Sir E. A. Wallis Budge (1857-1934) was Keeper of the British Museum's department of oriental antiquities from 1894 until his retirement in 1924. Carrying out many missions to Egypt in search of ancient objects, Budge was hugely successful in collecting papyri, statues and other artefacts for the trustees of the British Museum: numbering into the thousands and of great cultural and historical significance. Budge published well over 100 monographs, which shaped the development of future scholarship and are still of great academic value today, dealing with subjects such as Egyptian religion, history and literature.

This volume, first published in 1902 as part of the Egypt and Chaldaea series, is the second of eight volumes by Budge dealing with different periods in the history of Egypt. The narrative ranges from the end of the 3rd Dynasty up to the close of the reign of Seānkh-ka-Rā, who was famous for the despatch of an expedition to Punt, and was the last king of the 6th Dynasty. This second volume deals with the Great Pyramid Builders of Egypt, and, alongside detailed illustrations, provides a fascinating analysis of the dynastic kings.