This publication is divided into two parts: The first part consists of three chapters, the first dealing with the history of early Book of the Dead research, protagonists and pioneers. The second chapter focuses on Edouard Naville and his Book of the Dead edition (including mainly hitherto unpublished material such as photos, facsimile drawings, quotations from letters etc.), and the third chapter is an overview on the development of hieroglyphic printing types (from early woodcuts to modern computer fonts).

The second part consists of 151 full colour plates of several Book of the Dead manuscripts in old facsimile drawings by the hands of Richard Lepsius, Edouard Naville, and Ernst Weidenbach.