Book News ~ Out of the Ages by Devereux Pryce

I am very pleased to announce that the first Nezu Press title of 2025 will be Out of the Ages by Devereux Pryce, an extremely rare novel that hasn't been republished since it first appeared in 1923. Devereux Pryce was the nom de plume of Sir Gerard Albert Muntz, and Out of the Ages was his only published work of fiction.

I know, it's unusual for Nezu Press to publish a chap. But the first book of last year was by a fellow, and I think we may make January the month of exceptions.

So, shall I tell you what it's about then? Well, I did write a blog post about it a while back, so you can read my review by clicking here. And here's the blurb:

Thira Colquhoun is a rich, beautiful, married woman who is very used to having her way; Jack Winthrop is the man she wants to have her way with, and Janet Baxter is the woman unfortunate enough to stand in her way. When Jack takes a job in Purnam, on the other side of the world, Thira is determined to follow him. So she and her unsuspecting husband, along with a group of friends, embark on a long voyage east, heading across the Mediterranean to Egypt, then sailing down the Red Sea and along the African coast to Purnam. While cruising along the Nile, the Colquhouns encounter a French archaeologist who invites them to visit a recently excavated tomb. It contains the remains of King Amenhotep’s favourite, a priestess who was suffocated to death by a group of priests. And one of the Colquhoun party does exactly what you should never do when you visit the final resting place of a murdered Egyptian… she removes an ancient cylinder from the tomb as a keepsake… with inevitably disastrous results. 

This new edition includes a biographical essay by me: ‘Gerard Albert Muntz: The Renowned Metallurgist Who Had Never Been to Egypt’

Published: 25 January 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-917113-06-9.
Hardback with dust jacket, 22.86mm x 15.24cm (6" x 9"), 284 pages.

I have a thing for Egypt; I have had ever since I visited the Egyptian department of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (I must have been about nine years old at the time). I was fascinated by the museum's model of Abu Simbel and one of their sarcophagi (there was a little corner missing at the foot, and I was always trying to see inside). Anyway, I've gone off at a tangent there.  If you think the image on the cover seems familiar, that's because it probably is; it's by David Roberts.

The book is available to pre-order from the Nezu Press store (please click here). Alternatively, it will be available from the usual online retailers, and you can order it from bricks-and-mortar stores. It is already at Amazon UK (please click here) and US (please click here).