Of interest historically as regards to establishing the chronology of the instigation of the paving is to any pictures of the paving in print, in books, articles, journals and newspapers. Although the paving does indeed appear in books (but not in any of the other print forms listed, or at least has so far been found) this is not to say that it is of a purposeful picture i.e. ‘here is a picture of the world-famous Cairo paving’, or similar. Rather, the paving, when it does indeed appear on a few rare occasions, is shown by chance, incidentally in the background of the picture, such as in general street scenes, or outside notable buildings, such as mosque, a hotel, and exhibits in grounds, as detailed below. However, these incidental occurrences still serve a purpose, and indeed are invaluable for historical documentation. Indeed, any photograph at all is at a premium here; I have been able to find surprisingly so few instances, given the now established considerable extent. Indeed, even these (nine) sightings below are not all distinct as might be thought; on occasions the same picture is used in different books. For example, The El Alamein picture in [4], [6], [7] is the same, save for differences in cropping. Furthermore, these are all of relatively recent times, of 1980, 1987, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2002, 2012, and far from the earliest instances, of photographs at the American University in Cairo Rare books and special collections library, of the 1960s. And to add to the woes concerning the pictures, they are generally not always ideal, with pictures from afar, or at an unfavourable angle, in which the paving is unrecognisable without foreknowledge of its existence. Indeed, only instances [1], [2], [3], [5] are definitive.

In order of chronology, the sightings (all incidentals) appear in:

[*] ‘From Khans to Khiltons’. Aramco World Magazine. November-December 1973, pp. 16-26, 28, Joseph Fitchett, (with photographs by Peter Keen). see p.22 At Manial Palace, Rhoda Island
[1] Cairo, in the series of ‘The Great Cities’, by Time-Life books, Malise Ruthven, 1980, p. 25. Outside a butcher’s shop in Zamalek
[2] The American University in Cairo: 1919-1987, Lawrence, R. Murphy, 1987, p. 254. Campus pictures
[3] Egypt Insight Guides, c. 1987, page 171, by APA Publishing. City of Dead, featuring an apparent modern day mosque
[4] Passport’s Illustrated Travel Guide to Egypt. 1994, first edition, p. 73. El Alamein War Museum, featuring relics of World War II
[5] Egypt, Berlitz Pocket Guide, 2nd edition, 1995/1996, p. 26. Students outside Al-Azhar University
[6] Fodor’s Exploring Egypt, 1st edition, 1996, p. 47. Old Cataract Hotel, Aswan, featuring the terrace of the Hotel and p. 222, El Alamein war museum. N.B. this book also appears under a different title AA Explorer Egypt, 2000, with the same content save for minor bibliographic change
[7] Essential Egypt, AA Guides, 2002, p. 60. El Alamein War Museum
[8] The Nile, by Insight Guides, 2002, (the Old Cataract hotel)
[9] Discover Egypt, 2012, Lonely Planet, 2nd edition, page 224. El Alamein War Museum

Likely there are other travel guide books (and books on Cairo in general) where this paving has also occurred, and I would be indebted to any reader who can draw my attention to others, ideally the earlier the better. (Once a location has been established, this makes further searching/investigation much easier). Indeed, in recent times I have been investigating such book sightings. However, my instigations are hampered in that there is almost too rich a concentration of books on Cairo, and Egypt in general. For instance, Bookfinder.com gives the equivalent of a 65-page word document! There is simply too much material to examine, albeit one can indeed distinguish ‘likely’ books from ‘less likely’ ones, for example, those with titles based on ancient history, or modern day politics can be eliminated. Also, regrettably for the purpose of the inquiry, the travel guide books available tend to be modern, for obvious reasons. Oddly, there does not seem to be available travel guides book pre 1970 to give a rather arbitrary date (at least in terms of weight of numbers; there appear to be much more biased towards modern day instances).

To this end, is there any reader interested enough in examining travel guide books on Cairo available to them in their own local libraries? Any others, even of a negative observation would be of assistance, in that I could eliminate this book from my enquiries. As ever in this inquiry, no detail is too small. Even if you have just a single instance not listed here, I would be interested in hearing details. The books I have examined I list below, with comments:

Altman, Jack. Egypt. Berlitz Pocket Guides. 2^nd edition, 1995-1996. copyright 1993.

Bertinetti, Marcelis. Egypt Flying High. The Works

Pictures of Egypt and Cairo from on high. No apparent Cairo tiling

Firestone, Mathew D. (Cordinating author). Egypt. Lonely Planet 9^th edition May 2008. First published February 1977. Picture light, mostly maps and text. In Grimsby central library

No Cairo tiling.

Franquet, Sylvie. The Nile: Cairo, Luxor, Aswan. Insight Pocket Guide Apa Publications (In Grimsby central reference library).

Picture heavy, pitched towards tourist. No Cairo tiling

Gauldie, Robin. Egypt. Globetrotter Travel Guide New Holland, 8^th edition, 2011)

128 pages, small format pocket guide book, picture heavy with an excellent ‘proper’ pull-out map. No Cairo tiling

Haag, Michael. Cairo, Luxor & Aswan. Cadogan Guides. 3^rd edition 2009

368 pages, No Cairo tiling. Premise is mostly of historical interest per se, with text, and occasional line and shade drawings. Very few photos; just a handful. Of general interest

Haag, Michael. Passport’s Illustrated Travel Guide to Egypt. Passport Books, 1994.

Typical tourist guidebook, 192 pages, picture heavy. El Alamein war museum grounds, page 77. Although the square format of the tiling is clearly shown, the inscribed pentagons are not. However, this is likely to be due to the small-scale nature of the picture, of which such fine detail is lost. However, that said, a tiling of a square divided into three rectangles is another ‘popular’ tiling, and so this is indeed a possibility. However, the likelihood of this, given what I know of the Cairo tiling from other pictures there, makes the hypothesis unlikely in the extreme.

Murphy, Lawrence R. The American University in Cairo. 1919-1987. American University in Cairo Press. 1987

Nelson, Nina. Essential Egypt. Publishing Division of the Automobile Association, 1990

Slim booklet of 126 small pages. No Cairo tiling.

Richardson, Dan. The Rough Guide to Egypt 4^th and 8^th editions 2000 and 2010.

Mostly line drawings of maps very few photos. No Cairo tiling Central library. Only the 8^th edition, 2010, page 487 in ‘The Works’ bookshop, Freshney Place, has a photo of the grounds of the El Alamein war museum, but only with foreknowledge is the Cairo tiling discernable.

Richardson, Dan and Daniel Jacobs. The Rough Guide to Egypt. 6^th edition November 2005. Picture light, mostly text and maps. In Grimsby central library

No Cairo tiling.

Ruthven, Malise. Cairo The Great Cities. Time-Life Books 1980. Second English printing 1983

General photographs of modern day Cairo, and commentary thereof. Cairo tile p. 27, outside a butcher’s shop in Zamalek, of the square format. Of significance; the first instance so far in print.

Sattin, Anthony et al. Discover Egypt. Experience the best of Egypt. Lonely Planet. 2^nd edition Sep 2012. First edition November 2010, not seen. Picture heavy

(Sphinx on cover, with hot air balloons)

El Alamein war ground picture p. 224, but only with foreknowledge is it discernable as the Cairo tiling, but one of the better pictures

Sattin, Anthony and Sylvie Franquet. Explorer Egypt AA Publishing (the same book as Fodor’s Exploring Egypt, below). Reprinted 2000. Typical tourist guidebook, 288 pages, picture heavy. Two sightings, page 47, of the Old Cataract hotel, and page 222, of the relics in the Al-Alamein war museum grounds. Both pictures are not ideal, with as usual the subject matter not the pavings themselves. Of the two, the Cataract instance is by far the best in terms of clarity, but even so, one requires foreknowledge to discern individual pentagons, albeit it is not too far from being identifiable as distinct pentagons. The El-Alamein sighting is much the poorer, taken at a raking angle, and only with foreknowledge is the tiling known; the picture is essentially of square tiles in a chequerboard formation

Sattin, Anthony and Sylvie Franquet. Fodor’s Exploring Egypt. Published in the United States by Fodor’s travel publications Inc, 1996. Published in the United Kingdom by AA Publishing 1996, First edition.

Typical tourist guidebook, 288 pages, picture heavy. Note that this is exactly the same book (save for minor cover and bibliographic details) as ‘Explorer Egypt’ immediately above!

Old Cataract hotel and El Alamein sightings. Of note historically in that De Young first told me of the Old Cataract sighting here, p.47

Showker, Kay. Fodor’s Guide to Egypt. Hodder and Stoughton, 1977.

Of little direct interest, very few pictures, no Cairo tiling.

Stannard, Dorothy Project editor Egypt, Inside Guides. Discovery channel book. First edition 1987 sixth edition (this) 2009. Grimsby central library

Cover: Tutankhamen

Typical tourist guidebook, picture heavy no picture.

Stannard, Dorothy (Editor). Egypt. Insight Guides. First edition 1987, Fifth edition 1998, updated 2000, reprinted 2002

Typical tourist guidebook, 356 pages, picture heavy Cover: Pyramids as seen through a blue haze

General guide to Egypt. Has Cairo tiling page 171, clearly displayed, outside a mosque in the City of the Dead

Thompson, Hugh and Claire Folkard, Project Editors. Egypt. Eyewitness Travel. First published in 2001, reprinted with revisions 2003, 2005, 2007