Of these so-called Hermetic books, only portions appear to have remained in existence with the beginnings of the historic period, but of these portions certain fragments have been preserved for the inspection of scholars of to-day. In the examination in 1892 of some newly discovered tombs, papyri were found which proved to contain religious writings based upon the Hermetic books, and which were themselves the work of scribes writing during the 4th dynasty, 3733-3566 B.C. The founder of the 4th dynasty was Khufa, better known as Cheops, the builder of the Great Pyramid, who is also ranked as an author, and to whose reign belongs the first record of the famous _Book of the Dead_. This _Book of the Dead_ consisted of invocations to the deities, psalms, prayers, and the descriptions of the experiences that awaited the spirit of the departed in the world to come, experiences that included an exhaustive analysis of his past life and his final judgment for the life hereafter. The Egyptian title of the book was, according to Karpeles, _The Manifestation to the Light_, that is, the book revealing the light. Rawlinson specifies for it another name, _To Go Forth from Day_. Portions of the book of the dead are said to have been written by Thoth, and other portions are spoken of as “the composition of a great god.” These belonged to what might be called the permanent part of the text or Ritual. Other divisions or pages containing special references to the deceased would, of course, be distinctive in each case. The copies prepared for any particular funeral were more or less comprehensive in their matter and more or less elaborate and costly in their form according to the wealth and importance of the departed, and according also to the probable buying capacities of the mourners. The material written upon was always papyrus, while for the covers, tinted or stained sheepskin was used. One copy of the book was always placed in the tomb, as a safe-conduct for the pilgrim soul on its journey through _Amenti_ (Hades), and for its guidance in the world to come. This practice has secured the preservation in the tombs of a great number of copies of the _Book of the Dead_, more than one half of the existing papyri being transcripts of different portions of its text. The _Book of the Dead_ enjoys the distinction of being the first literature of the regular sale of which there is any evidence. The undertaker, acting probably under the instructions of the priests, made a business of disposing of copies of the “book” among the mourners and friends of the deceased, for whom it served as a memorial of the departed. The Egyptian undertaker, distributing in this manner from a period three thousand years or more before the Christian era, authorized or authenticated copies of the sacred scriptures, accompanied in some cases by memorial pages concerning the deceased, must take rank as the first bookseller known to history. I