National Galleries of Scotland celebrates Halloween by sharing rare images from Egyptian Book of the Dead
This Halloween National Galleries of Scotland is diving into the special books collection to share the rare work 'Le Livre des morts des Anciens Egyptiens' by Anton Prinner.
Article Source: National Galleries of Scotland
Last Updated: 30 October 2025 14:05
This Halloween National Galleries of Scotland is diving into the special books collection to share the rare work Le Livre des morts des Anciens Egyptiens (‘The Book of the Dead of the Ancient Egyptians’) by Anton Prinner. Usually available to view by appointment at the Reading Room in Modern Two, this mysterious and magical book will soon go on display this December at Modern One in Edinburgh for all to discover.
The History of Halloween in Scotland is traditionally a Celtic festival which divided the year between the light and the dark half. Samhainn, pronounced ‘Sa-wayne’, was the celebration of the end of the harvest and a time where the boundary between our world would become weaker allowing ancestors to roam. The theme of life and death is something which has long fascinated people across the globe. It was believed Le Livre des morts des Anciens Egyptiens (‘The Book of the Dead of the Ancient Egyptians’) comprises the magic spells that the Egyptians cast to assist a dead person's journey through the underworld and into the afterlife. Made up of sixty-six engraved plates the overall effect is mesmerising, beautiful and unsettling. Prinner supposedly consulted a translation of the text which was taken from a papyrus in the Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum) in Turin. Prinner doesn’t directly illustrate these spells, but instead creates mysterious scenes of animals and androgynous figures to suggest new symbols of life and death.
Purchased on behalf of the people of Scotland in 2021, Prinner’s work is woefully under-represented in the UK, with only one other copy of this book held in a public institution in Britain. A world class book, this is an exceptionally rare and interesting work. The work forms part of the archive and special books collection at National Galleries of Scotland which includes correspondence, photographs, sketchbooks and publications representing the history of twentieth and twenty-first century European art. You can book to visit specific works in this collection which are not currently on display, for a unique up close experience.
Prinner’s story spans the personal to the political: from his lived experience as a transgender artist to the wider story of artists’ lives in the tumultuous context of twentieth-century Europe. Born a woman in Budapest, Hungary in 1902, the artist grew up as Anna Prinner. He moved to Paris in 1927, and from that point onwards identified as a man, adopting the name Anton.
Paris at the time was the epicentre of the avant-garde and was considered highly progressive, and a haven for the open-minded. Prinner quickly fell in with groups of other artists, socialising with the founder of Surrealism, André Breton, and France’s most popular 20th century poet, Jacques Prévert. He also became close friends with Pablo Picasso who would address Prinner as ‘Monsieur Madame’.
He remained in Paris during the German occupation of the Second World War, and sheltered Jewish friends in his small studio. He later settled near Picasso’s studio in Antibes in the south of France in 1950, where his work became progressively esoteric and several of his sculptures explored themes of androgyny and metamorphosis. He returned to Paris in the mid-1960s where he lived until he sadly died in 1983 at 81, impoverished and having never achieved wide recognition.
Kirstie Meehan, Senior Archivist at the National Galleries of Scotland said: “The purchase of this book in 2021 has allowed us to further enhance the special books collection and showcase some of the most interesting printmaking that was taking place in Western Europe in the immediate post-war period. It also allows us to tell the story of a marginalised and overlooked artist who deserves greater recognition. We look forward to sharing the work more with visitors when it goes on display in December as part of a new surrealism display at Modern One.”
If you want to learn more about these types of works, keep an eye out for national Galleries of Scotland’s Book-ish events which offer an up-close look at rare material from the archive, rare books and print collections. In each session a theme or artist is explored with one of our curatorial team, taking an intimate look at some of jewels from our collection.
Image:
Anton Prinner, Le Livre des morts : Plate 12, 1948. © Estate of Anton Prinner. All rights reserved. DACS, London.
Anton Prinner, Le Livre des morts : Plate 43, 1948. © Estate of Anton Prinner. All rights reserved. DACS, London.
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