The discovery of the resting place of the great Egyptian King Tutankhamun [Tut.ankh.Amen] in November 1922 by Howard Carter and the fifth Earl of Carnarvon was the greatest archaeological find the world had ever seen. Despite its plundering by thieves in antiquity, the burial of the king lay intact with its nest of coffins and funerary shrines, surrounded by a mass of burial equipment arranged in three peripheral chambers.

Published in 1923, this is the first volume of Carter's trilogy, describing the years of frustration in search of the burial site, the triumph of its eventual discovery and the long, painstaking process of exploring and cataloguing its treasures. Containing over 100 images from the site itself, this volume also includes Carter's short article, 'The Tomb of the Bird,' which inadvertently spawned the legend of the great curse of Tutankhamun's tomb.