Ethiopia engraved: an illustrated catalogue of engravings by foreign travellers from 1681 to 1900 . By Richard Pankhurst and Leila Ingrams. pp. 214; map (on end papers). London and New York, Kegan Paul International, 1988. £30.00.

Abstract

reasonable amount of sampling, from Ezana and the Periplus via the Zagwe dynasty and the mediaeval Ethiopian Chronicles to the travels of Charles Poncet, has convinced me of the vast amount of work invested by Huntingford in the assembly of this widespread material. Although Huntingford was by profession an anthropologist, he always evinced a devotion to things Ethiopian which was quite touching. I think it was originally based on the pleasure he took in forming the Ethiopian characters (which he did extremely well) rather than on any profound knowledge of Ethiopian languages. I f a s Huntingford tells his readers on p. xxvii-it was I who had suggested to him to write this book (rather than translate Ethiopian documents), I feel the scholarly world is unlikely to dissent sharply from the justification of this proposal on the evidence of the work now before us. I think it will serve as a worthy memorial to a dedicated man of letters.