Few works about the Middle East have exerted such wide and long-lasting influence as Edward William Lane's An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians. First published in 1836, this classic book has never gone out of print, continuously providing material and inspiration for generations of scholars, writers, and travelers, who have praised its comprehensiveness, detail, and perception. Yet the editions in print during most of the twentieth century would not have met Lane's approval. Lacking parts of Lane's text and many of his original illustrations (while adding many that were not his), they were based on what should have been ephemeral editions, published long after the author's death. Meanwhile, the definitive fifth edition of 1860, the result of a quarter century of Lane's corrections, reconsiderations, and additions, long ago disappeared from bookstore shelves. Now the 1860 edition of Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians is available again, with a useful general introduction by Jason Thompson. Lane's greatest work enters the twenty-first century in precisely the form that he wanted.

Edward William Lane (1801-76), a name known to almost everyone in all the many fields of Middle East studies, was the author of a number of highly influential works: An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians (1836), his translation of The Thousand and One Nights (1839-41), Selections from the Kur-an (1843), and the Arabic-English Lexicon (1863-93). In 2000, his long-forgotten manuscript Description of Egypt was published for the first time by the AUC Press.

Editor’s Preface
Author’s Preface
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Introduction:
The Country and Climate - Metropolis - Houses - Population
Chapter I:
Personal Characteristics, and Dress, of the Muslim Egyptians
Chapter II:
Infancy and Early Education
Chapter III:
Religion and Laws
Chapter VI:
Government
Chapter V:
Domestic Life (Men of the Higher and Middle Orders)
Chapter VI:
Domestic Life - continued (Women of the Higher and Middle Orders)
Chapter VII:
Domestic Life - continued (The Lower Orders)
Chapter VIII:
Common Usages of Society
Chapter IX.
Language, Literature, and Science
Chapter X:
Superstitions (Genii, Saints, and Darweeshes)
Chapter XI:
Superstitions - continued (Charms, and Auguration)
Chapter XII:
Magic, Astrology, and Alchymy
Chapter XIII:
Character
Chapter XIV:
Industry
Chapter XV :
Use of Tobacco, Coffee, Hemp, Opium, etc
Chapter XVI:
The Bath
Chapter XVII:
Games
Chapter XVIII:
Music
Chapter XIX:
Public Dancers
Chapter XX:
Serpent-Charmers, and Performers of Legerdemain Tricks, etc.
Chapter XXI:
Public Recitations of Romances
Chapter XXII:
Public Recitations of Romances - continued
Chapter XXIII:
Public Recitations of Romances - continued
Chapter XXIV:
Periodical Public Festivals, etc (Those of the first three months of the Muslim Year)
Chapter XXV:
Periodical Public Festivals, etc - continued (Those of the fourth and following
months of the Muslim Year)
Chapter XXVI:
Periodical Public Festivals, etc. - continued (Those of the Solar Year)
Chapter XXVII:
Private Festivities, etc
Chapter XXVIII :
Death, and Funeral Rites
Supplement:
The Copts
The Jews of Egypt
Of late Innovations in Egypt
Appendix A: Female Ornaments
Appendix B: Egyptian Measures, Weights, and Moneys
Appendix C: Household Expenditure in Cairo
Appendix D: Prayer of Muslim School-Boys
Appendix E: Directions for the Treatment of Dysentery and Ophthalmia
Appendix F: Editor’s Notes, Index