What to Pack for a Trip to Egypt in 1892

The following is a packing list for travelers wanting to do a multi-month journey along the Nile…in the Victorian era. Specifically, the info in this post is pulled from various sections of the 1892 Baedeker guide for Upper Egypt, which you can download for yourself here from the Internet Archive.

Baedeker guides were THE thing that every Victorian traveler took along with them. They were pocket-sized, highly detailed, and regularly updated. I first heard about them from a Sherlock Holmes story, and when I recently found some scans of old editions on the Internet Archive I was super excited to look through them.

Needless to say, I was very impressed! If only modern guidebooks were as packed full of info as these little treasures were…

Anyway, here’s an excellent post from Shrine of Dreams of the history of Baedeker and its downfall (during/because of WWI and WW2); while the company still exists and still makes guidebooks, I have yet to see one in person and so can’t comment on quality.

This is the first post in what’s sure to be a series of armchair travel posts, where you can get a glimpse of what it was like to travel around the world “way back when.” Enjoy!

👉 Buy a physical copy of the 1892 Baedeker’s Upper Egypt on eBay

🌟 More Egypt / More Victorian Era / Victorian Travelers

Note: Some links here are affiliate links, which means if you click on it and buy something, I get a small percentage. This money goes towards running the blog. Thank you for your support!

Clothing

Generally recommended is clothing for autumn “at home,” which I suppose is either England or Germany! I assume a lot of tweed, wool, and so on?

Food & Provisions

This is for a 2 month journey on the Nile, on a boat you hired yourself (with staff you also hired) and for a party of three. You’d buy these in Egypt once you get there.

Food (and related items)

A note about fresh foods:

Other stores, such as eggs, fresh beef, buffalo-meat, mutton, poultry, oranges, lemons, etc., are taken only in small supplies, it being easy to replenish the larder en route, either from the steamers or still better from the markets on the banks, where prices are moderate. The cook makes the purchases and submits his accounts.

Wine and Spirits

• 60 bottles of Médoc
• 36 bottles of Médoc superieur
• 35 bottles of red Vöslauer
• 25 bottles of white Vöslauer
• 20 bottles of beer
• 1 bottle of whiskey
• 1 bottle of vermouth
• 1 bottle of brandy
• 1 bottle of cognac
• A little champagne for festivals and the reception of guests

Other Items

Recommend Books

Here’s an interesting list of books recommended by the Baedeker guide specifically to bring with you for when you get bored on the boat. As stated:

The steamer sometimes steams for an entire day without passing anything of special interest; and the dhahabiyeh-traveller, when his vessel is being slowly towed against an adverse wind, will gladly fall back upon reading when he is tired of walking along the bank with a gun on the chance of a shot.

Many of these are available for download from Project Gutenberg and the Internet Archive, links to which are in post here: 150+ FREE Books About Egypt

Historical, Descriptive, and Scientific Works

1. From Pharaoh to Fellah by C.F. Moberley Bell (1888)
2. Egypt Under the Pharaohs by H. Brugsch, transl. from the German by P. Smith (1874); condensed and revised ed. by M. Broderick (1891)
3. L’instruction publique en Egypte by V.E. Dor (1872)
4. Geschichte des Alten Egyptens by Dumichen and Meyer (1877)
5. Upper Egypt; its people and products by C.B. Klunzinger (1877)
6. Account of the Manners and Customs of the modern Egyptians by Lane (1872)
7. Social Life in Egypt by Stanley Lane-Poole (1884)
8. The Monuments of Upper Egypt by Mariette-Bey (1877)
9. Egyptian Archaeology by G. Maspero, transl. by Amelia B. Edwards (1887)
10. Egypt as a winter-resort by F.M. Sandwith (1889)

Travels in Egypt

1. Le Nil, Egypte, et Nubie by Maxine Du Camp (1877)
2. A Thousand Miles up the Nile by Amelia B. Edwards (1877)
3. Pharaohs, Fellahs, and Explorers by Amelia B. Edwards (1891)
4. Discoveries in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sinai by R. Lepsius, transl. by K. R. H. Kennedy (1852)
5. A Ride in Egypt from Sioot to Luxor by W.J. Loftie (1879)
6. Egypt and the Wonders of the Land of the Pharaohs by W. Oxley (1884)
7. Thebes, its Tombs and their Tenants by A.H. Rhind (1862)
8. L’Egypte a petites journees by A. Rhone (1877)
9. Nile Gleanings by H. Villiers Stuart (1880)
10. Egypt After the War by H. Villiers Stuart (1883)
11. Life and Landscape from Egypt to the Negro Kingdoms of the White Nile by Bayard Taylor (1855)
12. My Winter on the Nile by Charles Dudley Warner (1881)

Also:

Classical scholars visiting Egypt should provide themselves with the 2nd book of Herodotus, the 17th book of Strabo, and the first book of Diodorus Siculus.

Sources

Baedeker, K. Upper Egypt (Leipsic: 1892). Scans from Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/egypthandbookfor02karluoft/page/n9/mode/2up

Sailboat on the Nile, Cairo, Egypt 1890-1900 https://www.loc.gov/item/2003653101/