ABSTRACT
The slave trade had been made illegal in Egypt for over a decade when, in 1885, the Baedeker brothers published an updated version of their handbook to Lower Egypt and Sudan. In apparent answer to the interest of British and other European tourists, the guidebook introduces slavery in the following way:
The slave-trade is now very rapidly approaching complete extinction in Egypt, not so much owing to the penalties imposed (which the rapacious officials take every opportunity of enforcing), as from changes in the mode of living, and the growing preference of the wealthy for paid servants. Down to 1870 the trade was still carried on but since then it has been at a standstill. 1
