BEFORE TUTANKHAMEN

Egypt - The Valley of the Kings - 1905: An American robber baron peers through the hole he has cut in an ancient tomb wall and discovers the richest trove of golden treasure ever seen in Egypt. At the start of the 20th century Theodore Davis was the most famous archaeologist in the world; his career turned tomb-robbing and treasure-hunting into a science.

Using six of Davis’s most important discoveries as a lens around which to focus his rags-to-riches tale, Adams chronicles the dizzying rise of a poor country preacher’s son who, through corruption and fraud, amassed tremendous wealth in Gilded-Age New York and then atoned for his ruthless career by inventing new standards for systematic excavation. Davis found a record eighteen tombs in the Valley and, breaking with custom (and perhaps personal inclination), gave all the spoils of his discoveries to museums. A confederate of Boss Tweed, friend of Teddy Roosevelt and rival of J.P. Morgan, the colorful “American Lord Carnarvon” shared his Newport mansion with his Rembrandts, his wife and his mistress. Drawing on rare and never before published archival material, the first biography of Davis ever written rehabilitates a tarnished image through a thrilling tale of crime, adventure, and history. John M. Adams is director emeritus of the Orange County, California Public Library. He has served on the Board and Executive Committee of the American Research Center in Egypt. He is a regular contributor to Kmt: A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt. He edited the Egyptological newsletter Sedjem for five years.