Akhnaton: A Play in Three Acts.

CHRISTIE, Agatha.

Item Number: 128044

London: Collins, 1973.

First edition of Christie’s classic Egyptian play, written in 1937 at the same time as Death of the Nile but published decades later in 1973. Octavo, original cloth. Near fine in a very good dust jacket.

Set in Ancient Egypt, Akhnaton follows the exploits of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhnaton, his wife Nefertiti and his successor Tutankhaton (who would take the name Tutankhamun when he became Pharaoh). In writing the play, Christie was assisted by the eminent Egyptologist, Stephen Glanville, who was a friend of both her and her husband, Max Mallowan. Christie initially wrote the play for her own amusement, with no intention of having it produced, but in May 1972, she came across the manuscript and sent it to her publisher in view of the interest in ancient Egypt prompted by the Treasures of Tutankhamun exhibition which ran at the British Museum from 30 March until 30 September of that year, although she admitted that it would be an expensive production to stage.