egyptian
A Hymn to Amen-Ra
The Spoliation of the Tombs
Vocabulary


Budge, E. A. Wallis: Legends of the Egyptian Gods, Dover paperback, 1994 reprint of a book originally published in 1912, 248 pages.

Contains a long introduction, eight texts with translations on facing pages, and an English translation of Plutarch's "De Iside et Osiride". No transliteration or vocabulary. Words are not separated. I don't personally find religious texts like this very interesting, but those who do will find this a pleasant and inexpensive book.

Contents:

Introduction
1. The Legend of the the Creation
2. The Legend of the Destruction of Mankind
3. The Legend of Ra and the Snake-bite
4. The Legend of Horus of Edfu and the Winged Disk
5. The Legend of the Origin of Horus
6. A Legend of Khensu Nefer-hetep and the Princess of Bekhten
7. The Legend of Khnemu and a Seven Years' Famine
8. The Legend of the Death and Resurrection of Horus
The History of Isis and Osiris, by Plutarch


De Buck, A.: Egyptian Reading-book: Exercises and Middle Egyptian Texts, Ares paperback, 1982 reprint of a book published in 1948, 128 pages.

Once a standard university text, this book is entirely hand-written. The first part contains exercises keyed to the author's grammar (which appeared only in Dutch) and is of little use. The texts are mostly short and of a wide variety, but all in good Middle Egyptian. Almost all are written right-to-left as in the originals. No translations, vocabulary, or notes. An adventure in reading Egyptian as it is found!

Contents:

Exercises
Historical Texts:

Canal inscription of Tuthmosis III
Coronation decree of Tuthmosis I
Inscription of Tuthmosis II, recording a rebellion in Nubia
The Punt expedition of Queen Hatshepsut
Departure of the Punt expedition
Arrival of the expedition in Punt
The Puntites receive the expedition
Pitching a camp for the expedition
Reception of the tribute of the Puntites
The products of Punt
The return voyage of the expedition
The 'poetical' stela of Tuthmosis III
The Gebel Barkal Stela of Tuthmosis III
The Armant Stela of Tuthmosis III
Scarab of Amenophis III recording a wild cattle hunt
Scarab of Amenophis III recording his success in 10 years' lion-hunting
Scarab of Amenophis III recording his marriage with Tiy and the boundaries of his empire
Scarab of Amenophis III recording the arrival of the princess Gilukhipa
Scarab of Amenophis III recording the construction of a pleasure-lake
The biography of Khnumhotpe, prince of Beni Hasan
The laudatory autobiography of Kay
Expedition to Hammamat; the official record
The same expedition; the commander's record
A wonder, which occurred during this expedition
The second wondeer which happened during this expedition
Semneh Stela marking the southern boundary of the realm of Sesostris III
Literary Texts:

Story of the miracles which happened in the reign of Cheops
The Story of the Eloquent Peasant
The Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor
A story designed to make propaganda for the cult of Khonsu
Religious Texts:

Hymn to Osiris
Hymn to the Sun-god
Magical spell for the protection of a baby
Book of the Dead 125, Introduction, the Negative Confession, Address to the gods, etc. of the Hall of Judgement
The Myth of the Destruction of Mankind


Faulkner, Raymond: The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day, Chronicle Books, paperback, 1994, 175 pages.

This large (9 x 14 inches) and beautiful book contains a color reproduction of the entire Papyrus of Ani with translation below. To be honest, unless you are a specialist, little of the Book of the Dead is interesting enough to read closely in Egyptian, but the pictures are splendid and you can read the sections you enjoy in the scribe's original cursive hieroglyphic characters. Budge also published an edition of this work, but this one is much better and a delight to leaf through.

Contents:

Forward, by James Wasserman
Preface, by Carol A. R. Andrews
Introduction, by Dr. Ogden Goelet
The Papyrus of Ani
Map Key to the Papyrus
The Balance of the Theban Recension
Commentary, by Dr. Ogden Goelet
Selected Bibliography
Glossary of Terms and Concepts


Mercer, Samuel A.: Egyptian Hieroglyphic Grammar, Ares Publishers, paperback reprint of the 1926 edition, 184 pages.

While this was meant as a grammar, it also has a nice selection of reading passages (with the words separated) and a vocabulary. Uses Budge's hieroglyphic font but the transliteration is relatively modern. The vocabulary doesn't quite have enough words to read all the texts, but is a good start.

Reading Selections:

Some Short Pieces from Various Sources
Extracts from the Pyramid Texts
Khufu and the Magicians
From the Precepts of Ptah-Hotep
From the Eloquent Peasant
From the Memoirs of Sinuhe
The Tale of Two Brothers




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