In the early 19th century there were no "archaeologists" as we use the term today, although antiquarians studied the relics of the past, mainly of the classical world but occcasionally also Egypt and other distant, exotic lands, and dilettantes, men of wealth and taste, collected antiquities.

Gardner Wilkinson, the subject of this excellent biography, considered himself neither, but rather a gentleman traveler and writer. He became interested in Egypt only by accident Leaving Oxford in 1819 before completing a degree he began a Grand Tour, the long-standing tradition of travel on the Continent by which an English gentleman "completed" his education. Wilkinson's tour included Paris, Strasbourg, Geneva, Turin, and Rome, where he met Sir William Gell, a scholar with whom he struck up an instant friendship.